Eight Tips for Assessing Natural Light in a Room

One of the first things you may want to do is to figure out how your home is laid out according to the cardinal points on a compass. As it turns out, there are plenty of mobile compass apps available for download which will easily help you identify which wall falls on which cardinal direction. Identifying the orientation of your home will help you understand the natural light (and passive heat, but that’s a subject for another blog article) that you will receive in your interior spaces. It’s well worth getting familiar with the four directions in relation to your home.

Windows facing east—The most direct light will be in the morning
Windows facing west—The most direct light will occur in the evening
Windows facing south—The most direct light in the middle of the day
Windows facing north—Mostly indirect light through a good portion of the day

Note the size and placement of all of the windows in a particular space so you can assess how much natural light you will get from all directions within the space. You may have a combination of window sizes and shapes, and each one will allow a different value of light to enter illuminating different points within your interior space. This will create cross lighting, such as windows perpendicular to each other or across the room, and can help eradicate those pesky shadows.

Fortunately, the sun’s daily trajectory is predictable. As the sun rises it will come up from the east, then gradually travel through the sky towards the west, where it sets later in the day. You’ll be able to follow the path of the sun from your easterly windows to your westerly windows quite easily as the day progresses. You could even create a chart with timetables for when direct light enters each window.

The winter the sun sits lower in the sky, and while it is weaker in strength than summer sunlight, the lower angle means direct light can travel deeper into your interior.

If possible, spend some quiet time in the space at different times of day and at different times of year. Observe when sunlight shines into your space. It is direct sunlight, or just bright indirect light? How far into your space does the direct light penetrate? Does it seem like the indirect light is bright enough, or do you observe shadows? 

​Direct light is the sun literally beating down on your windowsill and anything on it. Bright indirect light would be anything that is not being directly sunbathed, but is immediately adjacent. Indirect light would be a little further away, but still getting some light. This may be already in the medium light spectrum for your home. Low light is away from the direct light (probably across the room) but still gets a little light. Obviously, this changes as the day progresses and according to the seasons.

After spending some time studying the general light levels, you should be ready to identify the brightest and the darkest areas in your space. If you have live plants, delicate fabrics, or precious artwork this is especially important! Many houseplants need at least some direct sunlight for proper photosynthesis, but that artwork you paid a pretty penny for has no tolerance for direct sunlight. You also wouldn’t want to put a live plant in a dark corner. Certain hardy plants like peace lilies might live but most houseplants won’t forgive you for putting them in darkness! In other words, know how you intend to use the space to better make use of the areas of light and shadow.

Remember that trick with taking snapshots with your phone? This is where it comes in handy. Your eye can’t always make sense of complex light levels, but your camera lens will show you. Just take a series of shots moving along a line through the space and watch as the images get darker and brighter. It’s a fun and eye opening experience! And it will help you better understand how to use the natural light in your home!

If you have anything to add that I might have missed, feel free to drop a line in the comments below!