Among the multitude of things you have to think about when buying a new house or renting a new apartment, the Sun is one item that most people don’t consider. But, it is a vitally important and a very over-looked aspect of a healthy, happy home life.
Sun orientation is an important, yet often overlooked, aspect of finding your ideal home. It’s also something that can make or break the feeling of comfort and well-being in a house. To better help you understand how to choose the right home with the best sun orientation, we have compiled some helpful tips that will help you make the most of your living space. Generally, rooms that you live in a lot should ideally be on the south side of the house. This is because they will get constant bright light throughout both summer and winter. Bedrooms are best placed on the east-facing side of the house so that they can benefit from the sunrise, making it easier to wake up in the mornings.
When starting the search for a house the first thing you need to think about is the orientation of the sun to the home or apartment that you’re considering. The first thing to think about in the layout of these rooms is that, in general, rooms that you live in a lot should ideally be on the south side of the house. That’s where, in both summer and winter, the rooms will get constant bright light. Your bedrooms will ideally be placed on the side of the house where the sun is coming up; it’s much harder to wake up in a bedroom that doesn’t face east with the sunrise. If you’ve got a room with functions where you want a lot of consistent light, but not as glaring, you want to place them on the north side of your house. For example, and artist studio would make sense on the north side. Or perhaps putting your TV room on the north would help reducing that really harsh glare on the screen that normally makes you have to shut all of your blinds. The west side of the house is more of an afternoon and early evening side of the house, so consider what functions of your house you’d want there. The dining room might be a nice option where the family can watch the sunset while eating dinner.
On the other hand, rooms where you want consistent light but not glare should be placed on the north side of your home. Examples of this could include an artist’s studio or a TV room – both can benefit from having more subdued lighting. West-facing sides are ideal for activities that take place during afternoon and early evening, such as a dining room.
Outdoor life in another important aspect of this, consider the same sunset scenario as it might relate to a patio or porch. If you want a garden or a greenhouse not only do you need to pay attention to the other buildings and structures around you along with the way your house is oriented, but you also need to think about whether or not your plants will be able to get the light that they need. If you’re okay having a garden that’s more of a shade garden, then that’s fine. But if you’d like a vegetable garden or a flower garden that needs predominant sunlight then you really need to make sure that it’s more south facing. And if it needs to be east or west facing, you’d obviously prefer it to be south-west or south-east facing again to take advantage of that great light.
Final thoughts: when you’re looking for a new home or apartment, pay attention to how the sun will affect your life there. With an ideally oriented space, you won’t need to turn on lights as often and you’ll get more natural light throughout the day – making it a much happier living environment. When you’re thinking about moving into a new apartment or house go ahead and take that one extra step to consider how the sun is going to affect your life there. With a well oriented home you won’t have to turn on your lights, you get to wake up easier and you’ll be happier in general.
Now of course this ideal sun and room orientation situation isn’t always possible and we’ll tackle ways to enhance your current living situation in the next part of this series.
Until then – Happy Vitamin D!