Bringing more natural light in to a family room - which works best?

8 months ago

last modified: 8 months ago

My wife and I found a contemporary house we love, except for the lack of natural light the central family room has compared to our current house and a sense of being “closed in” from the way the vault and fireplace sit in the room.

We had come up with three variants and we’re hoping to get opinions on which path might be the best balance of cost and impact:

Replace French doors with sliders, add south facing skylights to bring light deeper in at the risk of more summer heating ($)
More dramatic change to the rear wall including more glass / folding glass doors + necessary structural changes, with skylights from 1 ($$)
Repitch the roof at 4/12 with full width folding glass doors and transoms above it ($$$$)

A downside of 1 and 2 is they don’t seem to address the “closed in” due to the rear ceiling mass.

Current room:

Renders of options 1, 2, and 3:

Featured Answer

PRO

HALLETT & Co.

8 months ago

Option one is cheap enough and will help with light and if you get motorized shades shouldn’t be a heat problem. The ones in the render look small- I would get the largest that you can that allows for blinds. Option two seems like a lot of money for little change. Option three would be what I would want but taller transom. Would also price two 8’ sliders with tall transom (v the multi fold)

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Comments (7)

yvonnecmartin
8 months ago
Your dilemma isn't clear to me. Are the photos of the "enclosed" room? What is the relevance of the added concepts? Please supply a floor plan and photos of all four walls.
Lyn Nielson
8 months ago
I'd gut the room, remove the stone and see what the framework suggests.
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Design Fan
8 months ago
Is the wall with the sofa/art an exterior wall? If yes, are there any windows on this wall?

I have a vaulted family room with three skylights facing south. Go larger as suggested. They allow in a lot of light. Be sure to get UV glass to minimize furniture fading. Motorized blinds as suggested are good as it‘s possible to have glare at certain times of the day as well as heat.
Clayton Smith l thanked Design Fan
Clayton Smith l
Original Author
8 months ago
last modified: 8 months ago
Design Fan: neither side wall is exterior except for two feet down to a butting wall (the house has three roof sections, with the family room set a few feet back from either side. The last 7 feet of the right wall is west facing, the left wall is to the kitchen and breakfast room. Thanks for the feedback.
PRO
lisedv
8 months ago
I would keep the french doors and install skylights like the ones you have in the adjacent room.
Clayton Smith l thanked lisedv
Clayton Smith l
Original Author
8 months ago
Hallett & Co: Thanks for the feedback