Skylights (or rooflights) add an incredible sense of space and airiness to a room. They open up your ceiling and flood your space with natural light.
However, skylights can introduce excessive heat during the summer and cold drafts in the winter. They can also create glare, which you don’t want when you’re trying to enjoy TV or a perfect nap.
Window shades for your skylight can help! In this guide, we’ll share with you what has worked best for our clients through the years.
Use Room Darkening Shades Where You Need Light Control
If you’re in a media room or bedroom, then room darkening shades will likely be your best bet.
Certainly, your TV will look a lot nicer without reflections in it.
If you have a skylight in a room where you enjoy sleeping, then room darkening shades can make your sleep a lot nicer. Studies show that people get higher quality sleep when as much light as possible is blacked out. (This is why it’s easy to get an amazing night’s sleep when you’re in a hotel room.)
There are other spaces too where you may appreciate the option to shut out the glare from your skylight. Perhaps the afternoon sun is just too bright and hot for your kitchen. In this case, you might want more than a a partial reduction. A room-darkening shade will let you cut out as much light from your skylight as possible when desired.
Use Honeycomb Shades to Control Heat
In other spaces, heat control is likely your main objective.
Since skylights are on your ceiling, they let in a lot of direct light. This brings with it much more heat than the indirect light you receive throughout most of the day from the windows on the side of your house.
All this can run up your air conditioning bill, and with it, the constant noise of airflow.
For these circumstances, we recommend honeycomb shades. These shades come with insulation that traps air in pockets.
There are three great options here:
- Duette® Honeycomb Shades – one level of insulation
- Duette Architella® Honeycomb Shades – two levels of insulation thanks to a “honeycomb within a honeycomb” design
- Room darkening shades – super effective at blocking heat since they block out so many rays of light
All of these options are sufficiently energy efficient that you’ll likely qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $1,200. A nice perk!
Soften Light with Sheer or Semi-Sheer Shades
If darkening your room or controlling heat aren’t big priorities, you might want to consider semi-sheer or sheer shades.
These give you natural light with a luxurious “smooth” look. (The material will not be opaque like with room-darkening shades. And there are no horizontal lines like you see on honeycomb shades.)
The primary function of sheer or semi-sheer shades is to filter and soften sunlight. They’ll also give you some glare reduction and heat control, just to a lesser extent than your other options.
Pick Your Fabrics Carefully
Your architect likely imagined your skylight as a beautiful focal point to enhance your room. As a focal point, it’s crucial to choose a window covering that coordinates with the other elements in your room, particularly your wall colors and furniture colors.
You can use free color scheme designers online, or you can consult with an interior designer or window designer.
With the right fabric, your skylight can look better with a fitted window covering than it did without. The secret is to get the style, material, texture, and color to enhance the look of your room.
Can You Use Blinds for Skylights?
You can use blinds for skylights. However, we’d recommend comparing pictures on Google between “skylight blinds” and “skylight shades”. In our opinion, shades provide a more seamless, integrated look that enhances the beautify of sky illumination.
The slats on skylight blinds don’t always close tightly, so they can let in more light than you want. In our experience with skylights, shades give you the best light control.
Use the Magic of Automation
Imagine: As the sun comes directly overhead, and the bright rays burst through your window, your shades shut automatically to block out the light.
That’s what you can achieve with PowerView® Automation.
Some people are all about automation. Others are a little more reserved.
Here’s what we’d say that you might want to consider:
On most days, you’re either busy working or busy relaxing. Each chore in your day takes some mental energy to remember, effort to complete, and time out of your life.
As a result, many people who don’t automate end up just leaving their skylight shade shut full-time. While you can do this, it really limits your ability to enjoy your skylight.
Your architect intended to provide you with a beautiful amenity. Do you owe it to yourself to enjoy that amenity the way it was designed to be seen and used?
Automation gives you the best of both worlds: an open skylight for when you have pleasant indirect light, and a shaded skylight when you have harsh direct light or excessive heat. And you can get both without having to think about opening and closing your shades every day.
You can power your motorized shades with rechargeable batteries, plug-in systems, or hardwiring. You can set up automation to sync with the time of day. You can also use a remote, app, or voice assistant to control your skylight shade. And, you won’t have a wand hanging from your window.
So, there are a lot of advantages. The question is, will automation help you enjoy your window more?
Cost for Skylight Shades
The cost for skylight shades will depend on the size of your window, the type of shade you choose, your fabric, and your control system (manual or automated).
While skylight shades may be an upfront investment, you can often qualify for tax credits. You’ll definitely save on your energy bill. Plus, you’ll get more enjoyment out of windows when you can craft the light to best suit different conditions at different times of day.
Want to Explore Shades for Your Skylight?
If you live in Idaho, we’re happy to take a look at your skylight, learn more about your goals, and give you advice around options for enhancing your window with shades.
We offer options from leading manufacturers: Hunter Douglas, Graber, and Insolroll. So, you’ll get to consider all the best options for your windows.
Our experts are also design professionals with years of experience. So, we can easily help you choose the right look and color to complement your interior design.
If you’d like to see amazing skylight options that can make your home more beautiful and comfortable, request a design consultation today.
