Getting The Window Design is Important
Proper placing of the windows in the design of the house has an direct affect on light into the home. It affects how you’ll lay furniture in your rooms. Windows orientated towards or away from the sun will have an impact on heating and cooling cost. The single biggest costs to keep in check when it comes to exterior finishes are windows. Windows can really impact the budget. Old Homes Have Small Windows
Old homes were purposely designed with smaller windows. And there was a reason for this. In gone-by-days there were no such things as central heating and air conditioning systems. Sources for heat usually came from the cook stove, open hearth fireplaces or wood heating stoves. With that in mind, it was near impossible to heat your home if you had too much glazing. And since windows had an R factor of near zero in those days, it was like an opening in your wall. Designing Great Windows
Today's modern homes have windows that extend from floor to ceiling. It’s not uncommon to see windows span the entire back elevation of a new home. I personally love windows. The more the merrier! My window designs incorporate a lot of glazing. My own house has windows everywhere. There are rooms in my house where the entire wall is a window. Now my last statement said that the more windows the better. But if you lived in a glass house in Arizona, you’ll realize this statement is not right. And windows are expensive. So the more you add, the more your square foot cost will rise. It becomes important that your windows are designed so they enhance each room in the best possible way. |
Lighting Affects Our Mood
It’s been proven that natural light affects our mood. When we lack contact with daylight, it can negatively affect our mood. Lighting also affects our ability to see and whether we need to put the light fixtures “on” during the daylight hours. Light is probably the single most important factor for affecting our mood. Furniture, paint colours, cleanliness and size can all be factors to affect our attitude and mood towards our home. But natural light is the single biggest contributor to “happy” or “sad” moods. Windows Today Are Well Engineered
Today we are blessed with high efficiency central heating and cooling systems. Add to that our windows of today have been engineered with technologies that keep cold out and heat in during the winter months and heat out and cool in during the summer months. Having said all that, we can now utilize windows differently than we did years ago. Simply said, we can put a heck of a lot more windows into our homes and still stay warm during the cold season. |