Working from home, for many, has become a way of life in Arizona. However, it’s still important to get some natural light into your body. Whether it’s boosting your Vitamin D or helping to fight off seasonal depression, natural light is great for your health and well-being. Better still, it even does wonders for your productivity. It’s no surprise, then, that many homeowners have taken to increasing the amount of light that enters their homes through a little bit of home improvement. In this article, we’ll show you five ways to make your home a more inviting place that creates a positive impact on your well-being.
Why Natural Light is Important
Natural light does a lot more than just boost the amount of vitamin D you receive. It also benefits vision, helps you sleep better and even increases your productivity. And to top it all off, it also helps to reduce energy consumption by letting you skip turning on the lights. In short, it’s absolutely vital that you get as much natural light as you can when you spend a lot of time indoors.
Benefits of Natural Light
- Boosts Vitamin D – Vitamin D is essential for bone growth as well as absorbing calcium. Likewise, it also helps prevent a wide variety of ailments.
- Improves Sleep – It’s no surprise that natural light helps to improve sleep. In short, get more natural light and you can expect your sleep to improve as well.
- Better Vision – Digital screens and fluorescent lighting all cause eye strain with prolonged use. Natural light doesn’t! Likewise, it also helps the eye produce dopamine that can aid in healthy eye development among children and young adults.
- Improved Productivity – Natural light has been shown to increase the energy levels of those working under it. In other words, this means natural light can improve your productivity throughout the day.
- Helps Stop Seasonal Depression – Many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder during the winter. A big cause of this is a lack of sunlight.
5 Easy Ways to Light Up Your Home
1. Give Your Windows a Makeover
Pulling back the curtains is a great way to let light in. However, if your windows are older and not energy efficient, it might not make a difference. If you want to maximize the amount of natural light that enters a specific room, it might be time to give your windows a makeover. For many homes, this means installing upgraded, energy efficient windows that will allow natural light to enter your home while screening out harmful UV rays.
2. Make Use of White
One of the less obvious ways of increasing the amount of natural light in a room is through the use of color. More specifically, making use of white allows a room to more easily reflect light, resulting in a brighter room. Likewise, other lighter color palettes also work well in reflecting light, and colors such as beige or pale blues make for another great choice of paint when trying to brighten up a room. Any paint color with a light reflectance value of 70 or higher can also work. When working with brighter colors, it’s also important to take the finish into account as a higher sheen may create a glare.
Painting your entire home beige can be a little boring, however. Luckily, adding more color is easy enough by painting one or two walls a different color. These accent colors can help to create a bolder and more attractive appearance without reducing the amount of natural light in the room.
3. Tint Your Windows
In addition to brightening a room, for many homeowners, privacy is a major concern. Window tinting or films can easily be the difference in being able to relax at home without worry. Of course, this does mean that it becomes a lot more important to find a reputable business that can properly do film tinting in Arizona. With window tinting or film, however, you will lose out on a lot of the natural light that you went out of your way to increase. In very warm climates like Arizona, window tinting helps significantly reduce the heat coming into a room while also blocking UV rays. Reliable Glass can help you choose the right tint for your needs.
4. Add a Few Mirrors
Just like making use of brighter colors like white to increase the amount of light that gets reflected throughout a room, mirrors can also be used in a similar fashion. Unlike a painted wall, however, it can be a little more complex to do the same thing with a mirror. The secret is to place mirrors at the end of hallways or in a corner that is opposite a window. This allows light to easily bounce throughout the room without creating annoying glares.
Depending on your home, it can be a little difficult to find the perfect mirror that not only fits with your decor but also fits in your home. Thankfully, at Reliable Glass, you can be sure that the perfect mirror is waiting for you. With a wide variety of shapes and styles to choose from, it’s easy to add more light into your home without having to sacrifice style and flair. As one of the best glass and mirror service providers in Phoenix and Tucson, their mirrors are the perfect fit for any homeowner.
5. Keep the Yard in Good Shape
One of the most overlooked ways of increasing the amount of natural light that enters a room is by keeping your yard in check. This means making sure to trim all of the various trees and shrubs that are near your windows. Trees and shrubs can easily grow and block out the light if left unchecked for too long. Likewise, it’s a good idea to also keep windows clear on the inside of the house. Moving large pieces of furniture or objects away can greatly help to increase the amount of light that can enter.
Keeping your windows clean is another often overlooked way to add light into a room. As much of a pain as it is to do, regular cleaning is the best way of making sure that natural light can continue to enter your house as much as possible throughout the year.
The Importance of Glass Quality
A large window is pointless at letting natural light in if the glass is of low quality. When replacing your windows, it’s absolutely vital to make sure that the glass is comprised of high-quality materials. In a hot state like Arizona, this is even more the case as the right type of glass can make a big difference when it comes to the overall comfort of your home. Low-E glass is a great choice, since it not only allows natural light to enter easily, it can also keep out much of the heat as well as infrared light and ultraviolet rays. An investment in Low-E windows is one that can easily pay off dividends by combating high energy bills through superior insulation.
Great Glass Means Natural Light
At Reliable Glass, you can be sure that all of your glass needs are taken care of. Whether it’s home glass repair, mirror installation or a brand-new window, you can be sure that your home will be in the right hands. Made up of a team of highly experienced glass experts, they can talk you through all of your options when it comes to your specific commercial or residential glass needs. Not only that, they also offer a wide selection of services and products to truly take your home to the next level and make it feel like your own. If you’re looking for a way to get more natural light in your home, click to learn more about our services.