How to Keep the House Feeling Cool and Looking Good
Summer can be unbearable in ill-prepared homes, but air conditioners are often inefficient and expensive to maintain, and it can seem excessive to keep it running 24/7. But closing the blinds makes a house dark and dreary, and no one wants to fill a house with cheap plastic floor fans. If you’re looking to keep cool over the summer, then here are some tips you can try without running the air-con that will improve your home decor too.
Look at your ceiling fan
Ceiling fans have fallen out of favour with some style-conscious homeowners, but the latest fans are much trendier than the old-fashioned white-plastic panels! Ceiling fans also cost up to 20 times less to run than an air conditioner, which helps your bottom line. A range of modern and unobtrusive ceiling fans are available online in metallic, wooden and plastic materials to suit most homes. If you have a good fan, then look at the rotation of your fan, so the cold air is being pushed down into the room again, and the warm air rises to the ceiling. The breeze is incredibly satisfying on a hot, sticky day!
Switch to LED lights
If you haven’t ditched your old incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs, then it’s time to start. Incandescent bulbs work by passing electricity through a tungsten wire filament until it glows with visible light, which means it generates heat as well as light. LED bulbs use less energy which makes them cheaper to run and because they generate no heat, several lights running at once won’t warm up your room the way traditional incandescent bulbs do. They also last much longer than traditional light bulbs, so you’ll save money in the long run by avoiding all those constant replacements.
Change up your landscaping
If your yard space is large enough to include trees or hedges, then consider investing in a natural cooling method by planting trees in strategic areas that will shield your home from the sun. Broad, deciduous trees planted on the sides of your property that receive the most afternoon sun will in time provide a natural screen for your windows and doors, and you won’t need to get the shades down to keep cool. Shrubs or hedges that provide shade for walkways and driveways are also effective – the concrete or paving can get considerably hot in the sunlight during the day, and will radiate heat long after the sun has gone down.
Dine outdoors
Large appliances like ovens and stoves generate a lot of heat! There’s no need to sweat over a hot stove if the weather is nice enough to go outside. Make the most of long summer evenings by cooking and eating in the open air and keep that hot air out of the house. Cold drinks and frozen food will also help you feel cool. Give your balcony or patio a refresh with some comfy new outdoor chairs that will make you want to stay outside, and encourage friends and family to come outdoors when they visit.
Dining outdoirs is an aweome idea. Plus let the doors and windows open to make the fresh air and natural light comes in.
My husband is asking me to buy a ceiling fan for our living room. I guess reading your blog about it is a sign 🙂
Great tips for these warm and hot weather. Thanks for sharing.
XOXO
All of these tips are very timely for me except for the dining outside because it’s sweltering in Louisiana right now. Great tips and thank goodness for pocket doors to close off the the kitchen from the rest of the house while cooking!
You are right. Cooking outdoors during the summer if you can is a good thing to keep the house cool. I need to do more of that this summer.
We have a home with a lot of shade that when you look for it on google maps, all you see are the trees. I love the shade they provide but sometimes I fantasize having a ton of sun shining everywhere. We have picture windows so it does get warm in the summer… Oh well, win some lose some. 🙂
I so needed this post!!! My boyfriend and I live in a log cabin up in the Rocky Mountains without A/C. This is our first summer here and it gets SOOOO HOTTT!!! We don’t actually have a full functioning kitchen so we usually grill outside on the patio but we’ve noticed that our living room gets the hottest from streaming Netflix on the Xbox. I’m definitely to use your tips to try to cool us down.
I do a lot of these! Only we can’t eat outside. Too many flies. But we do have a lot of ceiling fans.
Great tips!!! I totally agree with not using the oven as much! It makes me sad to not bake as much, but now we get to grill so it makes up for it! 🙂
Such great tips. I struggle with the design so much in our front room.
Those are good tips for keeping the house cool. I love my ceiling fan and it does help keep our living room cool. We don’t eat out every day of the summer, so I try to do crock pot meal instead of turning on the stove or oven.
I live in Florida so I know all too well about the summer heat. Thank you for the tips. I will definitely apply some of them in my household.
I have seen a big difference since I switched to led lights in the house. They do not get hot at all. I keep the blinds closed to keep the heat out during the day and open the windows at night to let the cool air in.
These are such great tips! I switched to LED lights not that long ago!
It’s when it’s super warm like it has been this week that I wish we had a ceiling fan, especially in our bedroom. I’ve been literally melting.
these are great tips. I am in a flatshare just now so it’s not looking really good. BUt I shall remember these tips when I have my own flat! xx corinne
I am a huge fan of LEDs and have switched all my bulbs. I also use fans to circulate air while keeping my AC temp at 78 to 80.
Ceiling fans are so underrated and way too many jump on the AC bandwagon. As if those look nicer.. I don’t get it. Love your home, it is totally my style. I love clean and tidy spaces, symmetry and the absence clutter.
Your home looks beautiful! I´m unfortunately so bad in making my home look nice…. So I´m really loving your tips
Great tips! I’m also trying to be a little more environmentally conscious these days as well, so not busting an air conditioner 24/7 is something I’m trying to do. Lots of good things to try here. Thanks for pulling this together!