My Experience with Window Tinting and Rug Fading

When my husband and I did the final walk-through of our current home, the previous owner told us that they had had the living room and dining room windows tinted because the wood floors were being bleached by the sun and that their long term plan, had they not decided to move, would have been to complete the remainder of the home. In retrospect, this should have been information for me to get excited about and to remember. But, seeing as at that point in my life I had never lived anywhere long enough to have my flooring bleached by the sun (except Mom and Dad’s), I thanked them for the information and diverted my attention to learning the ins and outs of the central vacuum (which I still have yet to use!).

Obviously, my brain goes right to thinking about the rugs and not necessarily the floor, but fading floors can turn into a big issue for your rug. Rugs can fade, and the sun is the culprit. In some types of antique rugs, this beautiful faded patina that comes from decades of age is quite coveted by rug collectors and interior designers. But there is a huge catch. The fading must be even. This isn’t always the case for rugs that are just used in your everyday home. Let me bring you to Exhibit A. Here is a pic of a rug that faded over time.

So here is a pic of sun fading in a rug that is so extreme that it has affected the value of the piece. Yes, the sun faded side is still pretty, but not when compared to the color it used to be. This is a problem we had to fix for our client like so:

It is a pretty darn good dye job, if I should say so myself, but it was a timely and costly procedure, and how much better would it be if you never needed to do this in the first place?

So, this finally brings me around to the whole window tinting thing. After seeing one too many faded rugs, I decided to bite the bullet and finish up tinting the bulk of the windows in our home. Though this is something you can do yourself, because I can’t even put the protective film on my smartphone without leaving bubbles, I decided to hire a specialized company to do this for me. The process was quick and not as expensive as you’d think. It cost far less than a Persian rug (and you know our prices are pretty good!), and is going to save my rugs over time, so well worth it. My only complaint is that my home that used to get drenched in sunlight, is now just a touch darker than it used to be (only I notice this). It doesn’t bother me in the rooms we had tinted, but it did make me grateful for deciding at the last minute not to do the windows in our kitchen. Now I just need to be vigilant about rotating my kitchen carpet regularly so that the rug doesn’t get over-faded on one side.

Given my professional experience in rug servicing and my personal experience in my own home thus far, I would definitely add window tinting to my list of things to get around to whenever you buy a new house. Save for a few scenarios where the view and bright sunlight are more important than the fabrics and flooring, I wouldn’t think twice about doing all the rooms that contain formal furnishings and decor. That future self who is stuck with faded rugs and rectangular outlines on the floor when you finally do move out a lifetime from now will thank you!