- Follow us:
Saturday, March 10th, 2018
Imagine spending your mornings in this bright and airy ambiance. Featured furniture pieces are from the Deco Collection of Fine Furniture Design.
Isn’t it a wonderful feeling to just bask under the sun? Natural light has many known health benefits both emotional as well as physical. This is why more and more homeowners are rethinking their homes’ designs so that they can enjoy more Vitamin D in their households. Do you wanna know which benefits you can also enjoy right in your own home?
Sunlight Is a Natural Mood Booster
Have you heard of the seasonal affective disorder? This is a kind of depression which is caused by longer seasons of dismal weather. This same effect can be felt if you don’t let in sunlight into your home each day. Many studies have suggested that enough exposure to natural light each day can provide many health benefits especially when it comes to the person’s disposition.
Sunlight Regulates the Circadian Rhythm
When you tend to spend more time indoors, your sleep-wake cycle also known as the circadian rhythm goes haywire. No artificial lighting can duplicate natural light’s role in the body’s production of the melatonin.
Melatonin is the hormone that is responsible for the human body’s sleep and sleep-wake cycle. This is a chemical that is produced by the pineal gland as night falls. The body clock is influenced by this since it is responsible for cuing the right time to sleep.
Sunlight Helps Conserve Energy
The more natural light a structure harnesses, the less energy is consumed in that building or house. Eventually, you get to save money, too, since you won’t use as much lighting during the day as when every window is shut and you have the thickest draperies installed.
Sunlight Improves Vision
New research has shown that exposure to natural light is actually healthy for the eyes. It has been observed that those who do not wear sunglasses when they go out have their visions improve while people who work at night tend to be more susceptible to different forms of cancer and other illnesses.
Sunlight Enhances Natural Views
If you let the sunlight flood into your home, then you also open the windows or, at the very least, you have glass windows which all look out to the beauty of nature outdoors. These great views aren’t just for aesthetics anymore because studies have also shown just how much patients who have undergone surgery have improved when they have a view of the scenic outdoors. Compared to the ones who remain in an enclosed room, the patients who had the views got better a lot faster.
Now that you know all the benefits that come with natural light, it’s time to open those windows and follow these guidelines so that you will begin to enjoy health and wellness –
Install Mirrors
What better way is there to reflect light all throughout your home than to hang some mirrors? The more mirrors that you have, the more light will be able to bounce from one wall to the next. Be sure to hang mirrors right across the windows or your glass doors so that you will maximize the sunlight during the day.
Paint with Light Colors
Light colors – just like mirrors – are able to reflect the natural light. These are replicate the beauty of light more than the dark paints. So if you want to optimize natural lighting, be sure to paint with cool tones such as cream, eggshell blue, powder blue, and just about any pastel color there is.
Reposition Furniture
Sometimes, all it takes to have more natural light into your home is to move a few furniture pieces around. It could be that your huge sofa is blocking the light that is supposed to stream in from the living room windows. Just move that piece a few feet and you should have a more awesome ambiance.
If all of the above guidelines fail, then ask for an expert to assess how you can install a skylight in your home.
Tags: McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, natural light, natural lighting, skylight, sunlight
Posted in Interior Design 101, Interior Design Elements, Lighting | Comments Off on
Tuesday, May 16th, 2017
High windows, when properly situated, can provide ample lighting during the morning. Featured here is the beautiful Hooker Furniture Dining Room Elixir Round Dining Table 42in.
With regard to architecture, daylighting makes reference to the utilization of natural light. Whether this natural light is brilliant or an overcast illumination, either is used to support the visual needs of the occupants of a home.
Most daylighting purists argue that the natural light should be the primary illumination source during the day. It must also be able to create thermally and visually comfortable lighting that’s linked with the scenic beauties outdoors. Others simply view natural lighting as having a home that has windows with a view.
Efficient and Productive Lighting
Daylighting is highly regarded for its health and aesthetic benefits. A lot of researchers and designers agree to this. Daylit habitats are also believed to increase the productivity of its occupants while also upping the comfort in the home.
As if these weren’t good enough benefits, you can also enjoy visual and mental stimulation which are essential in regulating the human circadian rhythms.
The use of natural light also leads to a substantial amount of energy savings. Buildings’ electrical light consumes roughly 15-percent of all the U.S.-generated electricity. This information is according to the U.S. Department of Energy also the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Did you know that homes that have been fitted with daylight-sensing controls reduce their energy consumption by as much as 20% to 60%?
Natural Light and Your Mood
The natural lighting level in the rooms in your home can truly affect your mood. These rays contain vitamin D which is also an added benefit. This vitamin makes people feel more positive. Brighter rooms, therefore, make us feel a lot happier, more vibrant and alive.
When adding a light color to your ceilings or when you use a glass pendant lighting fixture, the room will surprisingly feel lighter. Glass doors also let in more natural light, therefore, polished floorboards and the rest of the rooms look instantly more energetic.
Begin planning your rooms especially the ones that are too dark. Of course, you cannot just allow every room remain brightly-lit all day. There must also be areas where shadows play an interesting contrast so that your home will retain its character.
Who says bedrooms have to be dark? Let in a generous amount of sunlight during the day. Featured here is the Lazarus Queen Headboard from the Meritage Collection of FFDM.
Decorating Dark Rooms
It always pays to make good use of mirrors. The shinier the surfaces, the more light will be reflected off of them. This means you have to learn to effectively use brass lighting (this is so in this 2017), gold doorknobs, brass candelabra, silver photo frames, and such.
You can also install mirrors directly opposite to one another so that they would bring about infinite reflections on both sides.
Adding a mirror at the end of a limited hallway will make the space appear much longer. You can also create the look of a larger window by placing a mirror that’s as big as the window opposite it.
Conclusion
If you are designing or about to renovate your home, be sure to check how the windows would relate to the movement of the sun throughout the day. The windows that face south have a steady supply of daytime warmth and light. Even during the winter, you are sure to find a generous amount of light there.
North-facing windows admit the softer, more indirect lighting. These windows offer very little to zero glare. The rooms is that area are also not able to maintain the warmth during the colder seasons.
The west and east-facing windows are able to funnel the light during the mornings and the afternoons, respectively. These windows might cause some glaring so learn how to angle the windows where natural light is easier to control.
Balance is the ultimate solution that you would need in order to utilize natural light effectively. Remember that anything excessive – even natural light – is never good.
Tags: McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, natural light, natural lighting, sunlight
Posted in 2017 Trends, Interior Design 101, Interior Design Elements, Lighting | Comments Off on Daylighting: Enjoying the Positive Effects of Natural Light in Your Home
Thursday, April 14th, 2016
FFDM’s Boulevard Collection is featured here in a room that’s flooded with natural sunlight.
Every homeowner should make it a point to use daylight to light their home. It is a great way to jump start your decision to go green and to provide comfort to all the occupants of a home. This natural light should be bright enough to penetrate the entire building.
The sun is able to deliver a huge amount of light to the world, each day. The light emanating from the moon is about 10,000 foot-candles (gauge for light’s intensity). Glass or clouds come with filtering effects that can cut down the brightness of the sun’s light by 50-90%. Still, having 1,000 to 5,000 foot-candles provides ample illumination. It is now up to you to harness this great amount of light by knowing how to place windows or what materials to use inside of your home.
The daylighting design requirements should have balanced privacy and a picturesque view. It must be considered alongside the building layout, orientation and location.
You should consider using diffused light in the absence of direct sunlight. This requires proper planning and window placement. Even the size of the windows should be carefully thought through. Do not overglaze as it could cause glaring. It can also let in too much heat during the summer and lose heat during the wintry months.
Daylight Sources
Solar gain and direct light can be provided by sunlight. Should the sky be overcast, know that solar gain is decreased yet the sky dome will continue to provide light.
The correct placement of mirrors and glass-surface furnishings will also provide daylight. External reflection from adjacent buildings or light shelves can also offer additional lighting. Yet again, be careful that there isn’t too much reflectance as this can cause glaring.
Light-colored mirrors and finishes can also reflect the lighting sources already found inside the rooms.
Upping Daylight Penetration
Remember this – the daylight will have a deeper hue the higher the window head placement is. A single window can offer illumination up to a depth of 1 ½ times the height of the window head. This means that upping the window height also increases the penetration of light.
Hooker Furniture Accents Floor Mirror with Hidden Jewelry Storage effectively reflects daylight from the outdoors.
Interior Daylighting Achieved
Make good use of gloss finishes, mirrors, light colors and other reflective finishes. Sills, jambs and window frames can be painted in lighter colors. Be sure to angle or splay the deep set windows towards the interior of your home.
The floors may not contribute much when it comes to giving off reflections especially when it comes in a dark color. Make it a point to install light-colored flooring material if you want to increase the light levels in your home.
Having interior walls that disperse light is a great solution. These walls can gather indirect light coming from a brightly-lit adjacent room and even capitalize on the reflective surfaces of certain furnishings. Clear glass can transmit a huge amount of light to the adjacent rooms.
Position mirrors at eye level.
Glass can be acid-etched or sandblasted. It may also be laminated or textured. Plastic interlayer is used in laminated glass. It offers the same effect as that of the sandblasted type minus the marking. Applied films can be considered, too.
Full-length glass walls can also offer auditory privacy. Perceived room dimensions are naturally upped as the borrowed light concept is utilized. This is also useful in spaces with constraints on their floor area.
Having white-painted walls or using neutral colors would work well in having borrowed light inside your home. Use translucent materials to absorb, reflect or scatter light. Diffused lighting contributes to the comfort inside a home as it also limits eyestrain.
May these daylighting tips help you properly and amply light your home. Add a sky dome, light tubes, or a luminous shower, it’s up to you.
Tags: daylight, energy efficient living, energy-efficiency, energy-efficient home, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, natural light, natural lighting, sunlight
Posted in Interior Design 101, Interior Design Elements, Lighting | No Comments »
Follow us on our social media
© McCreery's Home Furnishings | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy
