Window film for glare in the home study
When the screen washes out every afternoon, the usual answer is to pull the blind and work in the half dark. Film on the study window takes the glare down at the glass, and the daylight and the view stay in the room.
Where the window sits decides the glare
The same window gives three different problems depending on where the desk faces. Pick yours, or read all three.
Window behind your chair
- What you see
- The bright window lands on the screen as a reflection. The picture goes pale and you can make out the garden in the glass.
- What film does
- It takes the brightness of the window down, so there is less of it for the screen to reflect.
- What else helps
- A matte screen, or tilting the screen a little. This is the best seat for video calls, because the window lights your face.
Window behind the screen
- What you see
- The screen is not washed out, but you look past it into the light. Your eyes adjust to the bright window and the screen looks dim beside it, and by late afternoon it is tiring.
- What film does
- It brings the window closer to the brightness of the screen, so your eyes stop working between the two.
- What else helps
- A blind lowered only to the top of the screen for the worst hour. Calls are fine from here: the light is on your face.
Window beside the desk
- What you see
- Light crosses the screen at an angle and one side goes pale. On a west window the patch moves across the desk as the sun drops through the afternoon.
- What film does
- It softens the side light at the glass, so the screen reads evenly from edge to edge.
- What else helps
- Sliding the desk a little further from the window. On a call, film also evens out the light across your face.
Film or a blind
A blind fixes glare by taking the window away. Film keeps the window and changes the light coming through it. Some studies are best with both.
| Glare film | A blind | Film and a blind | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight in the study | Most of it stays | Gone while the blind is down | Film most of the day, the blind for the worst hour |
| The view out | Kept | Gone while the blind is down | Kept most of the day |
| Reflection on the screen | Less | None while the blind is down | Least |
| Heat through the glass | Less, with a heat-control film | Some, but the heat is already through the glass | Less |
| Every day | Nothing to do | Up and down with the sun | The blind only when the sun is lowest |
When a blind is still the answer
Film takes glare down. It does not make direct sun disappear. If the late sun falls on the screen itself for the last hour of the day, a blind for that hour is still the right tool, and we will tell you so on the measure.
The same goes for a study that needs to be dark, for presentations or a projector. Film is for the hours you want the window.
How dark the film should be
Darker film cuts more glare and more daylight with it. For a study the aim is a screen you can read with the blind up, in a room that still feels like daytime. We choose between 3M films on the measure, with the window in front of us.
Clear
The view and the daylight barely change. Enough when the sun only glances off the screen for part of the day.
Light tint
A good fit when the glare runs most of the afternoon. The glass looks a little deeper and the room stays bright.
Medium tint
For a west window with the sun sitting on the glass. The room is noticeably dimmer, and a lamp comes on sooner.
Dark tint
Rarely right for a study. The glare goes, and so does much of the daylight you were trying to keep.
The swatches are drawn to show the order, not the colour of any film.
Home studies across the North Shore
At the 2021 Census, between about two in five and three in five working people in these suburbs worked from home. The Census was taken in August 2021 while Sydney was in lockdown, so the share today is likely lower. It still shows how many North Shore homes have a desk set up beside a window.
Where that desk sits differs from house to house. It might be a front bedroom behind the bay window, a room off a new glass pavilion, or a corner of a unit's living room by the balcony door. Each lands on a different part of the schedule, and a front room with original glass is handled as the front of the house.
| North Sydney | 61.9% |
|---|---|
| Mosman | 58.8% |
| Lane Cove | 56.4% |
| St Ives | 53.7% |
| Chatswood | 49.9% |
| Hornsby | 41.3% |
Share of employed residents in each suburb. Source: ABS Census 2021 QuickStats.
Study film that makes things worse
A film too dark for the room
The screen is fine and the study needs the lights on at three in the afternoon. A step lighter, with a blind for the last hour, gives more of the day back.
A mirror film on the study
By day the window reads as a mirror from the garden. After dark, with the desk lamp on, you see yourself in it instead, and so does the camera.
The wrong window filmed
The glare was coming from the highlight window above, or the glass door beside the desk. The measure looks at every pane that lights the desk.
Film where a desk move would do
Sometimes turning the desk fixes it. If it would, we say so on the measure.
A study on the schedule
This is a front bedroom used as a study, written up the way we write every job: one pane to a line, each with its reason. The leadlit top sash is noted for the measure. The clear lower sash is the one in front of the desk.
Book from this page and the study window arrives on your schedule already marked for glare. Change it or add panes on the drawing before you send.
Example schedule
- W1Street side, front bedroom, lower sash: Glare
- W2Street side, front bedroom, top sash: Glare
Leadlight: we look at this pane on the measure. Film is not promised.
Questions about study glare
Will the study be darker?
A little. How much depends on the film, and that is the choice we make with you on the measure. The aim is to work with the blind up, not to sit in a dim room.
The glare only lasts an hour. Is film worth it?
Maybe not. For an hour of low sun, a blind may be the better answer and we will say so. Film is worth it when the glare runs through most of the afternoon, or when the same window also heats the room.
Does film help on video calls?
With the window behind you, the camera sets itself for the bright glass and your face goes dark. Film makes that glass less bright, which helps. A lamp facing you does the rest.
Can you film just the study window?
Yes. One window gets its own measure and its own line on the schedule.
My study is in an apartment. Anything different?
The film still goes on the inside, but the strata committee may have a view on how the window looks from outside. Check your by-laws first. Film in apartments covers what they usually ask.
Home studies we measure
Home study glare without a dark room goes further into where the glare comes from. For a floor of desks, see screen glare in the office.
Reference
- ABS Census 2021 QuickStats, the Australian Bureau of Statistics' suburb summaries. The work-from-home shares above come from each suburb's travel-to-work figures: North Sydney, Mosman, Lane Cove, St Ives, Chatswood and Hornsby.