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Windows Remodeling Design Dilemma

Large bedroom is very dark

last year

I have just bought a new home. One upstairs bedroom is pretty large, but only has one very deep dormer window (2 desks would fit comfortably lengthwise in there) and light simply doesn't get through. The dormer also faces North. The south wall has a bathroom, so no windows there. The remaining east wall unfortunately has the roof line for a one-storey section of the home coming right up along it, so my contractor doesn't think he can get a transom window in there.

So I may be reduced to getting light in through the roof. I see a lot of posts about using solar tubes for small rooms but I am concerned that in a large dark room a solar tube is just going to look like a bright circle in the middle of the gloom. Is this concern justified, and do I need to plan for a skylight instead?

The photo shows you the one-storey section roofline extending up the wall of the second storey, and the dormer.

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Comments (4)

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Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
A pic of the bedroom is a must and why do you worry about a lot of light in a bedroom > Ilike dark bedrooms but I need to see yours. Start by adding lighting the cheapest way to get better lighting is better lighting.
paltmaie thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
apple_pie_order
last year
A solatube looks exactly like a large round flat LED light fixture. A bedroom will need a shade for it (you can buy it as an option) because moonlight and street lights will appear quite bright.
paltmaie thanked apple_pie_order
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kandrewspa
last year
Usually you wouldn't want to put a skylight on the front side of a house of this style. Does the front of the house face north? I have two north facing bedrooms. They have a pair of windows that are six feet square together, but since it's north there is never much light. I am going to paint them BM Seashell (I have done my sampling) which is a luminous warm off white. I used Timid White in my basement which also has north facing windows. Timid White has more yellow. Cotton Balls is another BM color that people like which is more white, but I have heard referred to as luminous. So my advice is to paint the rooms a warm, light color (or double down on the moody and go dark with navy or green) and make sure to have plenty of artificial light in the room as Patricia says. It also depends on how much time and what time of day you expect to spend in this room as to what you do with it.
paltmaie thanked kandrewspa
paltmaie
Original Author
last year
@Patricia Colwell Consulting I move in a week from today so I'll post a photo then. The sellers had a 3 month rent back and although in some respects it's been very useful to get a jumpstart on planning the renovations and signing up the contractor, it's frustrating to not yet be in the house.

@apple_pie_order Well, that decides it - I won't be installing a solar tube! I could just as well use a light. The house has one in a bathroom, which lights it beautifully, but that room is so small it doesn't look like a light. So it's a skylight or nothing.

@kandrewspa Yes, I agree, I wouldn't put a skylight in front, but the room stretches N to S, so I was thinking to put it on the southern part of the room, where it wouldn't be visible from the front.

But you have all given me food for thought about installing anything at all. I like a lot of light in rooms - my current house in CA has tons of windows, specially on the N side, so I had an allergic reaction to this particular room being so poorly lit! But once I move in I will be able to make a more thoughtful decision, taking your input into account.

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