Lighting for library with poor natural light
15 years ago
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- 15 years ago
- 15 years ago
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Floor Plan Comments - Natural Light
Comments (14)Thanks for the comments so far. There does not appear to be a consensus, but several folks have recommended Solatubes. I guess I could put in two 14" Solatubes in the Family room by putting them in the centers of two coffers at one-third and two-thirds of the way along the length of the room. But would these point sources of skylight be too bright, like really bright light fixtures that make you want to wear a baseball cap to shield your eyes from the glare? I guess we could build the house as-is, and add the Solatubes later if we decide we want more light. Have also thought about long linear skylights at the boundaries of the kitchen/family rooms, dining/family rooms, and entry/family rooms. In response to a few questions, the porch roof will be about 15' high. I like the suggestion about making the patio and underside of porch roof light colors. That may help some. Per requests, I have also attached sketch for second floor, which contains a guest bedroom, study, exercise room, and two baths. Any more opinions welcome. Thanks....See Morebrightening a room without much natural light
Comments (22)I'm grateful for all the responses. Of course, my head is spinning a bit because on one hand I understand the logic (and see the photographic proof) that light color can't brighten a dark room all on its own. On the other hand, it's hard to dismiss that emotional feeling that darker paint will make things darker. Graywings, yes, I have considered adding a solar tube! I have one in my interior hall, at the angle junction of its two legs. It's like a strong overhead light is on during the day. I've had it for years and it still fools me that I left a light on somewhere. The reason I've held off putting one in the living room is the look on the ceiling, which is vaulted. I'm afraid it will look like a big, all-knowing eye. But I haven't ruled it out down the road. Stinky, thank you so much for that link! I like how you deduct non-walls for a percentage. While it makes sense, there still seems to be a lot of subjective evaluation of the amount of light. The first example used (the one with the wooden bookshelves at the end of the room) was only given a 50% for light and I thought it was much more than that. bronwynsmom, love the look of the living room in your photo. It looks great and I love the neutral palette. One more thing to throw into the mix: My too dark (without lights on) living room, flows into my gets-lots-of-light dining room (eastern exposure). No dividing wall between them and indeed, they share a long common wall. So, whatever I choose to warm up my living room will also find itself on a sunny wall....See MorePicking paint for areas with not much natural light
Comments (11)I'm not a color expert, but I've always attributed the "muddifying" effect to the fact that when it gets dark, our ability to see colors goes (we're all color blind in the dark). So the darker the space, the less we see of the colors in the paint. So we need more color (more pigment) in order for our eye to distinguish a color from gray. So grayed-out colors look like a grayed-out color, or sometimes even a not-particularly-grayed-out pastel, in a bright room, but in a dark hallway they look...gray. In an area that is always poorly lit, I think you can choose a brighter (less grayed-out, not necessarily darker or lighter) to compensate. It's the areas with mixed lighting that are really problematic--you can get a color that looks day-glo for a couple hours in the morning, or in one corner of the room, trying to get the rest of the room to not look gray....See MoreWhat colors worked in your NW-facing low-natural-light rooms?
Comments (31)Thank you for your help everybody, I finally found one color that works in both rooms. It is a BM Gentle Cream which is in the off-white collection. I wanted more color but it looks like with the northern exposure combined with the low ceiling and narrow rooms there is just no visual space for anything more intense. Gentle Cream actually lives up to its name, it doesn't look pink or peach in either room and not too yellow either (Papaya was a little too yellow). And yes, the type if bulbs makes a big difference. We have some kind of "true light" in the DR, similar to Reveal and this particular color looks more yellow there. The LR has halogen recessed lights and the color has a slight green tint to it in that room. I also encountered this issue in my kids' bathroom. Picked a countertop which looked beige-cream in the showroom, almost exactly like the color of the tile we selected. I did cheked the sample at home but during the day, the lighting wasn't istalled yet in the bathroom. Once installed, the counter looked almost yellow in the bathroom with the regular flood bulbs. I couldn't believe I was so off with the color! However, after we switched the bulbs to white light it looks a lot closer to what I thought I picked...See MoreRelated Professionals
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