Tips
How to pick out living room windows
The living room might be the place where you go at the end of the day to curl up with a book or your phone. It might also be the place where you host Sunday football games or book club. In other words, it's a dynamic room where a lot of living takes place. So how do you pick windows for a space that’s sometimes a retreat and at other times a gathering spot? Let’s get into it!
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The benefits of choosing a bay window for a living room
Another popular choice in a living room is a bay window. The beauty and drama of this type of window makes it perfect for a street-facing room, as many living rooms are. There’s also a lot of functionality built into a bay. Its three-windows-in-one design includes a large picture window in the center with smaller windows attached on each side. The side windows are operable and can be either double-hungs or casements. The combination protrudes from the house to maximize natural light and fresh air. On the interior, this creates a nook perfect for house plants and sun-loving cats. Bay windows are associated with particular architectural styles, including Victorian and Tudor. Find bay windows through our 400 Series and E-Series product lines.
Did you know you can create a bay window effect without installing one? There are ways to do this by framing the wall so that it protrudes. Talk to your architect or builder about creating a feature like this if you’re building a new home.
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How do you arrange a living room with big windows?
As we mentioned at the start, the living room can have a lot of uses, but primarily it’s a place where you want to be comfortable. That means you might be planning your space around creature comforts like a comfy couch, a TV, or a fireplace. Here are ideas for planning windows to work with these features:
- Furniture: To avoid blocking the light from your windows with your furniture, think about placing it in the center of the room. Another approach could be placing the windows higher on the wall to preserve privacy while also carving out enough space underneath to fit your couch, which is likely to be your largest piece of furniture. Finally, you could go ahead and put the couch in front of the window. You might block a little light but gain a little privacy for a win-win. To help avoid fading your furniture, we have a low-emissivity (Low-E) coatings that can block out 95% of harmful UV rays, check out SmartSun™ glass. Low-E coatings are a standard option with our windows.
- TV: When planning a room with lots of windows and a TV, you’ll want to think carefully about the direction the windows face. If you’re working during the day, most of your television viewing time will be in the evening when the sun is in the western sky. If your living room has western-facing windows, avoid mounting the TV where it will be subject to a glare from the setting sun. And if you can’t avoid that, remember that good window coverings can solve the problem too.
- Fireplace: Speaking of TVs, there’s a great debate about whether they should be mounted above the fireplace — though doing so can save space for windows. Wherever you land, that’s only one aspect of selecting windows for a room where this feature is present or planned. The two don’t have to be in competition for wall space. We like using windows as a complement to highlight a fireplace focal point. It’s an approach that can work in a traditional home or a modern home, as the examples above and below illustrate.
