How to cool a room down: smart shading ideas

Author Lisa CooperHead of Product at Hunter DouglasUpdated 20/05/2026

Curtains hang beside a window adorned with greenery, in a cozy bedroom with a bed, wicker chair, and decorative items. Soft light creates a serene, inviting atmosphere.

Bright ideas to create shade and keep the summer sun at bay

As the days get longer and nights shorter, our homes naturally welcome in more sunlight. While this can lift your mood, it can also lead to overheating and restless nights.

Window dressings are a great solution for managing sunshine. With the right options in place, you can control light, and help keeps your rooms cool - making your home comfortable all season long.

Clarity white voile curtains against wide floor length windows leading to garden

Why rooms overheat in summer

In summer, rooms can start to feel uncomfortably hot due to a natural mix of sunshine and glass. While glass invites daylight in, it also holds onto warmth, allowing floors, walls and furniture to absorb heat throughout the day.

Room orientation plays a part too. North-facing rooms tend to stay cooler with softer light, while east-facing spaces warm in the morning before easing as the day unfolds. South-facing rooms enjoy sunshine for much of the day, and west-facing spaces often feel heat most in the late afternoon.

Understanding why rooms overheat is the first step towards cooling them effectively. With thoughtful solutions, you’ll be able to balance light, heat and comfort during warmer months.

Bailey Taffy curtains and Seraphina Glacier Romans in bedroom

The key to cooling a room: controlling heat

The key to cooling a room is knowing where heat starts - and that’s at the window. When it comes to keeping your house cool in summer, managing how sunlight moves through glass makes the biggest difference. By focussing here, you can create a more comfortable, cooler space throughout the day.

By controlling heat at the window, you stop it before it has a chance to build up inside. The right window dressing helps filter, reflect or block excess warmth while still letting daylight filter in, keeping rooms light, cool and comfortably balanced.

Living room with tall window dressed in blue patterned curtains, soft daylight filtering onto a cosy seating area and layered textiles.

Block heat effectively

With lighter mornings and brighter evenings, sunlight starts warming our rooms early in the day. Without effective shading in place, that warmth can quickly build up, leaving spaces feeling hot and stuffy.

Thermal blinds offer a simple, effective way to block heat at the window. They create a protective barrier that helps reflect heat back towards the glass before it spreads into the room. By slowing heat transfer, thermal blinds help rooms stay cool and indoor temperatures more comfortable.

Thermal curtains also offer cooling comfort. Their thermal lining helps block excess heat from entering and prevents warmth from lingering. Closing them during the hottest parts of the day can make a noticeable difference, helping rooms feel cooler.

A cozy living room features a gray sectional sofa with patterned cushions. A wooden coffee table with books and candles sits on a yellow rug. White shutters cover bay windows.

Let light in while keeping rooms cool

Bright spaces are a joy in summer, and with the right window dressings, you don’t have to choose between light and comfort. Shutters and Voile curtains are designed to let daylight in while keeping rooms cool.

Shutters give you flexible control over sunlight. The adjustable louvres allow you to redirect light, reducing direct heat and glare. When temperatures rise, closing the louvres creates shade at the window, helping to keep rooms cooler.

Voile curtains work in a softer way. The sheer fabric diffuses light, reducing heat at the glass while still allowing sunshine to glow through. The result is a lighter, airier feel, keeping spaces bright and effortlessly cool throughout the day.

Marco Cinder grey perfect fit roller blind in patio door frame with contemporary furniture and grey accessories

Solutions for large glazing

Large glass areas like patio or bi-fold doors are wonderful for connecting indoors with the outside, but in summer they can quickly heat up.

That’s where Perfect Fit blinds really make a difference. Fitted neatly into your window or door frame, they sit flush against the glass, reducing gaps where heat and sunlight can slip through. By limiting heat transfer, they help keep indoor temperatures more stable and rooms feeling cooler.

INTU® Micro Blinds also help cool larger glazed areas. Their pleated fabric diffuses sunlight, while the thermal structure creates an insulating layer at the glass. This slows heat transfer and helps prevent warmth from build-up, keeping spaces cooler and bright.

Bright dining area with wide patio doors fitted with a Fly Screen, opening to the garden and filling the room with natural daylight.

Improve airflow and ventilation

A simple way to cool a room is to encourage fresh air to circulate. Opening windows and doors helps release built-up heat and refreshes your space with cooler outdoor air.

Fly Screens make this easy by allowing windows and doors to stay open while keeping insects out. Acting as a subtle barrier, they support steady airflow through your home, reducing stuffiness and helping rooms cool down quickly.

Cooling conservatories and sunrooms

With so much glass, conservatories and sunrooms can heat up quickly on sunny days. Without proper shading, these spaces can feel uncomfortable during warmer weather.

Conservatory roof blinds, particularly Duette® blinds, are designed to reduce heat build-up. Their honeycomb structure traps air to form an insulating layer, while sun-reflective coatings help bounce heat away before it’s absorbed. This keeps your space cooler on warm days.

Roman blinds offer another solution. They allow you to manage sunlight exactly where it’s needed, shading brighter areas to reduce glare and excess heat while keeping spaces feeling open and bright. Adding a thermal lining will also strengthen heat control in summer and insulation in winter.

Pearl olive green floor length pinch pleat curtains paired with voiles in cosy living room

Layering for better temperature control

Layering window dressings is a beautifully effective way to help keep rooms cool. By combining Voiles and curtains, you have the flexibility to manage heat at the window before it has a chance to spread into the room.

The Voile forms the first cooling layer. Its sheer fabric filters sunlight as it enters, reducing brightness and lowering heat intensity early in the day. This helps keep rooms feeling light and airy.

Drawing the curtains adds a second layer of protection, creating a pocket of air between the window and the room. This natural insulation slows heat transfer, helping prevent warmth from lingering indoors. Simply close the curtains during the hottest part of the day for extra cooling.

Take cooling one step further: shade from the outside

When summer arrives, we naturally open up our homes to make the most of brighter days, but it’s also when indoor temperatures can rise fastest. One of the most effective ways to stay cool is to stop heat before it even reaches your windows. This is where external shading steps in.

Awnings create cooling shade outside your home, protecting windows, patio doors and large glazed areas from direct sunlight. By blocking the sun’s rays before they hit the glass, they dramatically reduce the amount of heat entering your rooms. This helps interior surfaces stay cooler and prevents heat from building up throughout the day.

“With our awning, we can now enjoy being outside for longer and use it as shelter from the sun in very hot weather.”
Sally Cullen, Interiors stylist

Bed with blue headboard and pillows beside a wooden drawer and chair. Vase of pink flowers and books atop drawer. Sunlit room features floral curtains and pink lamps.

Key takeaways: keeping your house cool in summer

Control heat at the window: Blinds, curtains and shutters help block, reflect or diffuse sunlight before it turns into trapped heat.
Work with your room’s orientation: North and east-facing rooms suit light-filtering solutions, while south and west-facing spaces benefit from added shading.
Choose flexible designs: Shutters or Perfect Fit blinds let you adapt as the sun moves, keeping light and temperatures balanced.
Encourage natural airflow: Fly Screens support cooling breezes without unwanted insects.
Layer for better cooling: Layering Vvoiles with curtains helps slow heat build-up.
Shade from the outside: Awnings block sunlight, reducing the amount of heat that enters.