It is difficult to imagine a residential building in which there are absolutely no windows, because they have incredibly important functions: to provide natural lighting and maintain a comfortable indoor microclimate. If we talk about design, then the window generally becomes a starting point, because its size and design method are a key component of the design of the interior space. Remember the saying: “dance from the stove”? So, when creating interiors, designers “dance from the window,” and a large window in the house allows them to create real masterpieces.
living room with large windows overlooking the ocean
With the help of such windows, professionals can reproduce the illusion of merging with the environment, and it does not matter where exactly the luxurious windows look - into a provincial courtyard or onto the sea coast.
Decorating a space with a large window
Residents of small-sized Khrushchev-era apartment buildings are trying to use all available methods to fill their small rooms with daylight and sunlight. To do this, they refuse thick tulle and heavy curtains, use exclusively light-colored wallpaper on the walls, and use light-colored furniture in the decor. And all these “sacrifices” are made for the sole purpose of making the apartment at least a little brighter. For the owners of apartments where, according to the project, huge windows were initially made, these problems are completely alien. They admire the gorgeous views outside the large window in their home and enjoy the spaciousness of the rooms.
large window in living room design
Modern new buildings, especially luxury houses, are built in such a way as not only to give people a roof over their heads, but also to give them the pleasure of comfortable living in such a house. Living in an apartment with large windows is so unusual, unusual and pleasant, because in order to plunge into the bustle of the city, you just need to open the curtains.
The same can be said about country houses, where the nearby magnificent landscape of a flowering garden or forest edge simply will not forgive the architecture of small windows.
curtains for large windows
The view from the window will directly affect the interior design of the room. If outside the window of the room there is a view of the bustling world of the city, then, most likely, it will be finished in a dynamic modern style.
If we are talking about a spacious cottage or bungalow on the seashore, then light colors, light textures will prevail in their decor, and there will be a very small amount of furniture.
When a large window is located in a country house located near a luxurious deciduous forest, then in its interior the owners will certainly want to see the characteristic features of a rustic style, complemented by original decorative elements and wicker furniture.
large panoramic window in the interior of the living room with a fireplace
Often, rooms such as the bedroom and living room can boast large windows in the house, but it is unlikely that any member of the household will object if such window designs decorate the kitchen, office, and even the bathroom. Full-length windows on the upper floors of buildings look especially impressive, because the view from there is simply breathtaking. A viewing window in the bathroom will allow you, while basking in a fragrant bath, to observe the life of wildlife, combining business with pleasure.
A large window in the office at home will give you the opportunity to periodically abstract yourself from work and meditate, admiring the clouds floating behind it .
large window in the bedroom interior
The presence of a huge window in the kitchen will allow you, sitting at the bar and enjoying your morning coffee, to quickly get into a working mood and join the city rhythm.
Such windows look most organic in open-plan studio apartments, but even if they appear in an apartment with small dimensions, the rooms will only benefit from the abundance of light and open space.
large window in the interior of a kitchen decorated in a classic style
How to increase heat and sound insulation in large windows?
When glazing large windows, it is very important to ensure warmth in the room. Energy-saving double-glazed windows with low-emission glass will help with this. Such double-glazed windows reflect heat waves from heated objects back into the room, preventing heat loss.
Large windows provide maximum illumination in the room, but in the summer this advantage can turn into a problem. The sun's rays heat up the room, making the atmosphere hot and stuffy. A multifunctional double-glazed window will not only provide warmth in a glassed room in winter, but will also allow you to save on air conditioning in the summer. It reflects the heat of the sun's rays into the atmosphere without reducing the illumination at all.
It is advisable to install sound-proof double-glazed windows in the case of glazing premises located in areas with high noise levels. A special double-glazed window reduces the level of street noise to the most comfortable level.
Large window in the house: advantages and disadvantages
“Another piece of advice from the professionals: install large windows in the house where they will face south or, in extreme cases, southwest, then they can accumulate solar heat in the room, which means they can additionally warm it.”
We have already talked about the positive aspects of having large windows in the house. This is, first of all, an excellent view behind them, which relaxes, pacifies and sets you up for a positive wave.
thanks to the large windows there will be more light in the living room
What other benefits are there from having large windows? Viewing windows allow a large amount of light into the house, which:
- Positively affects the visual perception of space.
- Eliminates the need to install additional lighting sources. Even without turning on the lamps, the room will be light until dusk.
a large window will eliminate the need to install additional light sources
With all this, large windows also cause a lot of trouble. In addition to the fact that they are not at all easy to care for, they are also not pleasing:
- High prices for manufacturing and installation.
- High thermal conductivity, as a result of which heat is poorly retained in the room.
- Increasing heating costs.
- Inability to place furniture along the glass wall.
It is not in our power to influence the first point of the listed problems, but it is quite possible to correct the second and third. How exactly?
three large windows in the interior of the dining room
To prevent a large window, the presence of which is planned in the house, from letting heat out, it needs to be made energy-saving .
Vacuum ones are considered the most effective designs. Such double-glazed windows, of course, come at a price, but the absence of air between the glasses ensures incredibly low heat transfer, which means that the room will be maintained at an optimal temperature without additional effort. An effective way to save heat is energy-saving film, which is glued directly to the glass.
large window in the bathroom interior
Both of these methods are good in their own way, so when choosing, you should proceed solely from financial considerations. The use of film is more rational when the windows are already installed. This will allow, without replacing them, to adjust the thermal conductivity of the structures and, naturally, reduce the cost of heating the rooms in which they are located.
Another tip from the professionals: install large windows in the house where they will face south or, in extreme cases, southwest, then they can accumulate solar heat in the room, which means they can additionally warm it.
large panoramic window in the office
Choice
So, you have at your disposal a ready-made house project with large floor-to-ceiling windows.
Something like this.
You need to order windows of known sizes. Let's pay attention to what they should be.
Frame material
- Which frames are better - aluminum, wood or plastic??
In my opinion, our unconditional choice is large plastic windows. What's wrong with competing solutions?
- Aluminum is a metal with exceptionally high thermal conductivity. Each frame will become a cold bridge in cold weather. It will not only contribute to the leakage of heat, but will also become covered with frost, and in the thaw, flood the window sill or floor with melt water;
Aluminum profile is ideal for glazing a cold balcony.
Warm aluminum frames with plastic inserts exist, but insulation with polymer inserts significantly complicates their design and increases the already considerable price.
- Modern wooden frames, thanks to a set of processing and conservation measures, are devoid of the typical disadvantages of wooden frames that you may remember from Soviet-built houses - hygroscopicity, dimensional instability, etc.
The main disadvantage of wood is its prohibitively high cost compared to metal-plastic frames. Even a budget window made of pine or spruce will cost the buyer 40 - 50% more than a plastic one; the use of noble breeds will at least double the already high price.
Elite frames made of ash: impressive, impractical, expensive.
If desired, plastic windows can be painted in any color (including throughout the entire volume of plastic) or covered with a textured film that very reliably imitates wood.
Profile
- Which profiles are better to choose?
In general, the manufacturer of the profile is not so important: the quality and durability of the plastic is approximately the same for all market players; the differences mainly come down to the configuration of the chambers inside the profile and the rigidity of the metal inserts. However, our case is far from common: large window openings mean a large wind load.
That is why it is customary to design houses with large windows using high-quality (and, alas, relatively expensive) window profiles from renowned manufacturers. Of the ones I have personally tested, I can recommend the German profile systems KBE and Rehau: they compare favorably with their domestic and Chinese counterparts in their high rigidity with respect to bending load.
KBE and Rehau profiles.
A couple of nuances:
- The more insulated chambers inside the profile, the less heat leaks through the frames. For obvious reasons, the number of chambers becomes especially important in cold climates;
- If the design of a modern house includes a full-wall window, its frame should be reinforced with several H-profiles, again providing rigidity under significant wind loads.
H-profile, or static amplifier.
Accessories
- What should window fittings be like??
And in this case, it is worth paying attention to trusted manufacturers who have gained a good reputation in this market sector:
- Siegenia-Aubi,
- Roto;
- Maco;
- Winkhaus.
One of the varieties of Siegenia fittings.
The quality of the fittings largely determines the trouble-free service life of the windows. In addition to the manufacturer, it is worth paying attention to the functionality:
- Opening sashes must not only swing open in a horizontal plane, but also tilt towards themselves. In this mode, you can ventilate the room in rainy and windy weather without fear that your house will be flooded with rainwater;
The windows are open in transom mode.
- It is desirable that the sash in transom mode be fixed not only in extreme positions, but also in intermediate ones. The so-called micro-ventilation mode provides ventilation of rooms in winter without a critical drop in temperature;
- The shutters and balcony doors should be secured in the closed position by several pressure rollers around the entire perimeter, and not just by the central locking tongue. Only in this case will turning the handle close the sash or door hermetically, without gaps at the top and bottom;
- The pinch rollers should ideally have summer and winter positions. Rotating the eccentric roller allows you to adjust the pressing force of the sash and compensate for the thermal expansion of the profile;
Turning the rollers switches the window to winter or summer mode.
- Doors and window sashes with a height of 2000 mm or more are hung on at least three hinges;
- When the sash width is more than 70 cm, it is desirable to have a microlift - a simple device that lifts the edge of the sash and prevents it from clinging to the frame.
The microlift lifts the sagging sash when closing.
Double-glazed window
- What affects heat loss through glazing?
The resistance of a window to heat transfer is affected by:
- The number of chambers in a double-glazed window. The more there are, the less heat is lost through the glazing. The effect is due to the fact that each additional glazing thread reduces heat transfer due to air convection;
- The presence of energy-saving glass in the glass unit;
- Gas filling the package. Inert gases (primarily inexpensive argon) are less thermally conductive and have higher viscosity, which again reduces heat transfer by convection.
Filling the cavities between the glasses with argon reduces heat loss.
- What is it - energy-saving glass?
This is the name given to glass with a thin (only a few molecules thick) metal coating that is limitedly transparent in the infrared part of the spectrum. By retaining thermal radiation, glass reduces heat loss.
There are two types of energy-saving glass on the modern market.
K-glass is produced by depositing metals onto a hot surface. It is highly durable and can even be used as single glazing.
I-glass is produced by cathode deposition of metals (silver and titanium oxides) onto a cold blank and is installed as an energy-saving layer inside the glass unit. It compares favorably with K-glass in its greater efficiency and greater translucency in the visible part of the spectrum (90% versus 70).
95% of energy-saving glass is currently produced using the second technology.
That's how it works.
- Which glass unit provides minimal heat loss?
Double-chamber, with two i-glasses and argon filling. Its resistance to heat transfer approximately corresponds to this parameter for brickwork with a thickness of 65 - 70 cm.
In practice, however, such double-glazed windows are practically not used. The fact is that the second i-glass in the package increases its thermal resistance by only 2-3%.
Much more often, energy-saving and light-protective glass is installed in one double-glazed window.
It is useful for a potential customer to know a couple more subtleties:
- Argon reduces heat loss through an energy-saving double-glazed window by 10-12%. But with a package of ordinary glass it demonstrates lower efficiency - no more than 4%;
- A single-chamber double-glazed window with one energy-saving glass protects the house from the cold 25% more effectively than a double-chambered double-glazed unit with conventional glass. At the same time, it costs about the same and weighs 1.5 times less, which means less load on the profile.
Single-chamber energy-saving double-glazed window: profitable and efficient.
- Can a double-glazed window protect a house from excess light and noise?
And how.
Light-protective glass, like energy-saving glass, is equipped with a metal coating that reduces translucency to 70 - 30%. It can be installed in one double-glazed window with energy-saving glass; This configuration is very popular in the southern regions of the country.
Projects of one-story houses with large windows facing busy streets often include noise-reducing double-glazed windows. No, the glass in such a package is quite ordinary. The effect is achieved through their combination:
- The glasses themselves have different thicknesses (usually 4 and 6 mm);
- The distance frames between them (and, accordingly, the gaps) are also of different widths.
This configuration provides sound absorption over the widest possible part of the acoustic spectrum.
Glass and spacer frames of different thicknesses provide maximum noise absorption.
Subtleties of large window design
When decorating the interior of a living room, bedroom or kitchen with a large window, the latter area should be given special attention.
A non-standard window opening can become the center of a composition, especially if there is a stunning view behind it. When choosing drapes or curtains, you need to rely on the architectural features of this part of the room, the configuration of the window itself and, of course, the general style of decoration of the room. What will also have a significant impact on the choice of fabrics is the direction of the world that such an unusual window faces. It’s just great if it “looks” to the south, because with this arrangement there will be no restrictions on the texture of the fabrics, their colors, the style of the curtains and the pattern. In the diametrically opposite case, in order to escape from the lack of light, which can arise even with a large window in a room at home, you will have to use curtains that are not too thick and made of warm-colored fabrics. And one moment. When choosing a curtain model and their length, you should also not forget about such a parameter as the height of the ceilings.
Roman blinds would be appropriate in a bathroom with large windows
Large windows with door
If you intend to install large windows with a door, you can consider options such as PSK and HS portals. Doors that have a parallel-sliding opening method are called PSK portals. Their doors, in addition to the closed or open positions, can also be in a folding position.
Doors with a lift-and-slide opening method are called HS portals. The door block must first be lifted slightly and then moved along the rail. This requires virtually no effort, despite the heavy weight of the door - reliable fittings will ensure smooth opening and closing of such a door.
This door design, as a rule, consists of two to four leaves, and its distinctive feature is a low threshold, almost flush with the floor.
| You can find out more about sliding doors of the PSK and HS systems by clicking on the link on the right |
Stylistic aspects of decorating a large window
“As for the kitchen, here you need to maintain a festive and positive mood, so it is optimal to decorate a large kitchen window in the house with light curtains of cheerful colors”
Beautiful large windows require an original, completely non-standard approach to their design. This should become an axiom for you if you do not want to “bury” all the advantages of such a design feature of the living space in standard decor. In such an interior, the most important thing is to organically weave the window area into the overall stylistic concept of the room.
For classic interiors, heavy curtains on the windows in combination with Austrian curtains are ideal. If you can see the shore of a pond behind a large window, then use translucent curtains that, lazily fluttering in the wind, will perfectly play along with the waves hiding behind them. If you want to add some romance to the atmosphere, the curtains should be carefully secured with decorative tiebacks located on the sides of the double-glazed window.
large windows in a wooden house
Modern style prefers rope curtains, which on a large window in the house are mounted on curtain rods equipped with electrically operated sliding systems. During the day, the curtains will easily move to the side, opening the way to the sun and light, and in the evening they will return to their place.
If you want to aesthetically protect a room from excess sun, it makes sense to design a window with blinds. For the dimensional version of the window design under consideration, it is better to choose vertical models.
For the bedroom you need to choose a classic composition from the finest tulle and thick curtains. Look for a color solution based on the overall decorative background of the room. Don’t get hung up on standards, because no one is forcing you to hang light tulle under traditionally dark curtains: you can do the opposite.
on the outside, large windows add luxury to the exterior of the house
As for the kitchen, here you need to maintain a festive and positive mood, so it is optimal to decorate a large kitchen window in the house with light curtains of cheerful colors.
Lambrequins stand out as a separate line in the decoration of large windows. These types of curtains look simply great. It would be simply a crime to neglect such a solution in the living room, because such a design for a large window will give the atmosphere solemnity and elegance. Moreover, for drapery it is worth taking simple and light materials so as not to turn the curtains into a stage curtain. On the living room windows, a cambric or veil will be quite sufficient.
uniform color design of the large window frame and beamed ceiling
Select windows
The best options for glazing your home.
Plastic windows
A classic universal option for practical owners. Options from economy to premium. Choice of heat and sound insulation parameters, functional fittings, wide decor options.
Wooden windows
Beauty and warmth from nature. “Breathing” wood, safe impregnations, extended service life, natural color. For those who value environmental friendliness and natural aesthetics.
Aluminum windows
Technological harmony of strength and lightness. Non-standard shapes and portal glazing with the possibility of maximum protection. The choice for the solid and modern.
