Aesthetic-wise, allowing natural light inside your home can enhance the beauty of its interior design. It’s alsoproven to improve health, including physical and mental health and improves sleep. Not to mention, the morning sun rays which help you to start your day positively and energetically.
There are several ways to gain advantages of letting the sunlight in your custom home. This will highly depend on your location, as well.
For instance, Colorado Springs is known for its sunny weather, with an average of 243 sunny days per year. This means the city experiences a lot of clear or partly cloudy skies.
Custom home builders in Colorado Springsencourage their clients to let them build their houses in a strategic position to allow some sunlight inside. This is why glass doors, windows, and even walls are becoming more common than ever.
The stunning homes in Colorado Springs make it a point to incorporate natural lighting in their architectural style. Additionally, Colorado Springs builders see the importance of using space in custom homes.
When building your new home, ensure you take advantage of the sunlight and available space. Here’s how you can do it.
Ways to Benefit from Natural Sunlight and Space in Your Custom Home
Colorado Springs home buildersdesign new homes that allow plenty of natural sunlight inside. Subsequently, they create a bright, airy space that makes living in your house comfortable.
There are custom home builders like Elk Ridge Custom Homes that design and build houses with the philosophy of “people before process.” As a result, they can build homes that benefit their owners in many ways. When choosing a custom home builder in Colorado, pick someone who is knowledgeable in light design. Lighting and space can impact the mood and ambiance of your home.
Avoid making your home feel “depressing” but instead have it designed for comfort and warmth. Here are several ways and techniques to allow natural light in your home.
1. Orientation
The orientation of the home plays a crucial role in allowing natural sunlight. It impacts the amount of sunlight coming in.
A south-facing orientation is often considered ideal for maximizing this feature. It allows the home to harness the most natural light. The sun traveling across the southern sky allows light to come through your home most of the day.
By contrast, a north-facing home will typically receive less direct sunlight and may have a colder, darker interior. In some cases, an east or west-facing orientation may be preferable depending on the location and climate.
With that said, look for Colorado custom home buildersthat can build your home in a way that sunlight comes in through the most used spaces. This includes the kitchen, living room, and even your study area.
This is where the second consideration occurs – window placement.
2. Window Placement
After the orientation has been established, your chosen Colorado Springs custom home buildershouldconsider the location of the windows.
Maximizing sunlight means placing your windows on the south-facing walls. Other factors like shading devices and window size also determine how much natural light enters a home.
Large windows with a high solar heat gain coefficient will allow more sunlight. Similarly, shaded or tinted windows allow less light to brighten the room.
The window style also plays a significant factor. For example, using French or glass-slide windows are great styles to allow more natural light to enter your home. In fact, they are considered “second best” after skylights.
If it’s feasible, your home builder willinstall skylights in various rooms. They are best placed in living rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms.
3. Light-colored Walls and Floors and Reflective Surfaces
To maximize sunlight inside your home, use light-colored walls and floors to reflect light and brighten the room.
Dark-colored walls and floors naturally absorb light, making the room feel darker. On the other hand, having light colors inside the room brightens it up and even helps you save energy.
Moreover, experienced home builders in Colorado Springs incorporate reflective surfaces in the interior design. Using mirrors and other shiny surfaces adds brightness to the room.
4. Landscaping
Lastly, landscaping around the home can help control the amount of natural light that enters it.
Too much sunlight or heat is not good, too. Planting trees and shrubs can help block direct sunlight during the hottest time of the day. This way, you can also strategize how to get the appropriate amount of sunlight to enter your home.
There are many different landscaping techniques to block the heat. For example, planting trees strategically can provide shade during summer months when the temperature is too hot. This goes the same during winter when the weather is too cold.
Consequently, this can reduce energy consumption during summer and increase heating efficiency in winter. A bonus point is a home’s landscaping creates visual interest in your house’s overall view.
Why Do You Need Sunlight in Your Home?
According to research, people spend a large percentage of their time indoors. Whether it’s for work, studying, or leisure activities, your time outdoors can be limited.
This can result in reduced exposure to natural sunlight and have several potential consequences to your health and well-being.
One of the main benefits of sunlight is that it helps our bodies absorb vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential to have healthy bones and teeth and helps with other important bodily functions.
Lack of exposure to sunlight can lead to vitamin D deficiency, which can increase the risk of a range of health problems. Some health problems include bone disorders, a weakened immune system, and even depression.
If you need to hire new home builders in Colorado Springs, it’s important that they know the lighting design. We’re not talking about relying on artificial lights but somebody who knows the orientation and window placement.
Natural light can significantly regulate sleep-wake cycles, improve mood, and reduce stress. Conversely, too much artificial lighting can disrupt circadian rhythms and lead to sleep deprivation and mood disturbances.
You don’t need to spend hours outdoors daily to have sunlight exposure. Even a brief period of exposure as you sit by the window can already have positive health benefits.
Other benefits of natural light in your home include:
- Promotes healthy vision and reduces eye strain.
- Lowers risks of heart ailments and weight gain.
- Improves productivity and performance when doing tasks.
- Brings life to a dull space.
- Promotes a warm and inviting atmosphere in your home.
- Helps save energy.
The right amount of natural light has also seen a significant increase in overall quality of life.
Conclusion
When designing a custom home, optimizing natural light is important. With the help of a Colorado Springs custom home builder, lighting design will not be overlooked.
A simple strategy in house positioning and orientation and technique in window placement can go a long way. These are crucial for maximizing natural light inside your home at different times of the day.
Of course, when talking about “strategically,” it includes making sure that privacy concerns are not compromised. It must also create balance with your home’s aesthetics and energy efficiency.
When done right, natural light can bring many benefits. This includes improving mood and productivity and providing connection with nature.
While artificial lighting design is important, too much of this can have detrimental effects on your health, too.
Build a comfortable, well-lit home that you and your family can benefit significantly. This will make you want to stay home longer without feeling enclosed in plain corners.
