Get all the natural light you can
Skylights and mirrors can help illuminate interiors as the days grow shorter
Diminishing daylight — a hallmark of fall — can result in a triple whammy that includes lethargy, a blue mood, and higher energy bills, according to Nels Moxness, president of skylight manufacturer Velux Canada.
Correctly placed windows and skylights can, however, enhance psychological and physical health by taking advantage of natural light and ventilation. They can also trim energy costs by boosting solar heat gain and reducing the need to turn on lights, says Moxness.
“There’s an esthetic value to natural daylight, because it makes a room feel bigger,” he says, “and in terms of wellness, it energizes you and puts you in a better mood.”
Skylights, suggests Moxness, are an efficient way to bring natural daylight into the home. “Because of a skylight’s angle to the sun, we can create 200 per cent more daylight than a wall window with the same size glazing,” he says.
Skylights also allow light to flood more effectively into a home’s interior, he adds. “With a wall window, there’s a lot of light near the edge of the house — we call it a hot spot, and it actually makes the rest of the room feel darker. But the family usually spends more time in the inner core of the house — and a skylight makes light levels more even throughout the home.”
“Sun tunnel” lights installed through the roof that have a reflecting tube that directs daylight are a good option for spaces in which a wall window or skylight isn’t feasible, such as a walk-in closet or interior bathroom.
If skylights and sun tunnel lights are in your plans, you can still leverage the amount of natural light in your home now.
With conventional windows, the right treatment will increase available light, says Rebecca MacDonald, an interior designer with online home decor shopping site Wayfair.
The trick, she adds, is to use coverings that maximize light while maintaining privacy. “Certain cellular shades allow light in. There’s a scale of one to five — going from very transparent to blackout.”
Positioning blinds correctly is especially important when sunlight is limited, adds MacDonald. “You can manipulate the direction you point the light in — if you twist the blinds up, the light hits the ceiling and reflects back down.”
Choosing white blinds with a cool blue tone, which mimics natural daylight, can also make a space brighter, she says, while shades that pull from top down boost light and protect privacy.
Increasingly sophisticated home automation makes it easy to take full advantage of natural light. Velux products are programmable, for example, and Hunter Douglas has a wireless operating system, PowerView Motorization, that lets users raise, lower, tilt, and traverse shades automatically. The system works with several home-automation programs, including Nest, Logitech, and Savant, as well as voice-activated devices from Amazon and Google. Later this year, Apple HomeKit will be added to that list.
There are lots of old-school techniques for making rooms look brighter and better lit, says MacDonald, suggesting that using mirrored surfaces to exploit natural light is “one of the oldest, simplest design tricks in the book.” A mirrored surface on a wall sconce, or a mirror behind a bedside table is a pretty, easy way to make a room look bigger and lighter.
Equally simple — propping a large mirror from an affordable source like HomeSense near a window to throw light into the room.
At some point, admits MacDonald, turning on a table or floor lamp will be inevitable, so she suggests shopping carefully for the right piece.
“When you are choosing decorative lighting, make sure you like the way it looks, whether it’s on or off. You want it to fulfil its purpose, but you also want it to look nice during the day.”