Help! Here Comes the Sun!

Taken from a line in the Beatles song, "Here Comes the Sun" we need to control it (the sun, not the song).

When we converted an 1888 grain barn into a home (see Thomas Foxwell Bachelder Barn, Stone Barn House here) we were limited to how many window openings we could put in each of the rooms. That is because the walls of the barn are 36" think stone! Since we couldn't cut through the stone and add a window or two for light we added skylights to the vaulted ceilings. We loved them for so many reasons but the most important one is the much-needed light. But we soon discovered that…..too much sun light coming through them quickly bleached the color from my dining room furniture. And we weren't able to control the temperature in the summer or winter, albeit we are in California, we still get some cold nights and hot days. That was a problem, and putting in shades on the inside of the skylights was the solution.

Here’s our 4 skylights in our dining room! There are two 4ft x 4ft and two 2ft x 2ft in the front gable of our old Barn Conversion.

We solved our problem by installing some pleated shades in our 4 large, 16 foot high ceilings! They were great, and we saw a nice saving on our heating bill in the winter too. Furniture was protected and on some afternoons we didn’t have to wear our sunglasses.

These skylight shades did their job for over 30 years…

Below are some pictures of my dining room skylights where last week we installed 4 new Hunter Douglas Duette Skylift Shades to replace the old ones which were also Hunter Douglas Pleated Shades from 1990 (seen above). Yes, the old ones lasted about 30 years! Good investment

After the measure, and the ordering we use scafolding to safely reach the 16 ft high openings.

After the measure, and the ordering we use scaffolding to safely reach the 16 ft high openings.

We protect any and all surfaces to install such large window shades.

While our installer makes it seem easy, it is not! It takes a certain amount of “experience” to pull off such acrobatics!

These shades have 4 sides for stability and smooth operation. The original 30 year old shades only had 2, one at the top and one at the bottom.

All in! Tip: When looking at skylight shade fabric colors choose the one closest to the ceiling color or a shade darker. This makes for a seamless and elegant look.

All windows allow in the sunlight! I love light and can’t stand a dark room. But too much of the good thing can play havoc on the interiors of our home furnishings and our well being. If you are ready to control the sunlight in your home give us a call or send us a message here! We can serve you with 3 decades of experience and knowledge that the big box store can not! Here comes the sun, are you ready?