How to Incorporate More Natural Light In the Architecture of Your New Home

As you most likely already know, there is a lot more to interior design than painting walls and moving furniture around. One element that is present in all corners of the interior is lighting and the lack thereof. It is a crucial aspect of interior design and knowing how to work with it will either make or break your atmosphere.

This is where natural lighting comes in. Ask any professional interior designer or read the best books on how to nail the interior and it’s likely that all of them will mention the importance of natural lighting. Unfortunately, the overreliance on artificial light can make interiors look bland and somewhat drab.

Natural lighting in building design, on the other hand, is far more dynamic and adds far more character to interiors than any amount of artificial light. Having too much natural light could be distracting, whereas excessive artificial light is not mentally or physically healthy either. Find a good balance between natural and artificial light for the best results when it comes to working with light.

Benefits of Natural Light

The importance of natural lighting in architecture goes beyond biophilic design and the simple comfort of having sunlight in your home. There are proven benefits to having more natural light in your interior that impact your physical and mental well-being.

Source of Vitamin D

The Health Benefits of Natural Light

Sunlight is our biggest source of vitamin D. This is a very important nutrient that keeps our bodies structurally sound, our skin young and healthy, and carries out a slew of other important tasks in our bodies. With how much time people spend in their homes these days, it’s easy to lose out on some much-needed sunlight and vitamin D. But why take vitamin supplements when you can simply incorporate more sunlight into your home.

A new home gives you the perfect opportunity to optimize the amount of natural light that can make its way into it. From installing skylights on the roof to having panoramic windows, and plenty of reflective surfaces that brighten up the interior. It’s not only a matter of design and style but also of your health and wellness. 

Visual Clarity and Spatial Freedom

How Brighter Interiors Open Up

A major problem with artificial lighting or the lack of natural light is how the interior isn’t properly lit up. Our eyes are naturally used to seeing sunlight, so when it comes to visual clarity, natural light is always going to be superior to anything artificial you have installed.

Additionally, natural light also helps to make rooms feel more spacious. This phenomenon was discovered ages ago and since then people used natural light to not only brighten up their interiors but also make them feel more expansive. This is especially useful in contemporary interior designs such as the Scandinavian or Mediterranean, both of which rely on visual clarity and bright interiors. 

More Accurate Colors

Why the Colors Sometimes Don’t Match

Many homeowners are disappointed to purchase a sofa set that looks good at the store, only to take it home and discover that the color is completely different and does not go well with the rest of the interior. This is common among homeowners because they don’t realize that the lighting fixtures at the store produce a completely different light than the ones in their homes. So, naturally, the colors look vastly different depending on how much brighter the store lighting is than at home.

What makes natural light so special is that it brings out the full colors of any piece of furniture, decor, or accent in the interior. So, if you want to see the true colors of your interior, your best bet is to use natural light. That way all the textures and colors will pop out and look as vibrant as ever. 

Sustainable Source of Light

Why Skylights Are So Popular These Days

Another major advantage to having natural light in the room is that it helps you conserve energy. In an age of green living and minding our carbon footprints, the more natural light you use, the less you have to rely on artificial lighting, thus making your home more environmentally friendly.

So not only does natural light benefit your physical and mental health, it can also help you cut down on the electric bill and your carbon footprint. With a few skylights and sun tunnels, you can save a lot of money and energy but still keep your home as bright as ever. 

How to Incorporate Natural Lighting In Your Home

For homeowners who are interested in making natural light a bigger part of their interior design, there are several ways they can accomplish this. 

Skylights and Sun Tunnels

How Sunlight Gets Into the Deeper Rooms In Your Home

It’s quite difficult to talk about natural light and not mention skylights and sun tunnels. To be fair, sun tunnels are a type of skylight, but the more conventional skylights are essentially roof windows. Usually installed on a slanted roof, skylights and sun tunnels are by far the easiest and most effective way of bringing in plenty of sunlight into your interior.

Sun tunnels are even more interesting, as they allow you to have skylights without having direct access to the roof. Light is captured by a little dome installed on the roof and is reflected through a specialized pipe into natural daylight ceiling lights that sit on the interior. These fixtures look pretty much like any recessed artificial lighting fixture but reflect sunlight directly into your house. So even if you want to brighten up a hallway on the first floor, the sun tunnels can get the job done. 

Reflective Surfaces

Which Surfaces Reflect the Most Sunlight

Sunlight does not simply flood the room like water. It reflects off various surfaces and this is how a room brightens up even when there’s a single window in the entire room. So, if you wish to increase the sunlight in your room it makes sense to incorporate more reflective surfaces that can throw the light around all over the room. This can be done using decorative mirrors that can be installed on walls.

Other reflective surfaces such as glass are also great options. In fact, if you put a few interior glass doors around the house, this could help the sunlight penetrate deeper into the interior and brighten up rooms that may not even have access to windows. Additionally, some glass surfaces, such as tables, can reflect sunlight even though they are transparent. Through these reflections, you can create a vibrant and bright atmosphere without having to turn on a ton of artificial lights. 

Brighter Walls, Floors, and Ceiling

How Color and Light Work In Unison

Speaking of surfaces: what are some of the biggest surfaces you will find in any interior? It’s the floor, walls, and ceiling. These are responsible for a lot of the sunlight that gets knocked around the room to brighten it up. And if you paid attention in physics class, then you would likely remember, that light reflects and refracts differently depending on the color of the surface.

Generally, the brighter the colors of your floor, ceiling, and walls, the more reflective that surface is, as more light can bounce off of it. So, if you want to have a naturally brighter interior, consider painting the walls and ceiling with lighter colors, laying a bright rug, or using white floor tiles and bamboo flooring. All of these elements will brighten up the room, both in terms of color and light.

Less Emphasized Window Frames

The Magic of Minimal Window Frames

Your window casing determines a lot more than the mere color of your thresholds. The size, shape, and color directly influence how light passes through the window and how much of it gets through. So if your window frames are thick and bold, with a dark brown finish, they won’t let in as much natural light since the frames may soak up a lot of it and won’t reflect it to other surfaces.

On the other hand, if you have bright and slim window frames, the light will have a much easier time crossing the threshold as there is little to no obstacle standing in its way. This is why you’ll notice how brighter homes tend to deemphasize their window casings to let in more light with fewer barriers.