Why Every Room Design Should Start with Natural Light

If there's one golden rule we’ve learnt after 25 years of making and fitting blinds, curtains, awnings and shutters across homes in Kent and East Sussex it’s this:

Always start with light.

Before you begin think about paint colours, fabrics, or furniture layouts, consider how light moves through your room. It’s the ingredient that changes everything.

The local lesson from a thousand windows

Over the years, we’ve measured, fitted and returned to thousands of homes, from Victorian cottages with deep-set sash windows, to modern builds with bi-fold doors, to converted barns with dramatic glass panels. And in every case, how that space feels starts with light. Is it glowing and golden by 10am? Blinding by 4pm? Dim and shadowy even on a summer day?

It’s something homeowners often overlook—until they live with it.

What the sun does to a room (that most people don’t realise)

Light isn’t just about visibility—it changes the colour of your walls, the warmth of your space, and even your mood.

• North-facing rooms tend to be cooler and greyer. Here, we often recommend soft textured blinds in warmer neutral tones to gently amplify the natural light.

• South-facing rooms can become hot, harsh, and bright. In these, Solar reflective or UV-filtering blinds, shutters or layered curtains work wonders to diffuse glare and reduce sun fade.

• East-facing kitchens get beautiful morning light but can feel flat in the afternoon—so choosing versatile roller or Venetian blinds helps you adjust as the day goes on.

The lighting dramatically changes across these three room settings

Our favourite trick: “Framing the light”

One of our most trusted styling tips is to think of your blinds or curtains not just as something to block light, but something to frame it.

A sheer Roller blind, for instance, doesn’t just soften a window. It creates a kind of halo effect around daylight. The same goes for a well-placed venetian blind in a kitchen window, or shutters with split location that let light pour through the top while offering privacy below.

We’ve helped customers take a gloomy hallway and turn it into a light-washed welcome with a simple switch in fabric. Or transform a too-bright conservatory into a usable, comfortable space year-round just by controlling how light enters.

Something most people don’t think about is how light affects everything else

Designers talk about “colour fastness” a lot. But what does that actually mean?

When we talk to customers choosing fabrics, we always explain sunlight breaks down dyes. A beautifully coloured curtain in a suntrap of a room can fade faster than you'd think. That’s why some fabrics are treated for UV resistance, and why we’ll sometimes steer people away from deep, rich colours on full-sun windows unless they’ve chosen something like a lined curtain or UV-filtering blind.

It’s not about rules. It’s about knowing your room.

The takeaway?

Start with light. Always. If you’re decorating a room—or even just refreshing it—watch how the sun behaves across a full day. Then choose your blinds, shutters, or curtains to help shape it. The right window treatment doesn’t block light. It brings it to life.

Want help understanding your light?

If you’re unsure what direction your windows face—or how to style them—we’re happy to pop round. No pressure. Just a friendly visit from someone who’s seen a few thousand windows before yours.

Pop into our showroom on the Tenterden high street, or get in touch here.