Do you regularly wash your house windows?
I don’t. I never have.

I’ve tried, but it gets overwhelming fast. Still, this spring I’m newly inspired—armed with fresh cleaning supplies and the vague optimism that always accompanies them. And it got me thinking about all the reasons I should be cleaning my windows more often.

The garden, for one.

I once worked for an interior plant company. Interior plant people carry light meters the way outdoor gardeners carry hand pruners. We’d wander through office buildings measuring lumens in the darkest corners of cubicles, determining whether someone had earned the right to a fiddle-leaf fig—or, more often, whether their desk fate was a snake plant.

A colleague there once spent a spring weekend washing every window in her house. Then she did something only a plant person would think to do: she measured the light before and after.

I don’t remember the exact numbers. What stuck was the magnitude of the change. Clean windows dramatically increased the light inside her house—enough to expand what plants could live there. Measurable lumens. A real upgrade.

Who knew?

A Practical Aside

If you have houseplants, wash your windows.
The film of grime that builds up over time really does reduce light—and light matters. Even if you don’t care about plants, more daylight is good for humans too.

This year, I’m finally taking my own advice.

Windows as Design Tools

Windows matter outdoors as much as they do inside.

When you’re planning a garden, the smartest place to start isn’t the property line or the plant list—it’s the windows of your house.

Any basic garden design process should begin by drawing the house footprint to scale, carefully marking doors and windows. Those openings are the primary viewing points. They are where the garden is most often seen, whether you’re aware of it or not.

I teach a grid-based planning method that aligns garden features with architectural elements—windows included. When paths, beds, trees, and focal points relate back to those openings, something interesting happens. The views from inside become balanced and intentional. And as a bonus, the house looks better from the outside too, because the landscape echoes its proportions.

Designing from the windows outward creates harmony both ways.

And yes—clean windows help.

Spring, Inside and Out

This time of year, I find myself cleaning everywhere. Outside, I’m clearing leaves and debris so new shoots can get the light and air they need. Inside, I’m decluttering, purging closets, painting, disinfecting laundry machines, and preparing for the painters who will eventually descend.

Spring cleaning, it turns out, is really about making room—inside and out—for what comes next.

And sometimes that starts with something as simple as a window.