A great place to relax, gather with your family or enjoy spending time with your friends, a balcony is transformative in how we spend time and unwind in our homes.

There’s one factor that can prevent you from enjoying time on the balcony: The weather. Direct sunlight and hot temperatures can make it impossible to use the balcony throughout the summer.

Protection from the sun is a must if you want to read books, host social events, or enjoy weekend afternoons with your family on the balcony, and thankfully, there are easy and affordable ways to shade the balcony from both direct sunlight and rain, making the space usable year-round. Curious to learn more? Read on!

#1 You can’t go wrong with a balcony awning

Flexible, affordable, and suitable for various balcony sizes and types, awnings are the go-to way to shade balconies from direct sunlight in the UK. A balcony awning is a perfect choice for homeowners: It is aesthetically pleasing, it is easy to install, and it will transform the balcony into a comfortable and welcoming outdoor space. 

Pros of Balcony Awnings:

• The size, fabric, and style of the awning can be customised to the exact specifications of homeowners, properly addressing their requirements and needs.
• Aside from providing excellent balcony shade, an awning also shields the balcony from rain and increases energy efficiency. It helps you create a cosy balcony that can be used year-round. 
• Homeowners can take advantage of cutting-edge and quality-of-life features when choosing an awning. These include retractable awnings, operability with remote controls, and the possibility to be fitted with wind and rain sensors! 

Cons of Awnings:

• Storms and gales can damage traditional awnings. However, retractable awnings with wind sensors are generally safe as they automatically retract when they detect strong winds.

#2 enjoy protection from the sun with canopies

Similar to awnings, pergolas have several distinctive features: They are permanent structures, often free-standing, and instead of fabrics, often feature glass and metal. Though often found in patios and backyards, canopies can be used to provide shading on the balcony as well, and they offer specific advantages that homeowners should consider. 

Pros of Canopies:

• Canopies are durable structures that withstand extreme weather and can properly shield your balcony whether rain or shine. 
• Pergolas can be fitted with shade blinds for extra privacy or a motorised louvre roof for more fine control over the amount of lighting in the space; Homeowners have options! 

Cons of Canopies:

• Canopies aren’t as flexible or affordable as retractable awnings.
• Due to their larger size vis-a-vis awnings, they don’t fit all types of balconies.

#3 Climbing plants and trees provide natural shade

Throughout human existence, large trees and plants have been used as shelter from hot temperatures and strong sunlight, and this hasn’t changed to this day. Trees and climbing plants, if planted and cared for properly, can create natural lighting for your balcony while providing fresh air and a much-needed touch of greenery to the exterior. 

Perhaps the most time-consuming and expensive method on our list, the results are well worth it if you put in the effort! 

Pros of Plants and Trees for Shading:

• Not only do trees and plants provide natural shade, but they also create a pleasant atmosphere and a welcoming environment.
• Flowers and trees improve the aesthetics of the balcony and give it a natural, pleasant look that’s sure to impress your guests.

Cons of Plants and Trees for Shading:

• It takes multiple seasons for the climbing plants and trees to grow properly and provide sufficient sun protection.
• From watering to pruning, trees and plants need constant care and maintenance, making them a significant commitment that homeowners need to set aside regular time for.

#4 Exterior blinds provide shade and protect against UV Rays

Offering proper shading and complete privacy, exterior blinds are capable of transforming modern balconies into intimate and comfy outdoor spaces homeowners can regularly use. Though exterior blinds can’t be installed in certain balcony types and house layouts, if your property is suitable for exterior blinds, it is certainly an option worth considering. 

Pros of Exterior Blinds:

• Exterior blinds provide complete privacy, allowing you to enjoy your time on the balcony without worrying about prying eyes.
• Exterior blinds provide complete shading, completely blocking sunlight and UV rays. They shine in warmer climates where summer temperatures become unbearable. 

Cons of Exterior Blinds:

• Exterior blinds can be hard to clean and maintain, requiring significant effort and specialised cleaning tools.

#5 Transform your outdoor space with a balcony umbrella

Shade yourself from the sun by installing a stationary cantilever umbrella! Whether it is eating lunch or reading a book during long summer days, the umbrella will create the perfect climate for you to enjoy yourself! 

Pros of Using an Umbrella:

• Portable, you can reorient, relocate, and remove the umbrella depending on weather conditions, type of activity on the balcony, and more. You are in complete control. 
• Umbrellas are affordable and easy to install, making them a great temporary fixture you can readily use to provide shade on a limited budget. 

Cons of Exterior Blinds:

• Umbrellas only provide limited shading and do not cover the entire balcony. This doesn’t matter if you are spending time alone, but if you are planning to spend time with your friends and family on the balcony regularly, an umbrella won’t be enough! 

Awnings are highly customisable and come in a variety of materials, designs, styles, and sizes. Widely deployed in both domestic and commercial settings for several decades, iterative changes and updates to designs and features have continuously made awnings relevant.

The availability of so many choices often makes it hard for homeowners to make a decision. What are the different awning materials? What are their pros and cons? Which awning fabric replacement is best for my property? This blog post will help you answer all these questions.

Polyester Awnings

The most used manufactured fibre worldwide, polyester is resilient, abrasion and wrinkle-resistant, easy to clean, and weather-proof. It is also extremely flexible, so not only do awning fabrics come in various colours, but it is also easy to print high-fidelity logos on them, making them excellent for companies and stores.

There’s a reason it is the most widely used fabric in the world. It doesn’t have many downsides. Being a synthetic oil-based fabric, however, raises some environmental concerns. Though, in recent years, recyclable polyester has made its way to the market and is quickly gaining steam.

Acrylic Awnings

Having low absorbency, being resistant to mould and mildew, and being capable of withstanding UV rays all make acrylic fabric see extensive use in outdoor applications. It is an excellent awning fabric that provides ample protection from the elements all while being durable and flexible.

Acrylic fabric isn’t without its downsides, however: It is prone to piling and sensitive to heat. While its low absorbency is a great advantage when withstanding rain, it also means acrylic awning fabrics don’t absorb dyes well, meaning they come in a limited set of colours and styles.

Aside from acrylic fabric being a popular option for awnings, acrylic coating is also regularly used. Applying an acrylic coating to polyester or cotton gives it a unique sheen and additional protection against the weather. This has made acrylic awnings popular with homeowners!

Keep in mind acrylic coating and fabric aren’t made from the same fundamental materials and are only tangentially related.

Canvas Awnings

Though synonymous with drawing canvas boards today, canvas fabric is one of the oldest and most durable fabrics in the world and has seen and continues to see widespread use for making sails, backpacks, tents, and yes, awning fabrics.

Canvas moreso refers to the style of weaving the fabric rather than the materials used, and this is why we have several types of canvas fabric:

• Cotton Canvas Fabric

historically the most common type of canvas fabric, cotton is flexible, durable, and easy to stretch. It has seen widespread use as rugs, clothes and bedding. However, due to its low availability and stretchability, it isn’t the best awning fabric.

• Polyester Canvas Fabric

With the invention of polyester in the 20th century, it quickly took over cotton as the most commonly used material to produce canvas fabric. It isn’t as flexible as cotton, but its lack of stretchability and affordability make it a great choice for many applications.

• Polyester-cotton Canvas Fabric

Though they certainly exist, it is rare to find canvas fabric made 100% from polyester or cotton on the market. Rather, widely available canvas fabrics feature varying mixes of polyester and cotton to offer the best of both worlds. Poly-cotton canvas awnings have the flexibility of cotton and the affordability of polyester.

Vinyl Awnings

Though associated with construction work, not only is vinyl (PVC) commonly used to produce textiles, but vinyl fabrics are popular for their excellent protection from UV rays, durability, and reliability. They are commonly used in awnings, boats, and other outdoor applications.

There are many advantages to going with vinyl awnings: They’re easy to clean, affordable, and long-lasting. You even have a large selection of vinyl fabrics to choose from, so you can find one that perfectly suits your property.

This diversity is also its greatest downside. Unlike cotton, which is a natural material, there’s no universal agreement on how vinyl fabrics should be produced. So, the actual quality of vinyl awnings varies significantly depending on the manufacturer. You have vinyl awnings that are great and embody all the advantages of vinyl and ones that feel cheap, are tough to repair, and crack in mere months to years.

Metal Awnings

Relatively out of vogue today, metal awnings were once very popular and a feature of domestic and commercial properties in the UK. Metal awnings don’t feature a piece of fabric, rather, they’re entirely built from metal, usually either steel or aluminium.

Unsurprisingly, metal awnings are second to none in durability and longevity. They provide black-out shading, which is great during the summer months. They can also be engraved and embroiled, which opens a lot of design space to make the awning look unique.

All these benefits come with severe limitations. You have no control over shading, your choices of designs and features are heavily restricted (e.g. you can’t have retractable metal awnings), and your awning might be susceptible to rusting and corrosion.

Fibreglass Awnings

Fibreglass awnings, featuring glass panes, are unique in the sense that while they are technically awnings, they provide little of the practical applications of awnings. They don’t offer adequate shading, aren’t retractable, and can’t be deployed anywhere. They, however, do shelter the space from wind and rain.

Fibreglass awnings are for home and business owners who are more after the unique aesthetics of awnings. Being translucent and letting light in makes fibreglass awnings a great set piece in high-end gardens and commercial buildings. However, being inflexible and expensive limits their use.

Providing more warmth and ample natural light, south-facing windows are highly desirable in the UK. Rooms that are south-facing are often turned into living rooms, halls, and other gathering spaces.

Being central to the home’s appeal and comfort, choosing the right blinds for your south-facing windows is key to bringing the best out of your rooms! This blog post will guide you through the best blinds for their south-facing windows.

Best Blind Types

Roller Blinds

Practical, affordable, and capable of partially regulating heat and sunlight, roller blinds are a middle-of-the-road choice that while not particularly excelling at anything, does its job well as a blind for a south-facing window.

Exterior Blinds

Exterior blinds offer excellent cover, maximise space, and provide exceptional privacy. This is all doubly true for a south-facing window where protection from the sun and heat is paramount! 

In addition to staving off excessive heat, exterior blinds are excellent at insulating your interior and furniture pieces from harmful UV rays. This in combination with the excellent privacy they provide has made them the blinds of choice for larger halls and living spaces. If you want safety-first blinds that maximise comfort and space, you can’t go wrong with exterior blinds. 

Venetian Blinds

The simplistic elegance of Venetian blinds has made them a classic in households for centuries, and they’re not out of vogue yet. They make for a perfect match with a south-facing window as, aside from having excellent aesthetics, they give you fine control over the amount of light coming in.

Roman Blinds

Roman blinds don’t give you the same control over shading that Venetian blinds give you, but they more than make up for it in versatility and design. Homeowners have the choice of a multitude of designs and shapes to choose from – they can pick the Roman curtains that complement their south-facing rooms best!

Pleated Blinds

Though not popular in the UK, pleated blinds dominate much of the market in the rest of Europe. These thin, lightweight blinds provide sufficient shading while maintaining great air circulation. If you want constant fresh air in the room, these are the right blinds for your windows!

Traditional Curtains

We’d be remiss to not mention traditional curtains when discussing window coverings. Though they’ve fallen out of favour recently, they’re as elegant and chic as ever, and while they’re not compatible with more modern interior design trends, if you have a period home or a traditional layout, you should consider traditional curtains.

Picking the Right Blinds

After choosing the blind type you want to go for, you need to decide on its fabric, style, colour, and more. These aren’t easy decisions – here are the key things you need to consider:

Getting Aesthetics Right

Their functionality isn’t the only relevant property of blinds, their aesthetics, and how they impact the design, layout, and atmosphere of the room arguably matter more. If the south-facing window overlooks the front of your house, the blinds will influence your property’s curb appeal as well!

There are no hard and fast rules in interior design – There are basic axioms like the style and colour scheme of the blinds should match and complement the room, but beyond that, the qualities you should look for in blinds will depend on your preferences.

Insulation and Heating

Not only relevant for the summer heat but for winter as well, it is important to consider how your window coverings impact the insulation and heating in your home. Here, everything from the colour of the blinds to the fabric and its thickness matters.

Thicker, larger curtain fabrics provide better insulation during both summer and winter. In winter, they absorb more heat; in the summer, they can completely block light from the sun, keeping the interior cool. The colour of the fabric matters, as well: Darker colours absorb more heat and are considered “warmer,” lighter colours vice versa.

Motorised or Regular Blinds?

Another choice you have to make is whether you want to go for motorised or regular blinds. The former has become increasingly popular with homeowners, and it can make for an excellent addition to a south-facing window, allowing you to control the amount of sunlight on the fly with a remote control!

Motorised blinds’ only downside is that being designed to be fully operated electrically puts a limit on how they’re designed and styled. Traditional long curtains, for example, don’t have motorised variants. For many popular blind types, like Venetian, Roman, and Exterior blinds, however, excellent and affordable motorised variants are readily available!

Considering Alternatives to Blinds

If you want to create shading and improve the interior design and curb appeal of the home, blinds aren’t the only option. There are alternatives definitely worth considering. 

Take awnings for example. Much like blackout blinds, they can completely block out sunlight, create shading on demand, and improve the exterior appearance of your property. But they also have additional benefits like creating outdoor spaces that are usable year-round. If you have a patio or a balcony, an awning could be the right choice! 

Flexible, affordable, and practical: These are the common terms you usually hear when retractable awnings are mentioned, and this has been reflected in their recent popularity in the UK. Are motorized awnings really worth it? Should you consider a retractable patio awning for your home? Do they have any utility for shop owners? We’ll answer all these questions in this blog post by going over the pros and cons of retractable awnings!

Pros of Retractable Awnings

#1 Creates a Space Usable Year-Round

Retractable awnings do an excellent job of regulating weather by creating shading, obscuring direct sunlight, and blocking drizzles and wind. Whether it is a store or a home patio if you want the space to be comfortable, a retractable awning does remarkably to ensure the space is usable year-round!

#2 Flexible

A retractable awning is extremely flexible both in its application and use. It can be installed anywhere from balconies to gardens, patios and storefronts, and it comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and designs to best match your needs.

A modern retractable awning is also operable through remote controls, has wind and rain sensors, and can be integrated into smart home systems: No need to operate the awning manually and no need to worry about potential wind or rain damage.

#3 Increases Property Value

Thanks to a surge in popularity, homes with retractable patio awnings and garden awnings have seen their value appreciate due to rising demands for these properties. This means that aside from all its utilities, retractable patio awnings can be a great investment that can make up for their costs partially or in full if you ever sell the property.

#4 Improves Store branding

Not just for homeowners, a retractable awning is a great place to prominently display your store name and logo. It helps your store stand out from the background and ensures potential customers can spot your business more easily.

Long have gone the days when branding didn’t matter for brick-and-mortar stores, and embellishing your logo on a retractable awning is an affordable and effective way to establish yourself!

Gives the Property A Visual Flare

Aside from all its practical uses, retractable awnings also give the space a visual flare. Thanks to a choice of hundreds of fabric designs of different sizes and colours, home and business owners can use the awning to complement the design and improve the atmosphere of the space!

#5 Environmentally friendly

Not only are some awnings made from, at least partially, recyclable materials, but they can be used as an alternative to air conditioning for temperature control. Air conditioners are inefficient, consume a lot of energy, and are responsible for a sizable portion of global gas emissions.

Motorised awnings, on the other hand, consume minimal electricity and the shading they provide is more than enough to combat summer heat in the UK!

#6 Protects Furniture Pieces from Degradation and Discolouration 

Direct sunlight and UV rays are harmful to furniture. They not only cause discolouration, but they can even damage the wood fibres of chairs, benches, etc. The shading a retractable awning provides can protect your patio furniture pieces and ensure they continue to stay in stellar shape.

Cons of Retractable Awnings

• Requires Maintenance

To ensure a retractable awning is looking and operating at its best, it needs to be regularly maintained. This just doesn’t mean lubricating the awning and scrubbing its fabric, but it also means making sure it is properly retracted and protected during overly bad weather conditions.

• The Upfront Cost Can Be High

The upfront supply and installation costs of a retractable awning can be considerable, especially if the installation process is complex. This can dissuade some homeowners from considering a retractable awning. However, awnings are a good investment, and the appreciation in your property value will make up for the costs.

There are also more affordable, simpler, non-retractable awnings available that are worth considering! They are neither as flexible nor useful as modern, retractable ones, but they get the job done if minimising cost is your highest priority.

Are Retractable Awnings Worth It?

The answer is a simple yes if the recent popularity of awnings is anything to go by. Many homeowners find them practical, affordable, and reliable – a great value! 

However, ultimately, only you can decide whether an awning is worth it for you or not. Will you take advantage of all the utilities retractable patio awnings provide? Do the style and design of an awning appeal to you? Do their pros outweigh their cons? Considering these questions will help you answer whether awnings are worth it in your particular circumstances or not. 

Whether you want to create a homely gathering place outdoors, like to organize parties and events in your home, or take advantage of the space outdoors for practical reasons, creating and designing living spaces outdoors is more popular than ever.

However, designing an outdoor space can be challenging. The approach needs to be completely different from designing the interior, not only because of the distinctions between the two but also because it will diminish what makes an outdoor living area special!

In this blog post, we’ll go over several ideas and tips that will help you design your outdoor space. Whether it is an outdoor living room, an outdoor kitchen, or an outdoor gathering space, you’ll be able to create an attractive, appealing, and comfortable space if you follow these tips!

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