Old-Fashioned Coolness?
The summer sun beats the Cross House. It scares me how hot some rooms get.
So, I have been pondering an old-fashioned option, but one wholly correct for my 1894 house: canvas window awnings.
Such awnings were ubiquitous before WWII but are rarely seen today.
I think this is yummy looking.
An awning sea.
Walmart has this $50 option. But…yawn.
And there are $225 much yummier options galore from other companies. This images show just eight of hundreds of canvas options.
I have been doing a program of installing wood blinds in the windows and this may resolve the sun issue.
But I do love the idea of canvas awnings.
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That would actually be quite gorgeous!
Have a look at black out shades/fabrics. We use them on the sunny side of the house and it’s amazing the amount of heat they deflect.
Nothing fancy needed. We use simple flat panels w/a rod pocket and flat spring rods that sit behind the curtains. With the curtains closed ( as they would be in the heat of the day ) they are completely invisible. I know that some of the blinds have an option to include a black out shade that’s on the street side of the blind. The ones I’ve seen use fabric that’s almost identical to the blind color so they don’t stand out at all.
Ross. Our kitchen has a bank of windows facing east. The morning light is blinding and quite the wake up call as one stumbles into the room each day were it not for a deep red canvas awning installed by the previous owners about three years prior to our purchasing “Stagfield.” We got about four years use before it had to be replaced. I replaced it with a red canvas but with a light gray lining which lent a bit more light to the room — the former deep red being rather oppressive from the inside looking out. This awning lasted almost 20 years. I replaced it last summer but could no longer get two-toned version from my supplier. They recommended Sunbrella material and this time I chose a solid light gray which allows a bit of filtered light while still shading the room, and it reflects heat much better than the deep red. I was quite pleased with the selection and weaves of materials that are available now that weren’t available two decades ago. Our awning is a good 14 feet wide and was arround $500 installed on the existing pulley and galvanized pipe frame. I imagine the complete unit would probably be twice that amount. Just thought I would share this info. I do love awnings. I do retract it when we have heavy snow and or high winds.
My lovely wife and I put awnings on our house in Wichita. We selected the fabric before we had the house repainted, and matched two of the trim colors to colors in the awnings. The owner of the awning company was surprised that a customer cared so much about awnings.
Awnings would keep sunlight off the windows and reduce heat that is gained through the glass, keeping blinds in sunny windows from becoming radiators. Our awnings were mounted on brackets so as to be removable; we thus could have taken advantage of winter heat gain at strategic windows. while keeping the awnings on windows with poor winter exposure to reduce convective heat loss. (We didn’t have a place to store awnings, which are of course much bulkier than storm windows or screens.)
Quite a lovely idea!
I live in the deep south and when it is high summer, my house feels as if it has more windows than walls. After a lot of research, I hit on tinting my windows. Tint has come a LONG way! It is no longer reflective and ugly. It is low key and hardly noticeable While I like the look of the awnings, the tint would be once and done and NOT cover those stunning hard won windows. Plus, in this neck of the woods, the wasps love them some awning! Something to think about!
I absolutely love awnings! go for it!
Are the hottest rooms on the east and south, and the upstairs west rooms? I would think the west porch would help with the heat downstairs, but I’m guessing the rooms on the south are brutally hot in the summer. The awnings are a good idea, as are some of the other heat-blocking suggestions above. I’ll be interested to hear what you decide on.
That is a neat idea, and as you observed, very appropriate. Someone in our old neighborhood restored their Queen Anne and installed some very handsome awnings coordinated to their paint colors, which looked quite nice. I think a retractable type would be nice, as you could get more light when you needed (I don’t know if all the period ones were, but many photos I’ve seen suggest it).
I think the flat panel interior shades sound much more practical from an up-keep standpoint. In Europe you see such panels hanging on the outside of windows.
i just spent two weeks in italy, where the sun is relentless and crazy hot, and their solution is the simplest – operational wooden shutters.
I LOVE canvas awnings,! Go for it, Ross!