The way we approach daylighting in the home changes depending on which room we’re in, and what we want to achieve. In today’s blog, we’ll look at natural lighting solutions for rooms in the home that we often overlook, such as bathrooms, hallways, and bedrooms. We’ll also tell you about the alternatives available for areas that prove difficult to light naturally.
Natural Lighting Solutions for the Bedroom
You may think that since bedrooms are primarily for sleeping, they don’t need to be well lit. In fact, bedrooms need a range of good lighting. They need to be generally well lit for the time we spend in them during the day, as well as have good task lighting for getting ready in the morning, and an option for dim lighting in the evenings.
The best bedrooms get a lot of sunlight during the day to create a warm, cosy environment for when we come home to them in the evenings. If you have large bedroom windows it’s important to open curtains at the start of the day, and close them as soon as it starts to get cooler in the evening, in order to trap in as much heat as possible. This makes bedrooms feel like a much nicer environment to be in at all times of the day. We know from last week’s blog what this can do for our mental health.
If you’re finding that a bedroom is too dark in your home – maybe it’s internal, or the windows just aren’t in the best place – a good way to get a large amount of natural light is to place a skylight in the centre of the ceiling. Central lighting is important in bedrooms because it lights up the maximum amount of space. Natural skylights can be really great for regulating our sleeping patterns, and we’ve also discussed how this can be great for our health before.
Natural Lighting Solutions for the Hallway
In order for our house to have even and balanced natural lighting, it’s important we don’t forget about hallways. This can be hard to achieve since hallways are commonly internal; we need to get creative with solutions. Hallway lighting needs to help transition between rooms, so if you’re concentrating a lot of natural light towards the rooms that run off your hallways, you also need to be getting plenty of natural light into the hallway itself so that there isn’t a huge contrast.
It’s also important in hallways that there is sufficient lighting for when you need it to use them at night, otherwise those late-night trips to the bathroom in the dark can be dangerous – this is especially true if stairs are involved.
A great way to resolve this issue is via Solatube Smart LED Lighting. This product works as a natural skylight during the day, and as natural light fades, the Solatube Smart LED lights will turn on. It gets better - they can also come with an ‘occupancy sensor’ which is perfect for hallway lighting at night – you’ll never have to struggle in the dark to find the light switch again!
Natural Lighting Solutions for the Bathroom
Bathrooms are another room that is often overlooked in the natural light department, as windows can pose a privacy problem. However, it’s very important for bathrooms to get appropriate natural light, not just for the purpose of brightening the room, but also for the purpose of ventilation. Artificial light doesn’t break through steam as easily as natural light does, and so during shower time we need that natural light in order to avoid a situation where we have to fumble around blindly for the soap.
The perfect natural lighting solution for bathrooms is the Solatube System with Ventilation. It only requires one fitting in the ceiling to provide your bathroom with natural light all day, an extractor for moisture and smells, not to mention you can add a Smart LED system onto it for night lighting. With it you have all the benefits of the Solatube Daylighting system, and also extremely quiet and efficient ventilation where you need it the most.
The natural solution, with Hometech
Chances are your home definitely needs a natural daylighting solution in a place where you never thought to put it, and this can be easily achieved. Talk to one of us today for a free consultation and quote on how to make the most of natural light all over your home.