10 Ways to Maximize Light in Dark Homes

We all dream of living in a home where light-filled living spaces open onto a sunny garden. But sometimes it’s simply not possible to buy a piece of land that faces the right way, or to construct an extension. If that’s the case for you, don’t despair – there are a number of techniques expert designers use to capture that all-important sun and ensure that your home is bathed in light. Let’s explore the main ones.

1. Add a private outdoor space to the front

If the front of your home receives the most light, consider designing a secondary, private outdoor space in this spot (if it’s permissible by your building/society rules). Fencing it off from your front lawn not only gives you privacy, it allows you to open up your interior spaces to light.

2. Look to the side

If your site is wide enough, consider setting up your main outdoor space to the side of your house. Add in large expanses of glass, as the owners have done here, so that both your alfreso area and living spaces are bathed with light. This arrangement also allows light to flow through to all adjoining rooms.

3. Create a central skylight

Homes that are oriented the wrong way can be dark and devoid of light, but a centralizedlight well or skylight can filter light not only into a private courtyard, but to the rooms surrounding it. Entire walls of glass can be opened, blurring the lines between inside and outside.

4. Set your sights higher

In a home that faces the wrong way, the open spaces will often suffer from shadowing as walls have a nasty habit of hindering the sun’s rays. One solution is to elevate a secondary outdoor space, such as a balcony, closer to the sky so that it is bathed in light.

5. Create transparent links

Rather than create a home made up of one solid mass, where some parts of the home are light and others are dark, consider creating separate pavilions where the spaces are connected via transparent links that filter light from one room to the next.

6. Introduce clerestory windows

A great way to allow northern light to enter your home is to incorporate clerestory windows along one or more walls in your living space. These small windows are installed along the top of the wall just before it meets the roofline, oriented towards the north and north-east so they capture the light, which can then be directed to any part of your home. To draw in even more light, you can also have the roof angled to increase the size of the windows.

7. Step your home along the site

By creating a series of pavilions that step down the slope of your site, or by altering the ceiling height of each pavilion on a flat block of land from front to back, you can install clerestory windows along the sun-facing ceiling line as well as additional glazing to the side of the building. This allows light to enter deep into the heart of your home so that all rooms receive maximum solar penetration.

8. Increase the size of your sun-facing windows

When capturing the sun is simply not possible, consider increasing the amount of glazing on your windows and walls.

Introducing raked ceilings will boost the surface area of glazed windows and walls further, allowing in even more light. You could also consider angling glazing so that part of it is exposed to light.

9. Light colour scheme

Sometimes solar penetration from other sources such as clerestory windows still isn’t enough to create that light-filled ambiance you’re after. If this is the case, use a light-enhancing palette of white walls and furniture paired with pale upholstery to bounce the available light around and make the space feel brighter.

10. Limit trees and shade

North-facing indoor and outdoor spaces can sometimes require eaves and external shading devices such as trees to provide reprieve from the hot summer sun. However, if your home faces the other way, these shading devices will only prevent much-wanted sun from entering your garden and interior. A little pruning and strategic placement of trees can open up the spaces so they receive as much sun as possible.

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