Living Room Windows
Living rooms serve as a home's central area for lounging, family interactions and hosting guests. When well-planned and designed, living rooms replacement windows can give a remodeled living room a feeling of classic or contemporary warmth and expansiveness.
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[edit] Living Room Window Considerations
When planning a living room design the homeowner will want to consider several principal factors, including the proposed size and space allowance for furniture, entrance and exit requirements and the average number of people who will be in the living room at any one time. The style, size and placement of the windows should be considered to ensure that the people within the living room will experience the maximum level of comfort, both when seated and when moving within the living room, entering the room and exiting from the room.
[edit] Window Design for Living Rooms
When designing the window placement for a living room, the windows should be planned so that a seating arrangement will face the window. Many people enjoy looking out at a view while socializing and a well-placed window can facilitate such a view. Furniture should not block the windows and the windows should be installed in a location that gives the homeowner easy access to open and close the windows as well as the curtains or the blinds. The TV should be placed in such a way as to ensure that it is not opposite a window since the TV screen may reflect light from the window.
Other suggestions for designing living room windows include considerations about the windows' color and accessories.
[edit] Living Room Window Colors
The framing color alternatives of living room windows offer a large range of choices to homeowners who can find a frame color which matches their home's architectural design. Many window frames include the option to present a different frame color on the interior and exterior frame, allowing the homeowner to match the inside and outside of the house separately.
Some frames offer limited color options, particularly vinyl and aluminum frames. Other window frames offer multiple, even dozens, of color options, both for the inside and the outside of the window.
[edit] Blinds
Fabric roller-blinds let in natural light in while preserving privacy. These blinds are available in a wide range of colors, allowing homeowners to match the blinds' color to their living room color scheme, furnishings and design. Aluminum or wooden venetian blinds give the homeowner control over amount of light which streams into the living room, allowing the homeowner to adjust the blinds to allow more light in during cooler times of the day and close them to keep the sun's heat from penetrating the living room during the hottest times of the day. Blinds are available in different colors or as wooden blinds. Wooden blinds can be painted or stained in a tone that complements the wall color and other living room furnishings .
[edit] Grilles
The inclusion of grilles, also called "divided lights" makes a living room window stand out and adds a stylish chic. Grilles come as symmetrical or unsymmetrical accompaniments to all window styles and framing types. Grilles may be installed in between the panes of a double glazed window or attached with pull-pins to the outside of most window applications. Grilles are available as colonial, renaissance, sunburst and other square, rectangular and geometric designs. Several geometric shapes or designs may be included within one unit of divided lights.
[edit] Framing Materials
Framing material options for replacement living room windows include wood clad frames, all-wood frames, vinyl frames,aluminum frames, fiberglass frames and composite material frames. Considerations when selecting a living room replacement window frame should involve the local climate, the homeowner's ability or interest in periodic window maintenance and cost.
[edit] Living Room Window Alternatives
Replacement window alternatives for a living room include casement windows, double- and single-hung windows, gliding windows, picture windows (including special shape windows), and bay and bow windows.
[edit] Casement Windows
Casement windows open at a 90 degree angle to offer full ventilation. They are available as inward or outward swinging windows so the living room's interior furniture placement and outside passage area should be taken in account when choosing the casement window's opening mechanism.
[edit] Double and Single-Hung Windows
Single and double hung replacement windows are an elegant window solution for many home living rooms. They are secure window options which open for adequate venting during the daytime and can be securely locked at night. Some double and single hung windows offer a special night lock that maintains security while allowing for a few inches of venting at nighttime or when the homeowner is away. Double and single hung windows should be placed in a location in the living room where they are not blocked by furnishings since it is difficult to operate them if there is not an open space right below the window itself.
[edit] Horizontal Sliding Windows
Horizontal sliding windows are often chosen because they are a lower-priced window option. Horizontal sliding windows are available as X0X models (in which the middle sash is fixed while the two side sashes slide back and forth ) or as XO models (in which one sash is fixed while the other side glides back and forth). Horizontal gliding windows are also a good choice for small living rooms where furnishings may block access to the window since it is relatively easy to reach over a couch or chair to operate a horizontal sliding window.
[edit] Picture Windows
Picture windows are available in both small and large sizes and in a wide variety of shapes, including special geometric shapes such as half- and quarter-rounds, full-rounds, hexagons, triangles and other shapes. Square and rectangle picture windows are available in both standard and special sizes while special shape fixed windows are generally a special order window. Fixed windows may be installed singly or as part of a larger window unit in a living room with other picture windows or with operating windows. Square and rectangle picture windows are generally a lower-cost window solution when compared to operating windows but special shape windows, when ordered as a special order, are a more costly window alternative.
[edit] Bay and Bow Windows
Bay and bow replacement windows provide a whole new architectural element to a living room. They expand the existing space, provide an area for seating or displaying objects and offer people seated inside the living room a wide view of the outdoors. Bay and bow windows are a unique window design which add elegance to the home's exterior as well. They may be comprised of operable windows (casements or single/double hungs), fixed windows or a combination of picture windows and operable windows.
[edit] Awning Windows
Awning replacement windows are often included as an accompaniment to an operable or non-operable window, installed either above or below the window. These windows increase ventilation and add a stylish element to a living room's design. Awning windows may also be installed singly or in a continuous row below the living room's ceiling.
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