Living room windows: light by day, privacy by night

The three approaches that work

Every living room we quote falls into roughly one of these.

• Tier-on-tier shutters — close the bottom for privacy, leave the top open for light. The best answer for street-facing Victorian and Edwardian frontages
• A Roman blind with a quality lining — softness and warmth, ideal for a set-back window that is not overlooked
• A roller behind your own dress curtains, the practical, lower-cost layered option, letting the roller do the work
• Full-height shutters with a mid-rail — one panel, two independently tilted zones

Glare on the screen

Screen glare is a low-angle sun problem, worst in winter afternoons on west-facing rooms. A vertical or a tilting slat handles it far better than anything that only goes up and down, because you can deflect light upwards without losing the whole view.

If a roller is the right look for the room, a solar-screen fabric at a 3–5% openness factor cuts glare while keeping the outlook readable.

Bays, alcoves and radiators

Most Kent living rooms have at least one complication — a splayed bay, a chimney breast alcove, a radiator sitting directly under the sill. Each changes the fitting decision and the drop.

Blinds hanging over a radiator push warm air straight up the glass and out; we usually shorten the drop to sill level or move to a recess fit so the heat reaches the room.