Summer is fast approaching. The season of bright sunshine, warm weather, lush greenery, and not to forget cool drinks and cold ice-cream! It’s a season that many of us enjoy and look forward for spending time outdoors and soaking up the sun’s rays. However, the indoors is a different story. Summer brings along with it heat and humidity that can be quite intense, especially when trapped between the four walls of our home. This can make life inside our homes quite unbearable for a few months, from the dawn of day all the way into the night. Listed below are some ways to keep the summer heat outside so that you can stay cool inside.
Blinds
Direct sunlight can cause things to heat up, and this is true for our rooms inside our homes. Keeping our blinds open throughout the day allows for an abundance of sunlight to illuminate every corner of our rooms. Arguably, it lightens up our decor and makes it look very nice. In the case of people who have many plants across the room/house, long periods of direct sunlight is even more important. However, all this comes with the drawback of allowing heat to be generated and stay inside through the night. Simply the blinds closed for a majority of the day prevents too much heat from being generated and makes it easier for the little bit of heat that does get generated to fade away later. Of course, this doesn’t mean we should close it completely and sit in a dark room/home. Opening and closing it in spells of 30 minutes to an hour throughout the day is a good approach.
Windows
Windows allow for fresh air to enter our rooms and eliminate any feelings of stuffiness and claustrophobia, especially if the surroundings are of nature/natural environment. They work in quite the opposite way to blinds. Windows allow for trapped heat inside a room to gradually escape out. Sleeping with closed windows at night can keep the trapped heat inside through the next day morning. The quick fix to this is to leave windows open at night before going to bed. And to prevent the entry of mosquitoes, mosquito nets/meshes will do just the trick. Open windows at night also allow for cool air to enter in, thus hitting two birds with one stone during peak summer.
Decor
We all must be aware by now that darker colours absorb more heat. And the closer the colour is to black, the more heat it absorbs. The colour of our decor has a significant role to play in this regard. Lighter colour decor won’t absorb as much heat as its darker coloured counterpart. If you are on the lookout for lighter decor, some good colours to consider are white, light blue, and so on.
Aside from colours, thickness & material also matter too. Heavier items such as heavy beddings are not conducive to summer weather. Materials like cotton tend to be a lot cooler and breathable too, along with natural options such as bamboo and buckwheat.
Ceiling fans
It’s hard to imagine getting through summer without the help of fans. Fans help circulate cool air around the room and help slow down heat from piling up inside. One useful tip when it comes to ceiling fans is to have them spin counter-clockwise, which is the opposite direction it usually spins in. When ceiling fans spin in this direction, it pushes air downwards resulting in a cool breeze below. How can you tell if your fan is spinning clockwise? Stand under the fan. If you do not feel any air movement directly under, then that means it’s spinning clockwise. Making the switch to the fan’s spin direction requires you to get on a ladder and locate the directional switch on the fan. Simply flip the switch, and feel the difference almost instantly. Once this is done, there won’t be any need for air conditioners that consume loads of electricity – just one ceiling fan in the room should get the job done effectively and efficiently.
Humidity
One overlooked part of summer is the humidity in the air. High humidity gives us a ‘sticky’, sweaty, and overall uncomfortable feeling on days that are even more hot. Reducing humidity in the room’s air can help alleviate these feelings. Some effective ways to decrease humidity in your room are:
- Keeping surfaces dry. This prevents any residual water from lingering in the air as extra humidity.
- Drying laundry outside the room (preferably in the balcony). This ensures that the water on the clothes doesn’t stay in the room in a condensed form.
- Bringing in plants, especially ones that enjoy & absorb moisture. Some examples include Peace Lily, Boston Fern, and Spider Plant.
Keeping out excess heat (and as a result, any discomfort from it) is the result of cumulative actions. No single tip will do the trick. Many such methods have to be done together to keep your room/home cool during the hottest of days. All this effort will allow you to enjoy the best parts of summer while preventing the worst from ruining the sunny season entirely.
Your search for a cool home, both in style and feeling, begins at Valmark. Each of our properties has a chilled out, relaxed atmosphere that is perfect for the summer season. Have a relaxed, refreshed, and rejuvenated living experience in our luxury apartments at Orchard Square, plots at Orchards, exclusive villaments at CityVille, and uber-luxury waterfront homes at Apas. Browse through our homes and shift into a new life of prosperity and convenience! Visit www.valmark.in for more information.
