Front room for me! we have three rooms opened into one large living space, this is great when you have a large family. I still say front room, but mainly to describe the location of say my book or glasses if I'm am asking somebody to fetch them for me. It makes for a quicker find :)

If the entrance/door to this room is near the front door (as well as a glass front door as suggested above) what about a glass door into the room, (or an internal window) it can be frosted or even semi-opaque white for example to act as a window. With respect to the neighbour's driveway - if you make it a narrow or high window so ou can't look out onto them it might be ok. Worth having a chat with your local planning dept (at your local council if you are in the UK), worth going in to see them or inviting them out to have a look. From a waking up perspective I have used a sunrise lamp in the past which I preferred in winter to an alarm which uses noise. You set the time to wake up and the duration of the sunrise e.g. 30, 45, 60 mins and it slowly gets brighter until you wake up and turn it off. If you don't in time it finally rang a small alarm. The one I had was made of a special glass to mimic daylight but you can also get others made of plain white glass or maybe plastic, worth a look. Here's two from John Lewis and Amazon (I searched under 'sunrise lamp') ... http://www.johnlewis.com/lumie-bodyclock-go-75-wake-up-light/p231686152?sku=231686152&kpid=231686152&s_kenid=56c2265d-85e4-411b-84d5-312ec2a63635&s_kwcid=404x68076&tmad=c&tmcampid=73&kpid=231686152 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002TEXEAI/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=569136327&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000YSFS6Y&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0GVXPVJQV1AF513935AR I would also go for a light but calm colour (not too 'bright', not white) something with a bit of depth but too bright might be a bit much and too dark a bit coffin-like. Would be good to see a photo of the actual space, dimensions etc

Hi all - I am wondering if anyone can help. We have just converted our garage as a bit of a family/play room but it is windowless and wondering how to get the best lighting for it. Does anyone know whether GU10 recessed LED spot lights with 500 lumens bulbs would be fine? Would it be best to go for cool or warm light? The room is about 9ft by 11ft so I was thinking 5 - spotlights - would that be about right? Lights aren't sorted obviously so excuse the very dark picture! I wondered about putting this wallpaper up as well on one of the walls - I thought since there is no window maybe I should try for something a bit green with white on the walls and some colourful animal pics etc - anyone got any thoughts on whether this will work or look too busy - thanks in advance

I love those baskets Jen - where are they from please? Re the sun tunnels - it is something I looked into but the problem is the garage is integral so there's a bedroom above and it's a semi detached house so garage is enclosed other side too so literally no where for a sun tunnel to go unfortunately. Would you change to spotlights rather than a pendant - we are having some bother moving the lighting electrics so I initially wanted them but am now wondering if it is worth it... The LED panel is def something I could look into - do you have any pics of that sort of thing - typed it into google but did not seem to get that many hits - wondering if I searched wrong thing! I love those ceilings - they look fab - I worried anything like that might make the space feel even more closed in but do you think that won't be the case?