We tend to crave natural light in our homes and can find ourselves missing it when it isn’t present. A windowless room, or one that doesn’t receive much daylight, may start to feel depressing if the light issue isn’t addressed.
Quite often a home office, cellar room, loft space or en suite bathroom will sufer from this problem, but fortunately there are ways to add illumination even to the darkest corners of the home. Read on for our top suggestions:
Get Natural Daylight Bulbs
This is a really quick, simple and inexpensive solution – the use of full spectrum daylight tubes and bulbs will mimic natural daylight and can even help those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder during the dark winter months.
Install a Roof Window or Light Tunnel
If there’s no way of adding a traditional window, consider installing a roof light above the room, if the ceiling doesn’t have a room above it. A roof window is a great solution but isn’t easy to reach and you may want to open for added ventilation, in which you may opt for one that is remote controlled. Similarly, you may want the option of privacy, so consider an automated VELUX blind too, such as those available here.
Tiny bathrooms or interior stairwells with no natural daylight can also benefit from the addition of solar light tunnels, which are basically a tube system fitted via the roof with a clear dome facing the sky and mirrors along the tube to direct the daylight into your space.
Using mirrors and artwork
Mirrors on the wall are a great device to bounce light around a room and can certainly help in a dark space. A large piece of art, especially with a white or metallic frame, will break up a wall in the same way that a window would and if scenic, can give the impression of a window with a view.
Add a glass door or internal window
You may not be able to add a door or window to the outside, but consider changing a solid door to an opaque one with a fanlight above to steal light from elsewhere in the house. Similarly a window can be added to an internal wall and if privacy is sometimes required, a roller blind or frosted glass could be the answer.
Decorate with light colours
There is a big trend for dark interiors at the moment, but the light, bright Scandi look is still popular and this is probably one you’d want to adopt for a dark space. Keeping your walls and ceilings fresh and light in colour will help the room feel brighter – there are even light reflecting paints on the market to help further, such as and did you know there are even paints available on the market with special light reflecting properties, such as Dulux Light & Space, more on which you can read about here.
Structural changes
Structural alterations may enable you to squeeze in even a small window to let in light from the outside, or if not, perhaps you could create a more open plan space by removing an interior wall which will let the light flow through to the darker space from other areas of the home. Perhaps the addition of a bi-folding door or a roof lantern – even a glass panel in the floor – could be explored. If you are considering structural changes, get advice and ideas from an experienced architect.
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