If summers are to feel good about or curse about depends upon where you live on the globe. When it comes to Indian summers, you get varied temperatures across India. But usually, it is hot. So, how do you ensure that summers do not nip upon your peace? We talked about it with the experts of Radvi, best architects in India – more Information about Radvi. It told us that the summer preparation starts well before its arrival. So, how do you ensure that you love summers instead of hating them?
The central area around Delhi and Rajasthan sees brutal summers and winters. Thus, it becomes comparatively harder to deal with things.
Tips from best architects and designers on making a home summer ready!
Summers and winters these years have been challenging all the thresholds till. Global warming is on a rise. Every year we see the temperature breaking the past records – both highs and lows. This means more challenges to face. But there are ways. Here are a few areas that need to get worked on –
- some of these ways work around making architectural changes,
- some around interior design
- and some around renovations
Depending on what your budget is, you can make the impact more or less. Take help from the best architects and builders around you if your house is facing structural issues.
Here are a few tips on how to prepare your home for the Indian summers.
1 – Start with the colour!
We do not mean that you have to change the colour of your walls and get fresh paint. It is a costly affair and troublesome too. But if you are getting your home built, or the paint is pending, get some pastel tones. Pastel cool colours like blue, lavender, tints of white, etc. bring visual calmness to the eyes. The temperature throughout India usually roams on the higher edge. Thus, you’d want to paint your home accordingly.
Apart from the wall colours, you have to change other things too. For example, drapes are a wonderful thing to play with colours. They take up a large portion of the wall and can be easily used to bring visual calmness. Here is what to do –
- Remove your heavy drapes/curtains and replace them with sheer curtains. These curtains let the natural airflow happen and allow natural light to enter too.
- Choose cool and light colours for your drapes.
- Change the colour of the upholstery and your bedsheets too. Use cotton or linen for best results.
- Remove rugs if possible. Rugs and carpets are thick and capture the heat in them. If you want, there are some expensive summer rugs in the market; go for them.
- Use cool lights in the room. It will provide visual calmness.
2 – Remove patterns and textures!
Patterns and textures are two of the main elements of interior design. Every interior design company works over these elements to elevate the home towards heavenly dorms. Get more Information about Radvi and see how it handles interior design with grace and ease.
Patterns have an ability to capture the mind and thus captivate. It creates a sense of boundness and thus makes one feel the heat. You do not have to remove all the patterns inside your house. The idea is not to feel depressed if you love patterns. But you might surely want to remove patterns that are too dense in a given space.
Apart from it, texture is another thing that we humans so dearly experience. It could be the texture of your rug, upholstery, wood, flooring, carpet (if you choose to keep it), etc. Go for smooth textures that feel good to the skin. Harsh textures have the ability to trap heat and thus warm the skin upon coming in contact.
About upholstery: never choose leather, poly, rubber, etc. Choose light cotton for upholstery. Leather traps the heat (just like our skin) and thus creates discomfort for the person sitting over it.
3 – Remove mass from the room!
The more dense the items in your home, the warmer it will be. You might have noticed how hard it becomes for the a.c. to cool down the room in case there are more people inside it. This same happens when there is more furniture in the room.
Mass in interior design means two things –
- the visual mass (how heavy does one thing look)
- the actual mass (how much dense is the thing)
For example, if you put a skirt on a chair, it gains visual mass and thus looks heavy. This is the reason why maharajas wear so much clothing. This also is the reason why animals erect their hair when threatened – to look large and heavy. It is all psychological. And interior design and architecture work on this psychology.
Try to create an open visual space. Remove heavy furniture that you do not use often from the room that you remain in most often. Remove skirts from chairs and sofas.
A room densely packed also traps heat and humidity. This leads to fetid compounds and hotter rooms. Doing these things ensures that your room stays cool.
4 – Give way to the air circulation!
Air circulation must be there in summers. Many people think that it gives way to heat. Well, if there is a loo outside, you sure would want to close the doors and turn on the a.c. But this does not mean you will be compromising on the air circulation. Getting a good architect ensures that the home gets designed to offer good air circulation. We have seen homes that look good from the inside but feel terribly hot in the summers due to air entrapment. Says Radvi, best architects in India must always be sought at the earlier stages.
5 – Give way to greenery!
Plants and trees work as natural coolers. They trap the heat in them and cool the environment around. This is why it always gets advised to use plants and trees in the interiors and exteriors. Furthermore, now is the time that we consider the dire need of flora in our lives.
6 – Stop the sun!
No! We do not mean to shut down the whole business of this Sun. We require the sun to live – just not in the summer noons. Almost all homes have windows facing the sun side. This gives way to the sunlight to enter and warm the interior. You’d want to stop it from happening. The best way is to use awnings. There are adjustable awnings in the market too, if such is your need.
Apart from it, paint your roof with sun-reflective paint. It will stop your room from trapping the direct heat. It is the biggest reason why homes get hotter in summers.
Follow these simple rules and you sure are ready to sip that soothing wine and enjoy your life. Hire some good interior designers from around you to help you out shape your home to face the challenges. Radvi, best architects in India has been serving luxury seekers for over 3 decades. Get more Information about Radvi and consult them for free.