Generally making your property as light as possible is something that is considered to be a good way to make your home more spacious feeling and more pleasant to spend time in.
We have all evolved to appreciate natural light, and it also has a great way to making a space look larger and cleaner thanks to the way it brightens a room.
There are times however when too much light can be a bad thing.
For instance, if you are trying to keep your property cool on a very hot day, then having too much light come in through your windows is only going to heat up your property more and cost you more from your air conditioning.
Likewise, if you are trying to get to sleep and you're unfortunate enough to have a lamppost right outside your room - well then that's not going to help.
Knowing how to keep light out of your property then can sometimes be just as useful as finding ways to get more in.
Here we will look at some of the best ways you can make it darker in your rooms.
Shutters Using shutters is a great way to keep light out of your property, particularly if they are made from a sturdy material such as aluminum which will reflect more sunlight away than say a cloth curtain.
At the same time, using shutters you will have more options in terms of how much light you want to let in (you can twist them to let through only slits of light, or leave them flat to make them completely opaque).
Furthermore, because the light is reflected that means it will heat your property up even less.
Another bonus is that you can still have your windows open, meaning that when you want to you can have the cool air coming in but keep all that sunlight out.
Films Using window films you can block out specific wavelengths, or keep water off of your glass.
When it comes to blocking out light, you can use films to just take the edge off the view so that you can enjoy it without being blinded (particularly useful if there is a lot of white in your area) or you can use them to remove UV rays so that the light can't cause burning and so your room will be kept cooler.
Furniture and Décor If you finding that too much light comes into a room at the back of your house and you don't need to be able to access your window, then the way you organize your décor and furniture can make a big difference.
Use darker colours on your walls for instance, and they will absorb more light rather than reflecting it around your room.
Likewise, you can decorate your room so that the light is less likely to make it all the way around the room - place a big wardrobe on the right of your window and that side of the room will be less bright.
Outdoors Another option is to think about what's outside your window.
Sometimes you won't have any say in this, but in other cases if the window backs onto your drive or garden you can consider growing hedges or building up walls.
We have all evolved to appreciate natural light, and it also has a great way to making a space look larger and cleaner thanks to the way it brightens a room.
There are times however when too much light can be a bad thing.
For instance, if you are trying to keep your property cool on a very hot day, then having too much light come in through your windows is only going to heat up your property more and cost you more from your air conditioning.
Likewise, if you are trying to get to sleep and you're unfortunate enough to have a lamppost right outside your room - well then that's not going to help.
Knowing how to keep light out of your property then can sometimes be just as useful as finding ways to get more in.
Here we will look at some of the best ways you can make it darker in your rooms.
Shutters Using shutters is a great way to keep light out of your property, particularly if they are made from a sturdy material such as aluminum which will reflect more sunlight away than say a cloth curtain.
At the same time, using shutters you will have more options in terms of how much light you want to let in (you can twist them to let through only slits of light, or leave them flat to make them completely opaque).
Furthermore, because the light is reflected that means it will heat your property up even less.
Another bonus is that you can still have your windows open, meaning that when you want to you can have the cool air coming in but keep all that sunlight out.
Films Using window films you can block out specific wavelengths, or keep water off of your glass.
When it comes to blocking out light, you can use films to just take the edge off the view so that you can enjoy it without being blinded (particularly useful if there is a lot of white in your area) or you can use them to remove UV rays so that the light can't cause burning and so your room will be kept cooler.
Furniture and Décor If you finding that too much light comes into a room at the back of your house and you don't need to be able to access your window, then the way you organize your décor and furniture can make a big difference.
Use darker colours on your walls for instance, and they will absorb more light rather than reflecting it around your room.
Likewise, you can decorate your room so that the light is less likely to make it all the way around the room - place a big wardrobe on the right of your window and that side of the room will be less bright.
Outdoors Another option is to think about what's outside your window.
Sometimes you won't have any say in this, but in other cases if the window backs onto your drive or garden you can consider growing hedges or building up walls.