Letting more light into your home is something that everyone should be striving to achieve. If you can flood your spaces with natural, sun-derived illumination, you can improve your health, get better sleep, and transform your lifestyle.
But how do you go about doing it in practice? Well, it turns out that there are just a handful of principles you need to know. Don’t worry: we’re not going to be discussing anything complicated. Just some simple rules anyone can apply to their interior spaces.
Here’s what you need to know:
Use The Power Of Reflection
One option for getting more natural light into your home is to use the power of reflection. These get incoming light to bounce off interior walls and spread around more.
One option is to use paints with high light reflectance. These rebound incoming light and let it bounce back out again, interacting with all the surfaces in your rooms.
Most paint isn’t reflective, so you’ll need to search around for it. It’s not quite mirror-like, but it does contain flecks that avoid light absorption, which is an issue with most standard products.
You can also use mirrors. These reflect nearly all of the incoming light and work best when you place them on the wall opposing the window.
Just beware of glare: it can be quite strong, preventing you from working efficiently at your computer.
Finally, you can sometimes use the eaves and soffits around your home to direct more light to the interiors. Painting them white causes energy to reflect into your home, illuminating the space and amplifying the effectiveness of the windows.
Keep Your Windows Clean
Another option for letting more natural light into your home is to keep the windows clean. Murky or grimy windows won’t let as much light in (however obvious that might sound).
If you have tinting on your windows, ask an engineer if you can remove it. Sometimes property owners put films on the inside and outside of windows to reduce UV or improve strength, but the cons often outweigh the pros.
Open Your Blinds
Another technique is to simply open your wooden blinds in the morning and close them in the evening. Modern systems often come with remote electric control which opens and closes them automatically depending on your preferences.
Keeping blinds closed all the time is a no-no. You want them open the majority of the day, only shuttering them when you want to block out street lights or make your home feel dimmer and cozier in the evening.
Place Furniture More Strategically
Finally, you can experiment with placing your furniture more strategically. Putting it in front of windows isn’t a good idea and could prevent the maximum amount of light from getting in.
For example, if you have an armchair in front of the window, move it to the fireplace. This way, you can prevent the long back from stopping sunlight from getting into the room.
You can also move bookcases and other large pieces of furniture if they prevent light from reaching your mirrors.
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