If you want to feel a sense of calm and well-being the minute you walk into your home, then nothing beats natural light.
Natural light has positive impacts on our health, wellbeing and productivity. And you don’t need to be a health or design expert to know why. Dark rooms tend to make you feel cold, lethargic and uninspired, whereas light-filled spaces are warming and inviting.
However, not all of us have homes saturated with sunlight. Terraces shadowed by buildings, pokey rooms with small windows, windows shaded by trees – there are many factors that prevent natural light from streaming into your home. And the less light we have in our homes, the more often we’re likely to turn on light switches and the heater.
Fortunately, there are plenty of cost-effective options that bring more light into your home.
“Daylighting” is the practice of installing windows, skylights and reflective surfaces so that sunlight (direct or indirect) to provide internal lighting. This is often used to maximise visual comfort while reducing energy consumption. Experts in daylighting design for thirty years, Solatube are champions of the benefits that natural light brings to homes in terms of improving environment and design elements.
Solatube’s INFRAREDuction skylights use the latest technology to extract infrared wavelengths on the first light bounce before they can be transferred through the tube, dispersing heat before it ever enters the building.
Here are a few other ways to increase natural light in your home:
- Install larger windows or glass sliding doors
- Add more mirrors and reflective objects
- Paint walls with lighter colours (nothing beats white)
- Replace heavy drapes with transparent curtains or white shutters
- Swap dark timber furniture for lighter pieces
- Wash the windows (you’d be surprised what a difference this makes!)
Boost your home’s feel-good factor and market appeal
Regular exposure to natural light is not only good for your health but also has the added benefits of enhancing its value due to design, function and energy saving.
“As an outdoor nation we can still spend up to 90 percent of our time indoors, which restricts our access to natural light and its many benefits”, says Solatube General Manager Brett Dickson. “Spending time inside also tends to increase exposure to artificial light sources, such as computer screens and televisions. More natural light can help to counteract this.”
5 ways natural light adds value to your home
- Transforms: Alongside its benefits to people in buildings, natural light can transform spaces architecturally by enhancing the design and aesthetics
- Brightens: Lively and spacious living spaces have immediate impact and are instantly attractive
- Enhances: Daylighting is a design strategy that pays off. It evokes positive emotional responses in people, making properties more attractive, and it has a lasting benefit to buildings
- Boosts buyer appeal: Light filled interiors add value to homes. The amount of natural light a home receives can influence its appeal, the length of time it’s on the market and its sale price
- Saves: Artificial lighting is responsible for a significant amount of energy consumption and adds to energy bills. Harnessing daylight as much as possible saves on energy bills.
When daylighting is approached as a core part of your home’s design – rather than an optional extra – its results can be incredible. To find out more call us or your local premier Solatube dealer – such as Skylights Sydney – to discuss your options today!