What Has Summer 2026 Taught Us About Keeping Our Homes Comfortable?
There are some things you only really notice when the weather puts your home to the test.
A room that feels lovely and bright for most of the year can suddenly become almost unusable on a hot afternoon. Large bifold doors can turn an extension into the warmest room in the house. A patio that looked perfect in spring can have very little shade when you actually want to sit outside.
Summer 2026 has certainly given homeowners plenty of opportunity to find those problem areas.
This isn't simply a feeling that we've had a particularly warm spell. England recorded its warmest June on record, while July's UK average temperature was around 2°C above the 1991–2020 average. The Met Office has said another record-breaking summer has become increasingly likely.
So, what can we learn from it?
- Shading is easier to plan before the room becomes too hot
We regularly speak to people once a heatwave arrives and a conservatory, bedroom or kitchen extension has already become uncomfortable.
At that point, everybody else has usually discovered the same problem.
A better approach is to make a note now of which windows caused the problem, what time of day it happened and where the sun was coming from.
That information can be surprisingly useful when choosing a blind or external shading solution.
A west-facing room struggling with low afternoon sun may need something quite different from a south-facing glazed extension exposed to strong sunlight for much of the day.
- More glass means shading needs to be considered properly
Modern houses often have much larger areas of glazing than homes did in the past.
Bifold doors, sliding doors, roof lanterns, gable windows and large picture windows give us wonderful natural light, but they can also introduce more solar heat and glare. https://etienne.org.uk/Gable/
This is where simply choosing a blind because you like the fabric isn't always enough.
At Etienne, we look at the window itself, its position, how you use the room and what you're actually trying to achieve.
Sometimes the priority is heat.
Sometimes it's glare on a television or computer screen.
Sometimes it's privacy without making a room dark.
And frequently, it's a combination of all three.
- You don't necessarily want to block all the daylight
One of the most common misunderstandings about shading is that keeping the sun under control means living in a darkened room.
It doesn't.
Products such as top-down/bottom-up blinds allow you to position the blind where privacy or glare control is needed while still allowing daylight into another part of the window.
Luxaflex® DuoMotion™, for example, combines an electrically controlled top bar with a manually adjustable lower bar on selected Duette® and pleated blinds. That gives homeowners another way to balance daylight, privacy and convenience.
Different rooms need different answers.
- Sometimes the best place to stop the sun is outside
If your biggest problem this summer wasn't just brightness but the amount of heat reaching a large glazed area, it may also be worth considering external shading.
A properly positioned awning can shade both the patio and glazing behind it, making the area immediately outside the house much more usable while helping reduce direct solar gain through windows and doors.
And there is another lesson from this summer.
An awning isn't only useful at lunchtime on the hottest day of the year. https://etienne.org.uk/Awnings/
It can make a patio more comfortable for breakfast, outdoor working, family meals, entertaining or simply sitting outside without being in full sun.
- Think about next summer while you can still remember this one
By February, it is very easy to forget which bedroom was too hot, where glare appeared across the television or exactly how intense the afternoon sun felt through the bifold doors.
August is actually an excellent time to assess it.
Walk through your home and ask:
Which rooms became uncomfortable? At what time? Was heat, glare or privacy the main problem? Did you stop using part of the garden because there was nowhere shaded to sit? Would automatic control have made managing blinds or an awning easier?
Those answers give us a much better starting point than simply asking, “Which blind should I have?”
Expert shading advice in Chesterfield and the Peak District
Etienne Curtains & Blinds has been helping homeowners choose made-to-measure window furnishings since 1991.
From blinds and curtains to shutters, motorisation and external awnings, our job isn't simply to show you products. It's to help work out which solution suits the window and the way you actually live in the room.
If this summer has highlighted a window, room or patio that needs better shading, now is a very good time to start planning.
Visit our Chesterfield showroom or speak to us about a home appointment. We serve customers throughout Chesterfield, Buxton, Bakewell, the Peak District and surrounding areas. https://etienne.org.uk/contact/
