Everyone loves a little sunlight! The sun is a great source of vitamin D, give a sunbathing a great tan, and can cheer up anyone who might be in a bad mood. But even the most devout sun worshipper knows that the sunlight permeating through the windows can be harmful to their luxurious furnishings, elegant floors, and beautiful artwork. This is because sunlight can cause fading, discoloration and fabric damage.

There are three culprits within light damage. Approximately 45 percent of light damage comes from UVA and UVB rays; 25 percent from heat and infrared radiation, while the remaining 25 percent comes from visible light.

This is bad news for certain types window treatments, which are often hung specifically to block sunlight from entering rooms and damaging the furnishings within. Dealing with sunlight can be a challenge and disheartening for your window treatments. Window shades and curtains protect your indoor furnishings, but they end up taking the brunt of the damage caused by the sun.

Window treatments can become very expensive, so you want to avoid having to replace them in a short amount of time.  Therefore, you have to be smart when you initially pick your window treatments. If you want to keep your window treatments looking fresh for years, you need to choose window treatments that can stand the test of time. When choosing your window treatments, there are three factors that you should keep in mind.

1. Picking the Right Fabric Material

If you want your window treatments to last for years and effectively protect your interior furnishings, then you need to choose the right fabric material because some are more resistant to sun damage.

Specifically made fade-resistant fabrics will repel much of the damaging sunlight that would affect other fabrics. Some of these fabrics include:

• Cotton
• Linen
• Rayon
• Polyester
• Acrylic

Adding blinds can also help keep out sun and resist fading. Wood blinds are a type of blind that can effectively keep out sun, while also protecting your furnishings. Blinds from real wood and faux wood resist fading over time, but real wood is probably the best option because it is more resistant to damage from the sun over a long period of time.

2. Choosing the Right Color Matters

Most people believe that the color or your window treatments are trivial and are selected to compliment the furnishings within the room. This could not be further from the truth. Certain colors react to the sun differently. For example, lighter colors reflect sunlight while darker colors absorb it.

If you want your window treatments to stand the test of time, you should choose fabrics with lighter colors because they are naturally more resistant to sun damage. Since the sun’s rays tend to bounce off light colored fabric, they are able to repel ultraviolet wavelengths found in sunlight, which are known to cause the most damage to fabrics. Due to this resistance, light colored fabrics don’t experience discoloration as quickly as darker fabrics.

In contrast, dark fabrics can be the worst choice for a sunny room. Unlike lighter-colored fabrics, darker fabrics will absorb all of the sunlight, which will result in color fading more quickly.

3. Adding Protective Linings

Perhaps one of the best ways to safeguard fabric window treatments against sunlight is to add a protective lining to keep the sun off the fabric. Doing so can keep your home cooler by keeping out extra sun, which can boost your home’s energy efficiency because you won’t have to keep changing the temperature. Not only are you saving money on heating and cooling, but you can avoid having to replace your window treatments and get the most bang for your buck.