Decorating
Renovating
10 Tips for Bringing More Daylight into Your Home
Everyone loves the idea of a home filled with daylight, so how can we beat the gloom and bring in the light?
Here are 10 design pointers for bringing daylight into those harder-to-reach parts of your home, where an ordinary window is just not doing the trick.
In this example, the sliding glass doors are set even higher than the ceiling, creating a wonderful feeling of lightness but also maximising that high-angle intensity of daylight.
Maximise on windows
The principle of getting the top of your glazed area as high up as you can applies every bit as much to windows as it does to glazed doors. In this lovely, light-filled bedroom, the windows reach almost to the ceiling to enhance both the amount of daylight coming in, and the openness of the view. If the windows were only as high as the top of the French doors, the room would be very gloomy in comparison and feel a good deal smaller.
The principle of getting the top of your glazed area as high up as you can applies every bit as much to windows as it does to glazed doors. In this lovely, light-filled bedroom, the windows reach almost to the ceiling to enhance both the amount of daylight coming in, and the openness of the view. If the windows were only as high as the top of the French doors, the room would be very gloomy in comparison and feel a good deal smaller.
Reach that glass ceiling
If the most intense daylight is coming from the highest angle, then the best way to bring in the most intense light is with a glass roof.
While glass roofs can be fantastic, they must be approached with caution, as they can be very expensive and you can end up with a space that suffers from glare, heat loss and/or heat gain. I see a lot of expensive glass roofs that have needed to be retro-fitted with complicated and, expensive, blinds to create shade.
If the most intense daylight is coming from the highest angle, then the best way to bring in the most intense light is with a glass roof.
While glass roofs can be fantastic, they must be approached with caution, as they can be very expensive and you can end up with a space that suffers from glare, heat loss and/or heat gain. I see a lot of expensive glass roofs that have needed to be retro-fitted with complicated and, expensive, blinds to create shade.
Judicious use of a glass roof in specific places to bring daylight into underlit parts of a house, as seen here, can be very effective, and can become a real talking point, too.
Get a glass roof off-the-shelf
Roof windows are a practical – and cost-effective – alternative to a glass roof. As off-the-peg products, they are relatively low-cost, fully openable, reliable and energy efficient.
Building an extension with a typical lean-to roof and some glass doors can still leave the room that has been extended quite dark. Very often the addition of some roof windows to allow light to penetrate deeper into the house is a great solution.
Roof windows are a practical – and cost-effective – alternative to a glass roof. As off-the-peg products, they are relatively low-cost, fully openable, reliable and energy efficient.
Building an extension with a typical lean-to roof and some glass doors can still leave the room that has been extended quite dark. Very often the addition of some roof windows to allow light to penetrate deeper into the house is a great solution.
Nurture lofty ambitions
However effective roof windows are on extensions, they really found their raison d’etre in loft conversions. As a much more purse-friendly alternative to a dormer roof extension, a pair of roof windows can completely transform a dingy loft. Also, as the product ranges have developed, there are now versions that open like balconies, tilt, hinge and even crank around the eaves, as seen in this example.
What kind of loft conversion could you get for up to £50,000?
However effective roof windows are on extensions, they really found their raison d’etre in loft conversions. As a much more purse-friendly alternative to a dormer roof extension, a pair of roof windows can completely transform a dingy loft. Also, as the product ranges have developed, there are now versions that open like balconies, tilt, hinge and even crank around the eaves, as seen in this example.
What kind of loft conversion could you get for up to £50,000?
Say yes to a stairwell to heaven
Another great use for roof windows is to flood daylight down into a stairwell. So many homes have dark hallways and landings, and with the installation of a roof window in just the right position, those dark staircases can be a thing of the past.
Another great use for roof windows is to flood daylight down into a stairwell. So many homes have dark hallways and landings, and with the installation of a roof window in just the right position, those dark staircases can be a thing of the past.
Love a lantern
An increasingly popular alternative to an extension with a lean-to roof and some roof windows is to have a flat roof with a large glass ‘lantern’.
These can be in the traditional pitched-roof form with lots of glazing bars, reminiscent of a Georgian orangery (as in this example) or can be more contemporary, flat and free of glazing bars – almost like having a neat rectangular hole in the ceiling.
An increasingly popular alternative to an extension with a lean-to roof and some roof windows is to have a flat roof with a large glass ‘lantern’.
These can be in the traditional pitched-roof form with lots of glazing bars, reminiscent of a Georgian orangery (as in this example) or can be more contemporary, flat and free of glazing bars – almost like having a neat rectangular hole in the ceiling.
Go double-height
Aside from the spectacular drama that it can give to a home, a double-height space can also be a wonderful way to bring in daylight between floors.
This house was built right up to its boundaries on a very small site and it was not possible to have windows on most of the exterior walls. A huge roof lantern on a flat roof brings in loads of daylight, but it’s the voids in the first floor that allow the light to flood down to the ground-floor spaces.
Aside from the spectacular drama that it can give to a home, a double-height space can also be a wonderful way to bring in daylight between floors.
This house was built right up to its boundaries on a very small site and it was not possible to have windows on most of the exterior walls. A huge roof lantern on a flat roof brings in loads of daylight, but it’s the voids in the first floor that allow the light to flood down to the ground-floor spaces.
Bring light to underground spaces
Basements can be particularly difficult to bring daylight into. More often than not, the answer is to create a light well, which gives the illusion that this is not a basement room at all. In this example, the basement can be used as a very pleasant bedroom thanks to the excavated external light well. Again, the windows reach right up to the ceiling to maximise the effect.
Basements can be particularly difficult to bring daylight into. More often than not, the answer is to create a light well, which gives the illusion that this is not a basement room at all. In this example, the basement can be used as a very pleasant bedroom thanks to the excavated external light well. Again, the windows reach right up to the ceiling to maximise the effect.
Invest in an internal courtyard
Another device to bring daylight into the heart of a home is to create a little exterior courtyard. Depending on the configuration, these can be wholly surrounded by the house or can work equally well with three or even only two sides open to the house.
The opportunity to create a courtyard might seem far-fetched if you are modifying an existing home, but as with this example – where a courtyard is sandwiched between the bedroom and the kitchen – when building an extension, it can be possible to wrap around the new structure to create an enclosed courtyard, allowing extra daylight into the centre of your home.
Another device to bring daylight into the heart of a home is to create a little exterior courtyard. Depending on the configuration, these can be wholly surrounded by the house or can work equally well with three or even only two sides open to the house.
The opportunity to create a courtyard might seem far-fetched if you are modifying an existing home, but as with this example – where a courtyard is sandwiched between the bedroom and the kitchen – when building an extension, it can be possible to wrap around the new structure to create an enclosed courtyard, allowing extra daylight into the centre of your home.
A great principle to follow is that the higher the angle the daylight is coming from, the more intense the daylight will be. So if you want to maximise the light coming in through, for example, a set of glazed doors, then have them as high to the ceiling as you can. So often I see glazed doors set lower than necessary and this will have a tremendous dampening effect upon both the intensity of daylight, but also its reach into the depth of your house.
Check out this Victorian townhouse’s light-boosting extension