Through a Winter’s Window

It's a scientific fact that heat is attracted to cold. If so, I should be a magnet for every radiator I walk past, a bulls-eye for every sunbeam that breaks through the heavy white clouds, and warm fires would leap from their cages just to toast my cold toes. I am cold all winter long. Unfortunately I am oblivious to any heat that my frozen core might naturally attract. I spend the fall preparing for an onslaught I know I can not escape, and I spend the winter clutched in an embrace I neither care for nor enjoy.

Fortunately I am well suited for hibernation. My home is my sanctum. I look forward to the days where the snow comes down with such haste and fury that work is called off, and we are forced to stay home and settle in. There is always a new page to turn as I recline on my Stressless recliner, or a new ball yarn for me to knit propped up on my Lee Sofa. Hours pass easily with warm casseroles in the oven and savory soup on the stove.

Once in my home I am reminded of the cruel fates of winter only when I pause near the window to watch the cardinals fetch their meager rations from the feeder stationed on my back porch. A cold draft seeps in. No matter how new your windows, how high your R value, Drafts Happen.
Without energy-efficient window treatments, as much as 50% of a home's heating and cooling energy can be lost through its windows.

So back to the sofa I go, but this time armed with my Hunter and Douglas Catalog, and a book fabric swatches in hand. It’s a new year, I need a new perspective, a new view, or maybe just a new set of window treatments from my designer at Paul Rich and Sons.


Here’s how window treatments can help save energy in your home:

Insulation: Many window treatments can significantly increase your R value, measure of a product's ability to resist heat flow—helping reduce energy consumption.

Solar Heat Control: The warmth provided by the sun may be desirable during the winter to help heat your home, yet it can make a room overly hot and uncomfortable while driving up air conditioning costs in the summer.

Daylighting: Daylighting is the practice of lighting rooms with natural light rather than generating illumination from electricity. Sheers and other styles diffuse light as it enters and help to draw it deeper into the room. You can also direct incoming light where it's needed most by titling the louvers, slats, vanes, blinds and panels.