The issue of illumination of your home determines more than just its functionality. It’s also a factor that’s crucial for the health of all the inhabitants. The amount of natural light affects people’s mood, alleviates their anxiety and affects their motivation to engage in daily tasks. It also affects people’s interpersonal relationships, due to the fact that high natural illumination may encourage conversation, amongst other things. Therefore, here are several tips on how you can get more natural light in your home.
1. Remove Obstacles
The first thing you need to consider when it comes to the influx of light into your home is the issue of obstacles that can obstruct the free flow of light through your home. If you have a non-supporting wall or pillar, as well as a room divider, chances are that they might pose an obstacle to the flow of light through your home. Therefore, the most sensible solution would be to remove it, even though this may require an expensive, noisy and somewhat terrifying remodeling project. The end result, however, is more than worth it.
2. Work with Mirrors
The second thing you can do is enhance the reflectiveness of your home with the use of mirrors. The first thing that you need to do here is clear a wall area opposite the window in order to allow sunlight to bounce off directly from its surface. Provided that your door provides some illumination, as well, you can also try installing some hallway mirrors. By doing this the right way around, you can bring some sunlight into your living room from the other side of the home, as well.
3. Get Different Doors and Windows
The main points of entry of light are the doors and windows on your home and this is a factor that you just have to take into consideration. Your safest bet is to go for PVC or fibreglass French doors and windows, at least when it comes to the side of your home that faces the backyard. Due to the fact that these transparent entry points allow so much light in, chances are that they’ll be able to handle your natural light situation on their own. Combined with some other methods on this list, they might be able to reduce your use of artificial light to a minimum.
4. Replace Your Heavy Curtains with a Lighter Version
The next thing you need to pay close attention to is one of your curtains. You see, the problem with heavy curtains lies in the fact that they don’t allow you to pick the level of light that enters the room. They either allow the free flow of light (when not used) or completely obstruct light from entering the place. This is why you might want to consider getting a transparent or semi-transparent curtain to hang on your windows. On the other hand, outside of your bedroom, there’s no reason why you should use a heavy curtain, to begin with. A bit of strategy goes a long way in interior decoration. Needless to say, this will also give you some more options to be smarter with your home lighting, in general.
5. Install Skylights
If all else fails, all you are left with is the idea of installing skylights into your home. Still, there are a couple of things that you just have to know before doing this. Make sure that you install skylights properly, which means getting both quality windows and reliable installers. Second, make sure that you check out the weather for the following couple of days, due to the fact that a downpour during a skylight installation may cause a major issue. Those who follow all of these guidelines, however, shouldn’t have too much problem with the installation.
In Conclusion
In the end, you need to keep in mind that natural light, on its own, may not be enough. This is why it’s vital that you create an artificial lighting system, as well. Just keep in mind the fact that natural light positively impacts the mood, boosts creativity and comes completely free of charge. Therefore, look at your artificial light as merely alternative that you should use when the natural light isn’t present enough. With these five ideas on your side, this shouldn’t be such an issue.
Bio: Patrick Adams is a freelance writer and rock-blues fan. When he is not writing about home improvement, he loves to play chess, watch basketball, and play his guitar. More than anything, he loves to spend his time in his garage, repairing appliances and creating stuff from wood.
Additional photos – Photo by Milly Eaton from Pexels
