In my former house I installed three solar tubes. They were AMAZING! Everytime I passed the room my first instinct was to turn off the light even though the light wasn't on. They really work! You will want to center them in your room, do not put it in the darkest corner. In my current house I have 7 skylights. Skylights are wonderful for large spaces like a living room with vaulted ceilings. For hallways, closets, bathrooms and kitchens stick with the solar tube.

does the light look natural enough? (particularly if the room also has a real window?) I just worry it will look like a ceiling lamp with a "daylight bulb" in it, rather than natural sunlight.

On a sunny day, the tubes let in a lot of light, which is wonderful! I don't think it looked fake ... Below is a pic of my current skylights. They are great in a large space.

The bathroom pic is from my old house. You can't tell from the picture because it looks bright white but I remember the light being soothing. I can tell you that every realtor that came through the house couldn't believe how much the tubes transformed the rooms.

thanks! if you cropped that bathroom picture at the top, you could almost pretend there is a window up there! your living room, btw: SWOON.

B F.....I have to say that your concerns about the light from solar tubes looking unnatural and looking like a ceiling mounted LED are warranted. Any that I have seen in a room with either no natural light (or very small amounts) look exactly as you are describing. Actually, to my eyes it looks like a cheap fluorescent fixture. They are very different than skylights (which are in N M’s great room and Beth’s bathroom, both of which look terrific).

Why were you actually concerned about them looking bad or unnatural....had you seen them somewhere?

@nidnay, my sister has one in her laundry room. it looks like you described: like a fluorescent fixture, but maybe a little nicer than that. more like a LED fixture. I think it has something to do with how cloudy it is all winter long here (seattle). I would factor in the fact that, hers is cheap and was a DIY install, which I know can really make a difference. plus I'm seriously picky about lighting -- I'm the kind of person who will change a fixture and bulb several times before I'm happy, LOL.

I think I might see if I can see some of these in real life, that were professionally installed!

B F....like you, I also am extremely picky about lighting (and color temp of bulbs etc.) and I haven’t seen one solar tube that is at all appealing. I don’t think professional install makes any difference....light coming down through a tube has a certain look and feel. By all means, make sure you see one in person. I would also make sure it’s installed in a similar setting as your bathroom.

Whatever you choose, I would go for it over the shower! I love having natural light in the shower. It just feels that much more refreshing.

I know this is an old thread, but for what it's worth, I went into a Solatube showroom recently. It was a sunny day, and the room with the solatubes on display also had big windows at the other end. The window end had nice natural warm light spilling in. The solatube end of the room looked like it had round fluorescent lights, and the light appeared cooler in color temp. That experience certainly convinced me to not get one! I'm currently arranging for velux skylights to be installed, which should take place late summer. expensive, but our house is dark and I think this'll be a good investment. SO EXCITED!

solatubes add a lot of light, but that light seems to be a colder color temperature than what comes through a window or real skylight. and I don't like how they just look like a light fixture. I'm sure they're great for some people, but I want a natural "light spilling through a window" look.

ILoveMod, how did the skylights turn out?

Lafayette · More Info

Skylight we just installed over a shower...

gregoryandkristin both good and bad. Most people think of placement when they're worried that they'll get too much sun in the afternoon, but there are other factors to consider too.

The good skylight is installed on a west sloping part of the roof that gets bright sun. It looks great and we love it (it has blinds that we use occasionally, we sprang for the remote control kind, which was worth it).

The two bad skylights were installed on a part of the roof where they're in full shade most of the day. (Our house is a split level, so the shade comes from the upper story.) As a result, the light coming in is weak and weird, kind of like having a really dim fluorescent light. It's a bit better in the summer when the angle of the sun is different, but unfortunately I wanted these skylights to help make the rooms brighter in the winter. It was an extremely disappointing and expensive mistake.

If I had known better, I could have mitigated it by choosing a larger size skylight and having them installed off-center in the room. That would have put them more out of the shade, but also the light would have bounced down one wall. Reflecting off the wall would have subtly amplified the light into the room, if that makes sense.

So, when you plan skylights, size and placement is extremely important. If you're in doubt, get a a lighting architect who can study the sun patterns and do virtual modeling for you.