[Ad – This post is in association with VELUX Blinds. All opinions and thoughts are of course our own!]
As you all know, we’re trying to get as many loft planning details finalised before the actual building work starts.

We already have our drawings and general plans for the loft and we’re now slowly working our way around all different parts of the project and trying to make decisions on all different materials, designs, etc. We’ve decided on our flooring (you can see what we’re planning to install on the floor here), we’ve started to plan our en-suite bathroom and I’ve been getting a bit carried away and have been looking at some lovely bedroom furniture, too.
One of the next big things to decide on is the windows. In the new dormer at the back of the house, we will have standard windows. As in the rest of the house, we’ll be opting for tilt and turn windows.

We think they’re much more practical and it also means that we’ll be able to open them inwards to be able to clean them. After all, I can’t see our window cleaners getting all the way up to the loft.

In the pitched part of the roof, we’ll be installing VELUX windows. We’re planning on installing one of them over the new staircase up to the loft and three more in the bedroom. (You can see them as dashed lines on the floorplan drawing.)
Ideally, we’d like the windows in the bedroom to be coupled together to form one long strip and let in lots of light. If this is possible will depend on the roof construction, so the alternative is to still have three windows that are next to each other.

Something that’s a must for us are some VELUX blackout blinds. The light that shines into your home straight from above is much stronger than light that comes in through standard vertical windows, and as it’s our bedroom, it’ll be super important that we can block out the light effectively.
If you’ve ever slept in a loft bedroom, you’ll know that they can get really warm in summer so I think that this blackout blind would be ideal as it has a reflective aluminium coating on one side which reflects the heat.

Something else we’re considering (although this does depend on how far our budget will stretch) are Integra windows. These are still the same VELUX windows, but they have the added bonus of being remote-controlled. You can even program them to open and close at specific times. They also have a rain sensor which means that they will automatically close if it does start to rain. Living in Manchester that’s surely got to be a must!
Do you prefer to sleep in total darkness or do you like a bit of light? Would you choose a standard window or a remote-controlled one?
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