How to Keep Your Home Cool This Summer
This summer has already broken records that stood since 1976, the UK is now regularly seeing days over 34°C, love it or loath it, let’s talk about how we can stay comfortable indoors. We work across everything from listed properties to new-build apartments. If you're in a period property, you must be grateful for the thick stone walls. The thermal mass soaks up heat slowly through the day and only releases it once it's cooler outside, often why an old stone house feels cooler than a modern one in a heatwave. Newer homes don't have that mass to lean on, which makes the choices below matter even more, not less. Keeping a house comfortable through a summer like this comes down to a handful of deliberate choices, and it isn't just about the windows.
Middlethorpe Interiors is an interior design studio in York, North Yorkshire. Led by SBID accredited interior designer, Ann Allan, Middlethorpe offers full-service interior design, soft furnishings & upholstery, design consultancy and virtual design services to homeowners in Yorkshire. Explore our Yorkshire interior design services, whether you have a townhouse, country home or are looking for expert interior design input through a Colour Consultation.
Know your house before you fight the weather
The most effective thing costs nothing at all, you need to know your house. Every home has an aspect, and the sun moves through it in a pattern you can learn and work with. As a designer I split my time between home and the studio, when home I rotate curtains, blinds and windows through the day to work with the sun. The moment the sun's on the front of the house, everything at the back, curtains, blinds and windows open. It may sound like a hassle, but it takes minutes, and it does more than any single product you could buy. For those of you utilising smart technology in your homes, this simple routine can be programmed into your home app once and used on repeat.
Shade before you ventilate
The next biggest difference comes from blocking the sun before it turns into heat inside the room. External shading, shutters or awnings fixed outside works very well as it keeps the sun off the glass itself, though on a period property that usually means listed consent. Curtains and blinds work differently: the sun still reaches the glass, but a well-chosen curtain or blind stops much of that heat from travelling further into the room, no permissions needed. Close everything on the sunniest side of the house first thing, and the room stays noticeably cooler by mid-afternoon.
The benefits of Window film and sheer curtains
Window film is one of the most effective things you can do at a window: applied to the inside of the glass, it cuts solar heat in summer and helps retain warmth in winter, with barely any visual difference and no permissions needed. That's why so many period homes already have it fitted. Where a house holds notable art, antique fabrics, flooring and furniture, UV protection matters as much as temperature: without it, treasured items will fade.
Many of us live with pets, and they can't just move to a cooler part of the house the way we can. Sheer curtains work well too, hung alone or behind the main curtain and pulled across on their own during the day to cut glare and take some heat out, without shutting the room away completely. Neither matches proper shading for effectiveness, but both are easy wins, not glamorous, but exactly what protects what a client actually cares about, and far less invasive than replacing the glazing.
What stops a draught also stops the sun
Thermal and interlined linings are often thought of as 'a winter thing', bought to stop a draught in the cold months and not applicable for the rest of the year. Did you know they keep heat out in summer just as well as they keep it in over winter. Blackouts are a 'bedroom or nursery treatment only, bought for a good night's sleep and rarely considered elsewhere, even though a sitting room or home office that bakes all afternoon would benefit just as much. It's also a considered choice where fading is a concern: blocking that much light protects fabric, flooring and finishes from sun damage, not just the room from heat.
Look beyond the windows
Curtains and blinds aren't the whole picture. Ceramic, stone and wood floors all help cool a room simply by not holding onto heat the way carpet does. Wood comes with one caveat: without proper protection at the windows, direct sun will fade it, or turn it orange, over time, one more reason a well-lined curtain or window film earns its keep. Where flooring and shading aren't enough on their own, that's usually the point a client starts asking about air conditioning.
Isn’t it just a load of hot air?
Open windows in the day and you're often letting warm air in, not cool air out. Better to keep everything closed and shaded while the sun is up, then open opposite sides of the house in the evening and again first thing, so air moves through rather than sitting in one room. I don't know about you, but I've been sneezing nonstop these past few weeks. We're surrounded by farmland here, and the harvest kicks up as much dust as it does pollen. A good purifying fan earns its keep in weather like this, and not just for the breeze. Ours, a Dyson TP14 Find+Follow, tracks you round the room and directs the airflow to follow, rather like being trailed by Nala or Bentley, neither of whom is ever far from my side. It stays on most evenings, and its HEPA filter catches pet dander and pollen along with everything else, worth knowing if there's a dog in the house as much as if there's hay fever.
The air con conversation
We are talking more and more about Air conditioning in our projects. Nothing else cools a room as reliably, but it needs an outdoor condenser, draws real electricity, and runs on a refrigerant gas, all carrying a genuine environmental cost even with newer refrigerants. The indoor unit, usually a plastic box mounted high on a wall ruins the vibe. Increasingly clients are requesting this. We love a challenge, so I’m always keen to find a way to make it disappear rather than let it dominate. We might be working it into a beautiful piece or cabinetry or commissioning a decorative grille.
Remember
Anything that changes the exterior of a listed building, awnings, shutters, new or replacement glazing, an air con condenser, needs consent first, and getting it wrong can affect both the building,your insurance and pocket. Standard window film is usually the exception, since it's applied internally and doesn't alter the building's appearance. It's worth taking advice early, particularly if a room's been uncomfortable for more than one summer. There's usually a way to solve it without altering the building at all.
None of this is about making a home feel shut up against the weather. Done well, it still feels like a house with the doors open, just one that's thought about where the sun actually falls. If a room in your home has never quite worked in the heat or you're interested in window film we'd be glad to help you.
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Whether it's a single room that's never quite worked or a full renovation, we'd be very pleased to hear from you.
Middlethorpe Interiors is a Yorkshire interior design studio offering full interior design, single room design, virtual design, colour consultancy and bespoke interior services for homes across York, North Yorkshire and beyond.