HOW TO KEEP YOUR HOME COOL IN THE SUMMER: THE EASY SOLUTION THAT SAVED
2 Materials
$200
30 Minutes
Easy
Summer is finally here and the roar of air conditioners everywhere is upon us. As much as I love the beautiful sunshine, lake days and sun-kissed skin, living in the midwest the summers can be brutal.
The heat index stays through the roof and it’s a constant struggle to keep your home cool, not to mention detrimental to our constantly running air conditioners.
Our home has seven giant windows that line the back of our main living area (living kitchen and dining room) and I remember the first day we toured the house the realtor opened the blinds and at that moment it really felt like the house came to life, they were absolutely beautiful and we were starry-eyed, to say the least.
The first summer we spent in our new home we quickly realized that those gorgeous west-facing windows were going to make keeping our home cool in the summer very difficult…We tried everything from living in darkness by never opening the blinds, air conditioner tune-ups, you name it, we tried it but all to no avail!
Leaving the blinds shut did help some but it was no match for the sweltering Oklahoma sun beaming in each afternoon. Finally, after two summers of craziness, I finally broke down and began calling window tinting companies.
The windows are nearly floor to ceiling and with there being 7 of them I knew it wasn’t going to be cheap but I was still shocked with the $1400 quote I was given and with all of the updates we still have to finish I just couldn’t talk myself into that expense at the time.
Fast forward a few weeks later as I was perusing the isles of my local chain store and spotted something I had never even considered, Coolaroo Roller Shades, throughout my life, I have spotted houses here and there using them but honestly never considered them when it came to our windows.
The wording on the package alone was speaking our language, things like blocks 90% of bad UV rays, light filtering, and energy efficient, it was exactly what we needed!
After talking it over we realized the worst thing that could happen was us being out $200 because the shades didn’t work so we decided to go for it and honestly it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
We noticed a difference almost immediately!!
Before we put up the shades you could literally feel the heat radiating off of the windows when you walked by them and but once the shades were on there was none!
When we were originally discussing window tint one of my main concerns were my plants. Since I keep several large fiddle leaf fig trees in front of the windows and losing these gorgeous trees that I had spent so much time on was just not an option.
Plus I didn’t want to spend the money on window tint that was permanent only to realize my plants couldn’t thrive there any longer.
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So as excited as I was that the shades seemed to block the heat I wanted to use it for a while before posting about it for a few reasons.
A.) Wait until we were well into the 90-100 degree days.
B.) I could honestly say if my plants liked it or not.
After waiting two months and having weeks of Oklahoma heat in the books I can honestly say that the shades have made a world of difference.
To give you full details here are the things I love about the Coolaroo roller shades and a few things that I don’t.
Pros
- Installation was very easy, so easy in fact Wayne did the first one alone. Our son was home when we installed the second shade which did make it even easier so FYI having two people would be helpful.
- The amount of heat they block is obvious almost immediately, our windows are no longer radiating heat.
- The shades can simply be rolled up when the weather is nice or during things like rainstorms or extremely windy days. We’ve left ours down for a few of these and other than a few loud noises from the shade pressing on the window we haven’t had any issues and they have held up very well.
- My plants don’t seem to mind that the bad UV rays are blocked. They have all been thriving since installing the shades and honestly, I think the way the shade filters the bright sun has actually done them some good.
- They offer shades in several different sizes to fit your window height and width. We purchased the 8’x8′ version due to the amount of coverage we needed but they do offer them in sizes as small as 4’x8′ as well as 6’x6′
Cons
- This will not apply to everyone but for those of you that don’t know, I’m kind of short the last time I checked I was only 5′ 4″ and with the height of the windows, rolling the shades down can be a little bit tricky. I don’t have to stand on my tip-toes or anything but I do have to fully extend my arms above my head to reach the handle and roll up the shade. If I could change anything on this product it would be making the handle a little longer on the taller version. So if you’re on the short side and have tall windows having a small step stool near would make things a breeze. Wayne is 6′ tall and can do it with ease.
- Yes, it has made the space a little darker but I love the fact that we can simply roll them back up on the days when the weather is nice or the notoriously bad Oklahoma weather moves in. Since the end of April, we have only needed to roll them up a handful of times. If the heat in your home isn’t as intense but still enough to need the shades they do make other color options that I’m guessing wouldn’t block as much light.
(Fabric Close Up)
The benefits that we have experienced with the Coolaroo Roller Shades far outweigh the issues I personally have due to genetics 
and I can totally deal with my home being a little less bright if that means that our home stays a steady 69 degrees and the air conditioner can actually shut off which is something that never happened before installing the shades.
and I can totally deal with my home being a little less bright if that means that our home stays a steady 69 degrees and the air conditioner can actually shut off which is something that never happened before installing the shades.
Spending less money and getting a result that in my opinion is better than window tinting because we aren’t stuck with it is a huge win!! We will 100% invest in new shades once these need to be replaced and I will update this post once summer is over to let you on how they held up.
If you’re looking for a way to keep your home cool in the summer without going broke on window tint that you can’t take off then the Coolaroo Shades should definitely be a contender.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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