Exposure to natural light boosts your Vitamin D levels, supports productivity/focus, benefits vision, reduces seasonal depression, helps you sleep, and improves your mood. No wonder you want to curl up in that patch of sunlight coming through your living room window! Why not use glass to harness and increase natural light in your home? The following are strategies and products that enable you to increase natural light in your home design.
Glass Walls
Translucent glass walls and/or panes collect and disperse light, allowing sunlight to penetrate. Laminated, textured, and/or sandblasted glass walls absorb and reflect natural rays, brightening a space while providing privacy.
Transom/Clerestory Windows
These glass apertures are located over a door or window and come in a variety of styles, shapes, and designs. Indoor transoms borrow light, introducing natural illumination to a room while providing privacy.
Mirrors
Careful placement of mirrors makes a dim space feel larger and lighter. Try hanging a mirror opposite a window, bouncing light into the room, reflecting the outdoors, and creating an illusion of a second window. Consider placing a mirror behind a light source (floor lamp, candle, sconce, table lamp, etc.), reflecting light into the room and illuminating the corners of the space. Hang mirrors in the recess of a skylight, bringing in rooftop views, or place a mirror in the recess of a window to increase natural light in your home.
Glass Stairs
Think beyond connecting the levels of your home with your stairs. Use the stairwell as a vehicle for borrowing light from the upper story. Position your stairway to capture and reflect light entering the floor above. Consider surrounding your stairs with glass railings or opt for a floating glass staircase that lets the light in.
Interior Windows
Allow sunlight from an adjacent room to penetrate with the aid of interior windows. Choose acid-etched, sandblasted, laminated, or textured windows to help preserve privacy.
Skylights
A skylight is a good option as it allows three times more light to enter than a vertical window. Paint your walls with a high-sheen, reflective paint to help bounce the light to other spaces.
Light Tubes
Try pairing a skylight with light tubes or light wells. Small, round bubbles are placed on the roof and connected to long tubes boasting a mirror-like interior. These tubes bounce light around obstructions and curves, ending as a small dome on the ceiling, increasing natural light in your home.
Lightwells
A light well is an excavated area around the basement window, enclosed on four sides and open at the top, providing natural illumination for the lower area of your home.
Sunlight positively affects sleep cycles, mood, productivity, and health. Getting enough natural light is important for our psychological and physical well-being. Harness the power of natural light. Increase natural light in your home through the use of glass features.
Need help increasing natural light in your home? Contact House of Mirrors and Glass. We’ll work with you to create functional design solutions for your home. Customer satisfaction is our goal!
