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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask, if you have a Juliet balcony..........

60 replies

Fivepie7 · 26/04/2017 16:38

If you have a bedroom with a Juliet Balcony (or any door) do you sleep with the door open in the Summer months?

We have one in our first floor bedroom but I always have to shut and lock it before going to sleep, just wondered if I was being OTT. Does anyone know the general house insurance opinion on this?

X

OP posts:
Flossimodo · 27/04/2017 00:21

I haven't got a Juliet balcony, but it's my dream to have a Juliet balcony. I've been saving up my child allowance for the past five years just to have a Juliet balcony knocked in.
And now I have my five grand saved up, here you all come giving me a fucking headache about Juliet balconies and how you can't leave them open without mozzies and burglars and random relatives climbing in and you've proper pissed me right off the whole idea.
Well thanks a fucking bunch.
No. Don't apologise. I'm not listening.

MaryPoppinsPenguins · 27/04/2017 00:28

If I had five Grand saved.... I'd book a holiday and just open the window Wink

Out2pasture · 27/04/2017 00:38

just a question do you not have screens on any of your UK windows?
I live on a super quiet cul de sac, so my ground floor window (not Juliette) opens wide without worry of bugs.
my daughter has 3 windows with Juliette balconies which are totally unsuitable for toddlers....no screen (not that screens are a safety feature).
lovely architectural feature but pointless.

LordAnthony · 27/04/2017 00:39

As for what the point of them is - I guess so you don't fall out when the French windows are open?

I get that's what the guard rail is for, but they're just slightly bigger windows aren't they. You can't sit or stand outside, can't have a meal or grow anything on them.

I really can't see what having a slightly bigger window gives you.

MaryPoppinsPenguins · 27/04/2017 00:43

I think 'looks nice' works for a lot of things we have nowadays...

user1491572121 · 27/04/2017 00:55

I had a big balcony in a flat I lived in and I always left it open as I lived on the 15th floor. I told a policeman that one day and he said "You should lock it because there have been cases of tenants from other floors shimmying down the wall to get to other balconies"

Shock
Flossimodo · 27/04/2017 02:23

I really can't see what having a slightly bigger window gives you

Just a bit more light, really. My house has small windows and I'd be really spiritually lifted with a bit more light.

But I am talking a from small window to huge floor to ceiling windows.
We face the wrong way to get much sun anyway, so we prolly won't bother.

Flossimodo · 27/04/2017 04:29

If I had five Grand saved.... I'd book a holiday and just open the window

I have to find a way to have a five grand hol without the H knowing where I've gone. It's not an insurmountable prob. Could be a work thing? A conference in Aruba? Sound feasible?

Littlelegs19 · 27/04/2017 04:48

When we had our first flat it had two Juliet balconies, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. We were on the ground floor so no way I'd leave them open. Bloody stupid things, you can't use it as a balcony so just put windows in!

Ifailed · 27/04/2017 05:18

Juliet balconies, what's the point? Agree with you. As to opening them up, as they are full height it's hard to do in wet weather without rain getting in, whereas with a normal window with a top light, you can open it up without soaking everything inside. I had one on a flat, wasn't even wide enough to put some pot plants in.

LedaP · 27/04/2017 05:38

Yes. I do.

Feel a bit meh about mine. I have two both on the first floor. One in the living room and one in the bedroom on that floor. We have them open whenever its warm. But dont think its much different to window.

Phoebefromfriends · 27/04/2017 06:25

I'm in rented and have a juliet balcony and I hate it for the following reasons;

  • I can't open the effing doors in winter which makes my bedroom so stuffy and dry. I've actually had to buy a humidifier to counter this which is also annoying in a different way
  • I dread the summer because my flat is so warm I have to open them in summer and just hope I'm not infested by insects and burglars.
  • they open inwards so take up space. I could use that wall for other furniture and be totally satisfied with a normal window.

I've previously lived in a flat where I had a small balcony off the bedroom and a normal window on another wall, that was preferable but I didn't use the balcony to sit out on as it was on a noisy road. I used the balconies (there was another in the lounge) to grow plants and that made me very happy.

Basically juliet balconies are a complete waste of time I yearn for a normal window

Tapandgo · 27/04/2017 07:23

I really can't see what having a slightly bigger window gives you

Much more light - floor to ceiling glass doors bring in lots of light and in this south facing house - lots of heat.
However / we didn't choose the balcony, it was a feature of the house. It's not something I aspired to!

MermaidsTears · 27/04/2017 07:31

Yes wide open!
We are up in the loft (or where the loft once was) and especially the heat wave in July 2015 I had them wide open all night, all I could see was the tops of trees (just didn't look down to the view of crappy garden to spoil it haha) and as we have the glass instead of railings it looks like nothing is there at night.

NancyWake · 27/04/2017 09:23

Yes much, much more light and sun in an attic room, lovely view, wysteria on the balcony, and in summer, when it's really hot, leaving the doors wide open so you have a breeze.

MatildaTheCat · 27/04/2017 09:44

Yep,mw idea open but we are in the loft.

To the PP above who has had her dreams shattered, we've had so much work done over the years but ripping out the old window and installing French Windows and the ( white, must be white) Juliet balcony, has given me more pleasure than any other work. But you do absolutely need a small sidelight window to open as well.

BoboChic · 27/04/2017 09:47

We have six Juliet balconies in our Parisian apartment. We also have shutters! Therefore we shut the shutters at night and open the windows.

NancyWake · 27/04/2017 09:48

Yes I've got two half, openable windows on either side of the dormer.

WhamBamThankyouGeorge · 27/04/2017 09:52

Loads of them on new estates are right onto the pavement which means people can see really well into your bedroom and you need to keep curtains closed the majority of the time. Ridiculous!

Flossimodo · 30/04/2017 02:45

BoboChic

Cat doors don't count.

Whatthesausage · 30/04/2017 05:53

A builder told me some new builds have them because the stairs are too tight to get the furniture onto the first and second floor and safety gate looking thing opens to enable furniture to be lifted through, seemed legit as the gate thingy appeared to have a hinge on

Ifailed · 30/04/2017 05:56

Whatthesausage That would make sense. I know that a lot of the furniture in 'show homes' is specially made to fit and is often a lot smaller than normal.

InfiniteSheldon · 30/04/2017 06:07

Is that actually true ifailed I've read it and thought it when looking round but I'm never actually sure.

errorofjudgement · 30/04/2017 06:37

We had ours fitted when we. Inverted the lift. Absolutely love it, we have a former window as well and last summer we slept with the doors open but pulled the curtains across to keep out insects etc.

To ask, if you have a Juliet balcony..........
errorofjudgement · 30/04/2017 06:38

Gah! That should say converted the loft!