This weekend it’s Easter and the start of British Summer Time. But wasn’t Spring Equinox just last week? Yep. One’s nature, the other’s legislation. All we care about right now is that the weather is improving (in its own way) and that means it’s time for your thoughts to turn to the best shading for your home.

Four out of five of the hottest summers in England have occurred since 2003. Heatwaves have become a new feature of the British summer. Blinds, shutters and awnings may be decorative soft furnishings, but the shading they provide supports our personal comfort and also helps our home’s energy efficiency and therefore the environment.

The best shading for your home will help to create sustainable, energy-efficient buildings by helping to retain heat during the winter and reject heat in the summer. You can upgrade your home simply by having effective blinds, shutters or awnings installed. All this, just because you discovered the best shading for your home.

The best shading for your home will help you stay cool

As summers get warmer in the UK, shading can help us stay cool, especially when we’re trying to get a good night’s sleep. If you live in a high-rise flat, you may find your home environment is more prone to heating up. The same applies to any home with poor ventilation. And as we all take care to make sure our homes are insulated properly for the colder months, this in turn means our homes keep the hot air in during summer too.

To help prevent your home from becoming a steam cooker in hot weather, keep your blinds and shutters closed during the day when the sun is at its most powerful. Oddly, you’ll want to keep the windows closed too. This may seem counter-intuitive, but an open window allows hot air to circulate into your home. When it’s night, and cooler, open your windows and let the (hopefully) cool air in. This will cool the building, and ventilate it too. Healthy air needs to be able to get into the building, and bad air, the kind that causes mold, needs to be able to escape.

By protecting yourself, your home and your furniture from the glare of the sun, you’re maintaining a comfortable environment as well as taking care of your health. With the best shading for your home, you can enjoy your conservatory, or your beautiful large glass doors and windows, by ensuring they’ve been fitted with the right kind of blinds for your needs. Roller, Vertical, Pleated and Cellular blinds can all be made from fabrics that reflect the heat of the sun away from your home.

The best shading for your home is an awning

You might be surprised to discover that the best shading for your home is an awning. By shading the area outside of your window, the glare and heat from the sun don’t get a look in. This in turn keeps the rest of your house cooler. As well as increasing your living space in the summertime, awnings can provide the best shading for your home.

The best shading for your home will help you stay warm

When winter comes, shading will still play its part in keeping your home comfortable because the best shading for your home will insulate your home from the cold too. Research has shown that blinds and shutters can reduce heat loss through your windows by up to 33%.

When buying the best shading for your home, you’ll want to consider the energy-saving properties of the blinds and shutters. Cellular blinds, with their honeycomb design, provide increased insulation, which means lower energy bills as more heat is kept inside your home.

The best shading for your home saves you money and protects the environment

When it’s hot, and you have the best shading for your home, you may find you don’t need any additional air conditioning. This is why it helps to keep the blinds drawn during a hot day, and open your windows when it’s cooler at night. This passive cooling can eliminate the need for any additional cooling devices and the costs of running them. Then come winter, with the best shading, and insulating, blinds for your home, you won’t need to crank the heat up so high, and you’ll still be able to stay cosy and toasty in your home.