Sunday, June 27, 2010

sun block

The beauty of the design of our catamran is the wrap around windows in the salon. We have fabulous natural lighting and fantastic visitbility. But in the heat of summer these windows, like all windows, are one big heat radiator. You can literally feel the waves of hot coming off of them while our air conditioning struggles to keep up. Many modern cats have textilene shades built to snap on the outside. They allow visibility while blocking out much of the UV. We may yet do that one day, but it's a fairly decent cost for all of the windows, so it's not high on "the list".

This year I seem to be especially sensitive to it, probably because I have my own personal radiator strapped to my belly. So in a spontaneous fit to block some sun, I did this.
Yes, those are my son's beloved playsilks playing the role of psychadellic curtain. I just took some suction cups and stuck them along the top, while tucking in the bottoms behind the toys.
They seem to be doing the trick. The silks let in enough light so we're not living in a cave, but block out the direct heat. In the past we've taken quilting sqaures from the bargain bin at the fabric store and laid them in the hatches between the screen and the hatch. Those REALLY do the trick, but they also let in almost no light at all, which in the bedroom and other places is actually ok.  But here in our main living/ playing/ eating/ everything space we need to have some light.
At night I just unhook them from the suction cups and tuck them in behind the toys. It'll be interesting to see if they color fade after a few weeks. If they do, it'll be a good excuse to make some more.  ;)
Any other ideas out there for beating the heat?

10 comments:

gardenmama said...

Cindy, this post came at a great time!
Our bathroom is tiny and it has a gigantic skylight (that does not open) so when the shower is on the steam mixs with the heat of the room and it feels like the heat is actually on! I love the natural light in there so I was holding off on putting a curtain up but wow is it hot! The playsilks are a very beautiful idea. I am going to think about dying some... I will have to check back in to your comments to see if there are other ideas too!: )

FrontierDreams said...

Oh I love this idea! It looks so cozy, too! Zach must be loving it :)
I missed out on your great birthday posts so happy very belated birthday!!! <3

Joy said...

That looks like a fabulous solution to me too! The colors must be lovely in the late afternoon sun. :)

Little Lovables said...

It's functional art!

You could try grommeted canvas, but the technicolor sun filter and weight of the silks looks so nice.

Brittney Harmon said...

oh yes... very nice indeed and festive! Love it!

Kimberly said...

Looks beautiful!! We just dyed up a bunch before our Philly excursion (just got the post up prior to seeing this). The new ones are intended to be gifts, but they have mysteriously been incorporated into our stash.

Laura said...

They are perfect!

ellen said...

Love it! We have tie-dyed bandanas in our windows right now. Where did you get the suction cups? I need to get some of those. I'm using blue tape currently. HIGH class.

boatbaby said...

gardenmama - you will have to let me know how your skylight curtain endeavor goes. I'll bet it feels great in winter though, huh?

Nicole - thank you for the birthday wishes!

Joy- actually morning is when it's all lit up. Our afternoon light comes in the stern. Today it's cool enough to take them down, but they're so pretty I am leaving them up a little longer.

lisa - gromets and canvas are what many boats use. May be a little too dark for us. Not sure.

Kim - you can never have too many silks.

ellen - we got the suction cups at the dollar store - super high class ;)

Unknown said...

The best way I've found to stay cool is to do what you've done (block it out!) and then fill up a spray bottle with water and continuously spray my arms, feet, face, hair, etc. It's amazing how perfectly cool it can make me feel in such terrible heat.

I'm glad you posted this. I'm sitting under Madrigal right now (we're hauled out), as this is the coolest place in the boat yard...far cooler than inside. But! my spray bottle broke, and we're right next to a CVS. I'm grabbing my wallet to go buy a a new one right now. Thanks for the timely reminder! Ahh, I can't wait.

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