The Benefits of Solar Shades
Every business that isn’t making use of solar shades stands to gain at least a few benefits from this relatively simple technology. Whether you were thinking of adding window treatments to your business or not solar shades are so beneficial that you may begin thinking about it after you see what they can do. Solar shades can cut down on heating costs, make interior equipment and materials last longer and even make the work environment more comfortable if used properly. That’s a lot of benefits that you wouldn’t get to enjoy without using the coverings at your business.
Keeps Heat Out
Solar shades are an excellent investment for businesses in warm climates where interior cooling is a real concern. These shades help keep sunlight out of the office and that prevents some of the heating affect that sunlight has on a building. Installing these shades on every section of your office building will reduce the need to run air conditioning as much which could result in energy savings throughout the year. The amount that such a treatment could save your company depends on how often sunny days occur and how warm the climate is that your business is located in.
Automatic shades can be installed in an office and programed to open and close at specific intervals throughout the day. Using automatic shades helps achieve the best energy efficiency levels and can actually result in a noticeable reduction in cooling costs over time. The technology is worth trying out and can offer real benefits that stand out.
Protects Furniture and Equipment
UV rays are harmful to most furniture and equipment. They wear out paint, fade furniture and break down materials over time. Blocking those rays from getting through will help extend the life of equipment and save the company even more money. The office won’t have to be outfitted with solar-resistant furniture and you can enjoy high-quality pieces for longer than before. Even the walls of the office, the carpeting and hardwood floors will need to be replaced more often if sunlight is allowed to shine through on a regular basis. When you tally up all the damage that sunlight will do to your interior space solar shades offer a good value for the small amount of money they cost.
Reduce Glare
In an office or even a store computer screens are used regularly. Even matte screens suffer from a bit of glare when sunlight is permitted to shine through certain windows. The best way to avoid this issue is to block the sunlight that can come into the room. Solar shades are particularly effective at limiting glare and can help make more affordable screens show up brighter than before. The company will be able to use more affordable equipment and will experience better results with all the displays within a particular room.
If you aren’t sure if you want to add in the window coverings or not take a moment to really consider what they can offer to your office. Not only will they make it look more stylish, but they will also cut down on glare, help reduce cooling costs and even help extend the life of equipment and materials in your office. When you consider all the benefits it makes sense to at least consider solar shades.
If you decide that you want to go with them it makes sense to work with an experienced company like Diamond Drapery to make sure you have a quality product that’s installed properly. Only proper installation and use will create an environment where you’ll see the full potential of solar shade equipment.
Modern Window Treatments Make Rooms More Inviting
It’s a fair assumption to say that most people want their space to feel welcoming and to be pleasant to walk into. That goes even more for an office space. After all, who wants to enter an unwelcoming or bland office each morning and spend the day there working? Adding in a few pieces of art, and switching up the paint color can do a lot to make a room more attractive, but so can altering the window treatments. Window treatments are affordable, and the right change can make a really big difference that’s worth paying attention to.
Brighten up a Dim Room
Choosing the right window treatment can help lighten up a dim room while making it seem larger and more open as well. Light colored treatments help give the space a fresher feeling. A set of blinds that completely block out light can give an office space a dark and unwelcoming feeling, but switching them out for some sheer curtains can give the space a light and airy feel that still helps mute some of the light that would cause glare issues. Carefully choosing the right window treatment can leave you with plenty of natural sunlight but protect against most of the negatives associated with that light.
Liven Up a Neutral Space
Whether you’re sitting in your office, or lounging at home in front of the television you probably don’t want the room to look too dull or uninviting. If most of the décor around the room is a neutral or dark a bright accent here or there will make a major difference. It’s amazing how much a brightly colored or bold patterned window treatment will stand out in an office. Making this one simple change takes a dull and unwelcoming space and turns it into something more personal and much more inviting.
Instead of using a bright color or a bold pattern you can help create a focal point in the room by using natural materials like bamboo to not only filter light but create a standout look. Natural fibers offer a new texture that’s not as flat as most room décor and they look really nice against so many other flat surfaces.
Tone Down Direct Light
Direct light is nice in some rooms of the home such as the playroom, a bedroom in the morning or a sitting room, but in areas like the kitchen or an office direct light can be bothersome and uncomfortable. A set of wood blinds or woven shades take away some of that direct light to create a softer environment. Not only is this more comfortable on the eyes, but it also helps keep the space cooler during those warm months without taking away all the sunlight.
Add in Some Curves
Curves have a natural appeal to them and they are generally much more welcoming than straight lines everywhere. In rooms that don’t have many curvy accents a few curvy valances go a long way to creating a welcoming environment. They help give the windows a more natural feel and help open up the space to make it feel larger. Window treatments are one of the most affordable ways to add curves into any space, and curves work very well in kitchens that are filled with straight lines throughout typically. Small kitchens really benefit from a few added curves.
Getting the window treatments just right to create a welcoming space isn’t always an easy thing to do. If you aren’t sure what changes to make it makes sense to work with a professional who can explain what changes will make the biggest difference. Diamond Drapery is a skilled treatment company that helps homeowners and business owners figure out how to create a more pleasant environment. Get them out to the company to take a look and you should be able to come up with a change that improves your space for the better.
Enhance the Look of Office Chairs with New Upholstery
Commercial businesses go through furniture faster than anyone else. Offices, reception rooms and a variety of other business types are constantly cycling through chairs, beds and sofas. Many times the only reason this equipment is thrown out is because the upholstery starts to show age. It would often be more economical and wise to have the upholstery replaced with something new than to replace the entire piece of furniture. That’s why reupholster companies exist, and they can be an excellent value to the right companies.
A Custom Look
Having existing furniture reupholstered is a good way to take complete control over the way that furniture is going to look when it’s done. Most upholstery companies have a wide variety of fabrics to choose from, allowing you to carefully pick and choose the type of fabric that’s used as well as the actual color and pattern. Having a whole set of furniture reupholstered at the same time will allow you to match it as well as you would like and to give your office space a custom look that you won’t find anywhere else.
Match Different Pieces of Furniture
Many offices are made up of clashing furniture that would look better if it was all the same color or pattern. In some instances you have to replace one piece of furniture before the others because it wore out early, and that leaves you with different colors in one room. A quick fix for this problem is to simply reupholster all the furniture in the room at the same time. No matter what color the furniture was before you get started it will all look the same when the project is completed.
Save Money
Buying furniture can be quite expensive, especially when investing in high quality equipment that’s going to last. A good way to extend the life on good quality furniture that’s starting to look ragged is to have it treated with a new covering of upholstery. Not only will you get to hand pick what the new equipment looks like, but you’ll save a fortune compared to replacing all the furniture. Good quality items are relatively affordable to have reupholstered, but very expensive to replace. Consider both options before you decide to throw out a room full of chairs or benches that are otherwise perfectly good.
Improved Comfort
Chairs that started out uncomfortable don’t have to stay that way when they are reupholstered. You can often have improved padding and enhanced cushioning put into chairs or benches. With a few modifications a hard chair can become soft and forgiving. Redoing the chairs in your office may be the best way to improve their quality, even if the material isn’t worn out yet. It’s amazing what a little bit of quality cushioning can do to a standard chair to make it more enjoyable to use.
Reduce Waste Production
Up until now we’ve only focused on the economic and convenience factors of reusing your current equipment. There’s also an environmental benefit. Any equipment that a company continues to use is equipment that isn’t heading to the local landfill. It’s very common for office furniture to be thrown away and taken away to the dump to be disposed of. This could be avoided by simply refurbishing that equipment and giving it a new life. Not throwing away equipment also saves the company trash fees that could really add up depending on the circumstances.
Every company should consider having good quality furniture reupholstered rather than throwing it away. While it may not be the best option for furniture with a low quality frame, it’s an excellent solution for well-built equipment that could still provide years of service.
Diamond Drapery is a well-known reupholster supplier that can refinish commercial furniture to look stylish and provide a comfortable place to sit once again. All the work is handled in-house, and many upholstery jobs are completed in a timely manner. Try and work with good suppliers when having work done on valuable furniture, and you’ll enjoy higher quality results.
2015 Commercial Window Treatment Trends
Window treatments go in and out of style just as rapidly as any other interior decorating scheme. Remember when wood paneling was the must have item? Well that’s certainly not the case today and the same can be said about certain window treatments.
When you go shopping for treatments for your own office it makes sense to focus on the options that are going to look stylish and accent your office space nicely. Keep an eye on the current trends and you won’t have to wonder if your treatments are stylish or not.
Organic Materials
Organic window treatments such as bamboo or matchstick materials give a space a modern look while also letting in just the right amount of sunlight. The coverings only let in a small amount of light and cut most of the glare in a room. They also provide enough privacy to feel comfortable in a room without having to go without light at all. Organic materials offer a nice mix of features that make them worth considering.
Luxury fabrics
While luxury fabrics will certainly cost your business more money initially they’ll make up for the expense with an improved look and often more long-term performance. Materials like silks, leather, damask and suede are soft to the touch, look very high quality and hold up over time. Consider one of these upscale materials for your next purchase and with the right choice of covering the room will have a high quality feel to it that you won’t get from most other treatments.
Clean Sleek Lines
Bulky window treatments used to be popular and it was quite common to see curtains hanging past windows on either side. Now sleek patterns make a room look more modern, and lightweight solutions are worth considering. A good option is panel track blinds. Not only do they stick close to the frame of a window without going past, they also serve as effective room dividers and allow you to select how much sunlight you want to allow into the room.
Bold Fabrics
Bold fabrics may seem a bit childish to you but they’re actually in style and when used appropriately can give a room a fun feel while making it seem more modern as well. Bright and bold geometric patterns can liven up a space that doesn’t have too many colorful details. It’s not a good idea to mix a bold patterned covering into a room filled with other bold accents, but it will make a real difference in a room that is pretty neutral to start out with.
Solar Covers
Solar coverings started out as a niche product but many businesses are looking to this technology to help reduce heating bills. There are manual and automatic solutions and both can provide adequate sun protection in an office or store environment. They come in a variety of patterns and can blend with most décor without a problem. Consider them if you want to save some money or reduce the glare in a room of the office.
Each one of these treatments can do a lot to make your room stand out and look more stylish. Some even have other purposes like offering privacy, lowering cooling costs and cutting glare in important working spaces with screens.
Picking the actual treatments out isn’t quite as simple as picking an option from this list and sticking it in your office though. It’s tough deciding on the right coverings for your window to really accent it nicely. That’s why so many business owners decide to get help from a professional company like Diamond Drapery to make sure that quality coverings are being used.
The experts at the company can explain the best options for your space, and make sure that you have something stylish while still giving you choices to pick from and leaving you feeling like you are in complete control over the final look. Contact us for commercial window treatment.