All the windows in the wold will noy help at night What you need is much more and better lighting first before spending money on a window. Get some nice table and lamps for beside the sofa a floor lamp ideall arced to light up the center of the space maybe even have pot lights installed

TURN THE LIGHTS ON. If you want to spend $$ busting out a window fine, but it won’t help at night or on cloudy, overcast days.

Thank you for the comments. Yes! Lights. We need something effective in that dark corner of the room and decent table lamps. We already have 6 can lights and two spotlights over the fireplace. It's the daytime when we most notice the darkness and were aiming for more natural light -- during the *day.* (Guess I should've included this photo earlier.)

There are some things you can do to brighten the room, probably cheaper than knocking out brick and adding a window. Get a light rug and light furniture - maybe white slipcovers.

If the tree casts too much shade, limb it up.

Get rid of dark built-ins or paint them white. Paint the walls white - choose one with a high LRV value. Paint the trim white.

Thank you, latifolia. But we are not in the market right now to change the furniture or the rug. Built-ins in the part of the room not shown already have a light, painted finish. But your advice is good for the future nonetheless.

Looks like you've got the sofa in two different spots. Which do you prefer? Have you installed 3500-4000K LEDs in your can lights? Do that first and see the difference. Get rid of the dated torchiere lamp and end table in the corner. Center your sofa on that wall or under that opening to the dining room; your option. Where are the electrical outlets on those walls? You can wall mount two corded sconces on both of those walls for four more light sources. Remove the dark area rug and let the lighter carpet help you out.

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Consider a sun tunnel type of skylight.

I wonder if the building code would even allow for another window because this is a load bearing wall and those steel beams are supported by the wall right where OP wants to put a window.

LOVE my sun tunnel. I have one in my kitchen which is attached to our sunroom and does not get much natural light. Great idea from PPF. as long as their is no second story. Very reasonably priced compared to a window in a brick wall.

Thanks for the additional comments.

decoenthusiate - That is a sofa and loveseat at right angles to each other. There are two pieces of furniture. (I did not add furniture digitally.)

PPF & Lorraine - It's a ranch house, so there's no second floor. But we're not crazy about the sun tunnel idea for several reasons: potential for leaks, less control over how much light comes in, etc. (This room is generally where we watch TV. So we want a way to control the brightness/glare during the day, if necessary.)

ShadyWillowFarm - The beams are wood and are decorative only.

Maybe my original post was too open-ended. Let me revise it. The room is plenty bright at night with the cans (and whatever new, updated lighting/lamps we add). However, we want more natural daylight in the room during the day. So...we want to add a window despite the misgivings of those who've commented so far.

Questions:

1. We thought we could mimic the style of the kitchen window for consistency. Would it make sense to do something even wider? Granted, a 77” window similar to the kitchen window would leave only about 3’ of wall on either side, so there’s not a whole lot wider it could be. But still worth thinking about?

2. Aesthetically, should any new window be centered on the wall?

3. Once we get a window, should the sofa be centered under it? Or could it be offset? (Right now it’s directly opposite a wall-mounted flat screen TV which is centered on its wall.) It’s in a good spot and I hope we can get away with not centering the sofa under a window.

Thanks again!

Photo #1 appeared to show the 3-seat sofa on a solid wall while #4 showed it under a cut out to the dining room. Is that your photo shop of the window you have in mind? The pic you added in the comments is the first one with the love, and it is perp to the sliders and the 3-seater. If it were my space i'd expand the sliders to a triple and conserve some wall space left of it.

I would start by having a structural engineer come out to consult on whether this is even possible within your budget before spending too much time contemplating different paths forward. It may not be, or it may need to be in very limited contexts (e.g., two smaller windows vs. one large one to accommodate structural components that would be too costly to change). Conceptually I like the idea of matching the dining room window size, but it may not be feasible.

I'll also just offer that we do have a large window in our living room over our sofa, with the television opposite. It means we cannot use the television during the day, because it's too bright with too much glare. (We have cellular shades on the window, but not blackout shades--those would probably make it dark enough, but wasn't a route we wanted to go.) This works fine for our family, and we have a small house so there isn't another public room where we could put the television. But it probably wouldn't work for everyone. (Our kids are happy watching tv even with the glare on weekend mornings, and the adults only watch at night.)

“PPF & Lorraine - It's a ranch house, so there's no second floor. But we're not crazy about the sun tunnel idea for several reasons: potential for leaks, less control over how much light comes in, etc. (This room is generally where we watch TV. So we want a way to control the brightness/glare during the day, if necessary.)

Maybe my original post was too open-ended. Let me revise it. The room is plenty bright at night with the cans (and whatever new, updated lighting/lamps we add). However, we want more natural daylight in the room during the day. So...we want to add a window despite the misgivings of those who've commented so far.”

So, how will you control the light/glare with a window instead of a sun tunnel? I have a large window opposite my tv and turn on the lights and pull the curtains during the day to control the glare. IDK, why not get a contractor out to give you an estimate.