It’s part of your morning ritual; one of the first things you do is to draw down the blinds. It’s not that you really want to draw the blinds but you do it anyway.

Outside the window, there is a wonderful panorama – trees are turning colors, squirrels are busying gathering acorns to bury and, occasionally, you might even see a deer wander by. But, you’ll wait until the afternoon to enjoy the view. Now, this morning, it’s just too darn bright. The sun blares in the window with such brilliance that you can almost hear it scream. It’s more than your eyes can handle.

The glare is too much and so the shades are drawn. Fortunately, there is a possible solution to the glaring sun that does not require drawing the shades – tinted window film.

Tinted window film almost works like the light dimmer switch in your dining room. It turns down the sunlight as it comes through the window. Tinted window film has the potential to turn down the sunlight enough so that you can leave the blinds up.

At the same time, tinted window film leaves the view outside clear and uninhibited, assuming your windows are clean (Northern Illinois Windows always cleans the windows, both sides, when installing window film). Of course, if you want a fogged window film, that’s an option, too. Otherwise, that clear view is in its full glory day or night.

While toning down the glaring sun, tinted window film also protects you, your furnishings and your floor coverings from the harmful effects of the sun’s ultra-violet rays.

Have you ever moved a piece of furniture and discovered that the carpet or tile below it is richer and fuller in color underneath? That’s what your flooring looked like originally. Over time, the UV rays of the sun have washed the vibrant colors out of your flooring.

It’s easy to see under a piece of furniture. The furniture creates a time-capsule effect by blocking the UV rays. Otherwise, the UV effects occur slowly, so slowly that you don’t notice the gradual change. Most types of window film, tinted or otherwise, reflect 99.9 percent of the UV rays. That’s good news for your flooring and furniture and it’s good news for your skin.

In terms of cutting the glare so you can see, and see that scene outdoors, window film has the potential to rectify these problems. It can do such a good job that you may decide to completely remove the shades from that window all together.