Plantings. Trees. Shade. Surrounding the home with abundant green- as I live in an irrigated desert. Let the beating sun roll onto canopies of trees surrounding me. Misters. Keeping misters running keeps the back porch twenty degrees cooler than the reported temperature! Arrange the garden & patio with an overstory & understory - with fruit trees in season, and evergreens surround furthering both privacy- and all important to me- a beautiful scene close by during hazardous air quality. Then when the sunlight- which you so kindly mentioned to me- bakes the smog & the air quality is unhealthy to all "hazardous" instead of looking at puffy white air hanging like fog on a 110 degree day- and seeing a gray brown yellow overcast 'cloud'- on a "clear" cloud free day!!! One can simply see the inside of a tree branches cascading merrily. Go out and pick a fig. a nectarine. a peach. make life a peach. But when you leave the house and drive about- ouch! the limited eye sight and polution haze can really hit you by surprize!! Until I learned about sunlight & heat increase of pollution limiting visibility I wondered about early cataracts for me.

Things I have done to improve natural light in my home: 1. front door now is mostly glass 2. removed full height pantry that was in the kitchen/entrance - there is a small load bearing wall there that will be replaced by columns (attached to kitchen island) 3. painted all walls off white 4. chose light coloured finishes in general 5. removed upper cabinets from around kitchen window 6. ensure that window coverings for privacy allow lots of light in Things I am considering doing 1. adding ODL tubular skylights to light windowless areas (from Home Depot) 2. replacing some interior doors that are usually closed with windowed ones to bring natural light into windowless hallway (doors can have curtains or blinds if necessary) 3. adding windows to bathrooms

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

Paul and Christina I like your thinking! :-) Paul, the common/shared balcony does get some weather but not with the same force or as much rain as mine. I've never noticed a power outlet on the shared balcony, but I wouldn't use it anyway because we have a lot of people here that have absolutely no idea of safety. We have another balcony directly above ours the same size as ours, so there is better shelter from the elements. My balcony also has a small balcony above, the same size as mine. Oh my goodness! I have the same sort of shelving in my room, of the first image from your link lol. I bought expensive ones so they can hold more weight than I could ever manage. I did put the small one outside for a short while but it started developing surface rust pretty quickly. But I've noticed recently much cheaper ones of the same design. What type of store is the BBS? I wouldn't like to tie or even chain anything from the balcony fence above and we have asked permission to get hooks for hanging plants, I even offered to pay to get them to get professionally done, a firm no :-( By the way, I have often used zip ties with far greater success than even strong wire, and cheap enough to replace often if needed. Christina, I love the lockable wheels thought! Then I could even take them from the shared balcony to mine and vice versa. And even inside if needed. Just had a thought! We have a walkway across to the next building/wing of the complex, that I've noticed gets full sun for quite a few hours in the middle of the day. I also have a few trusted friends on my floor who's balconys face north so should get the hottest sun for many hours. So...... cheap shelving with wheels, maybe 2 if needed. Roll the plants all over the place to get the best conditions available for any season lol. Equals - I may be able to keep and add to my Succulents after all!!! Woooo hooooooo :-D Also very spoilt plants lol. Also equals a very long post. Sorry guys. But thank you so much!!!!