Well lit downstairs?

[Guinevere]

Have you ever been in a 2 story house that had lots of natural light downstairs? I find the downstairs so gloomy in most houses, and can't think of a single one that was bright.

[rdj2027]

I am currently living in one.  Most of our walls are window which has the disadvantage that there is no space for book shelves.

[HSmomof2]

Yes, ours is.....but we have 13 windows on the bottom floor.

[bolt.]

I think it's very important. If you don't have windows, you should have tons of high quality light bulbs, large pictures and mirrors on the walls.

[Guinevere]

If you have a bright downstairs, do you also have high ceilings?

[Seasider]

Yes, but lots of windows on the main level. Most importantly, windows in different walls help eliminate glare. Like, it's better to have two windows, each on a different wall, that two windows on the same wall. Make sense?

 

Agree with the comment above about reflective surfaces and good lighting with bright bulbs, lamp shades that direct light well, that sort of thing.

 

ETA nine foot ceilings. So higher than some, but not as high as others.

Edited March 7, 2018 by Seasider

[Garga]

I have a cape cod, so there are two floors, but the roof is steep on the second floor and there is only a small hallway and a single room up there. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, then southern facing windows are a must for light. One-third of my house (the bits on the north) is always gloomy. But the sides facing south-east and south-west are full of light on the bottom floor.

 

My in-law’s house had a single window that faced south, in a bathroom. Their house always felt gloomy, yet was only one story. The windows were horribly placed in regards to where the sun actually is in the sky and they never had a cheery, bright room. When they moved they offered us first dibs on the house, but I could never live in something that gloomy, though it was in beautiful condition. It always felt overcast inside the house.

 

ETA: normal height for ceilings.

Edited March 7, 2018 by Garga

[gardenmom5]

I have - depends upon a number of factors,

 

size of windows

number of windows

placement of windows

walls

brush/trees outside windows

color of ceiling and floor

 

and a HUGE factor - color of paint on the walls!   some colors will suck up every photon, others will reflect it.  even light colors.  go to a paint store and hold up a card with a lot of paint chips. you need to get it at just the right angle to reflect light - and you will see, some pale colors reflect, and some pale colors absorb.

 

dh just put led "flourescents" in my laundry room.  now - it's so bright, it feels dark when I go into most other rooms.   my laundry room has no windows.

so - lighting makes a difference too.

Edited March 7, 2018 by gardenmom5

[Sherry in OH]

Yes, many homes.   

 

Our current home has a two story living room.  It gets a ton of natural light even though the living room windows are all on the north side of the house.  An east facing bay window in the adjacent dining area pulls in even more light.  

 

Our previous home had 9 foot ceilings and large windows.  It also was light filled.

 

In addition to factors mentioned by a previous poster, window treatments make a huge difference in how light a room feels.  Heavy draperies and blinds block sunlight.  Even when pulled back from the windows, they tend to make a room feel dark.  

[Laura Corin]

The front of our house is bright - it was built later and with larger windows.  The back is gloomy, but that's a function of foot-thick walls and small windows in a 19th century cottage.

[MEmama]

Ours is.

It's a colonial with normal height ceilings.

[Pawz4me]

Both our former house and our current one are two stories. Light isn't a problem downstairs. Quite the opposite for most of the year. Both houses face east, so receive plenty of morning and evening sunlight. Keeping it out during the summer is the problem. Our upstairs in this house is a bit dark, but that's due to not having many windows.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Why would it matter if the house was two stories? That second floor wouldn't cast a shadow over the first . . . .

 

We've had a few rooms in previous houses that were darker. One was a larger upstairs bedroom with just one window on the end of the north wall. In two different houses, the family rooms were darker because of the outside porch overhang. In the first house, we took down the cover the first week we moved in. In the second house, the only light was from the sliders that faced north. But the patio was worth it, so we painted the family room a very pale pumpkin color and worked with the lighting to brighten it up.

 

I definitely prefer bright, and I usually prefer no window coverings at all except in the bedrooms. I want every inch of light coming in!

[SparklyUnicorn]

The front is well lit.  The sides, not so much because we are lined up line sardines here.  There is space between the houses, but since they are so close they do block light.

 

 

[Laura Corin]

Why would it matter if the house was two stories? That second floor wouldn't cast a shadow over the first . . . .

 

 

The proximity of houses, hedges etc. can make the lower floor darker than the upper floor.

[JIN MOUSA]

We're currently in a two-story with standard height (8 ft) ceilings, and our downstairs is very bright. We have 22 windows on the main floor, which includes 13 in the kitchen/living room/dining room.

 

A challenge to keeping such a space feeling bright is not covering the windows too much. Our main room with the 13 windows has simple light-filtering cellular shades. They're easy to raise/lower, and we get light during the day and privacy at night. Our bedroom is also on this floor, and we chose blackout Roman shades. Even though it's only two windows, I don't find them as convenient to raise each day, and since I'm not in the bedroom much during the day, they just stay closed most of the time. My bedroom is easily the darkest room.

[Bambam]

We've lived in three 2-story houses. The first two were plenty bright with lots of natural light due to lots of windows (I like windows!). The first one was so bright that we actually had solar screens to reduce the light (and save on electricity costs!).  This last one wasn't quite as bright due to the dark tan with slightly olive undertones paint color (ceilings too!), so we repainted a light tan (ceilings too!) and it has helped tremendously. It isn't as bright as the other houses but it is still plenty bright. All the houses had 12' ceilings, so maybe that helps? 

[TheReader]

Ours is; it's a deal-breaker for us when house-hunting. Our home faces on a diagonal (our street is not diagonal, but we do not face either N/S or E/W; the sun travels diagonally across our house, from the front right to the back left, E to W) and we have large windows in the front room, 3 large windows in the back room (floor to nearly ceiling, and between the 3, they are the length of a sofa), plus a windowed door to the backyard.

 

Then also we opted not for a covered patio out front (to not block the sun coming in the front), and are going to be sure and do lattice/open covering on the side of the back porch that will be in front of the windows so we don't lose sun there, either, once we do that. We have a small front porch that is covered right in front of the front door, but the area in front of the window is flower bed instead of patio, on purpose. 

 

We also use CFL bulbs that are equal to high wattage and are "daylight" colored instead of yellow or blue. 

 

The master bedroom is darker, but not gloomy; we only have 2 windows in there, on the side of the house, and so depending on time of day we either do or don't get much sun. But in the main rooms, we can typically read and everything w/o turning on the light for most of the day. In the bedroom, the lightbulbs we have in the overhead light compensate plenty. 

 

Forgot to say, our ceilings are 9 foot ceilings. 

Edited March 7, 2018 by TheReader

[Annie G]

If you have a bright downstairs, do you also have high ceilings?

Ten foot ceilings downstairs, and also the windows are 80 inches tall. Together they provide a lot of natural light.

[skimomma]

Ours is very bright.  The house was designed and build before electricity was available so I believe that is why our house, along with most locally, have 10ft ceilings and lots of south and west-facing windows.  We also have light paint and light maple flooring.  Also, no dark or heavy furniture.  Dark and gloomy is a deal-breaker for us.  We only get 6 solid hours of light in the winter so we need brightness.  

[Guinevere]

Wow! So it is possible! We are house hunting, and I'm going to add that to the must have list.

[alisoncooks]

My bff recently bought a new-construction 2-story home.  It is so bright and airy downstairs.  Semi-open floor plan, walls of windows, tall ceilings.  It doesn't have the same closed-in feel that older 2-story homes can have.

[skimomma]

Wow! So it is possible! We are house hunting, and I'm going to add that to the must have list.

 

 

I am a bit of a real estate buff so I look at a lot of listings online and often accompany a realtor friend of mine on walk-throughs just because.  It surprises me how many home owners list houses with dark and gloomy living spaces that could be completely transformed into bright spaces with a different color paint, less clutter, and less-restrictive window treatments.  $500 could make a huge difference.  I say that to encourage you to not necessarily take a room at face value.  I never would have guessed how bright my own house could be when we first saw it.  It had dark red curtains on the south facing windows and dark paint on the walls.  We changed those things as soon as we moved in.  I suspect that the previous owners could have gotten a lot more for this house had they made those changes before listing it.  Many people just walked away because it seemed like a cave.

[Lady Florida.]

Yes, the house dh had when I met him. We lived there for the first 4 years of our marriage. There were large windows in all the rooms, minimally covered to keep out the hot Florida sun. Oddly enough, the kitchen was the only room that was dark. A dark kitchen is one of my most hated things about a house. I must have a light, bright, kitchen.

Edited March 7, 2018 by Lady Florida.

[Rachel]

Our house is very bright. It is an open floor plan, lots of windows, 9’ ceilings. We painted the walls a pale blue.

 

However our old house was a tiny ranch with dark blue walls. The windows only got light half the day. We installed canned lights so we could have plenty of light at any time of day. Even with dark paint and a chopped up floor plan it had plenty of light.

[Carol in Cal.]

Well, dark and cozy as opposed to white and sterile was kind of the style in the 60s and 70s, so most of the houses that I have seen that were built then were that way.  Heavy window treatments, 'wood' paneling, and low ceilings with minimal overhead lighting were pretty typical.  Furniture tended to be darkish and/or very colorful.  There were a lot of earthtones and handwovens involved.  And macrame.  But I digress.

[ThisIsTheDay]

The proximity of houses, hedges etc. can make the lower floor darker than the upper floor.

 

 

The OP asked if we'd ever been in a two story house that had natural light downstairs. Regardless of whether there is a floor above you or not, the natural light would remain the same downstairs. It would not make it darker.

[BlsdMama]

I have - depends upon a number of factors,

 

size of windows

number of windows

placement of windows

walls

brush/trees outside windows

color of ceiling and floor

 

and a HUGE factor - color of paint on the walls!   some colors will suck up every photon, others will reflect it.  even light colors.  go to a paint store and hold up a card with a lot of paint chips. you need to get it at just the right angle to reflect light - and you will see, some pale colors reflect, and some pale colors absorb.

 

dh just put led "flourescents" in my laundry room.  now - it's so bright, it feels dark when I go into most other rooms.   my laundry room has no windows.

so - lighting makes a difference too.

Yes!

 

It isn't simply windows.  I was really shaken by my first winter in the PNW.  And after that year, I truly wondered why anyone there ever painted in deep reds, browns, etc.  Yellow & vanilla should be about the only color allowed!

 

Our front room is quite bright - a large bay window, light paint, breezy curtains, however, the kitchen felt very dark.  We had to open up a wall (pass-through) to allow more natural light, take down some upper cupboards, and change the lighting in the room and paint.  It feels like such an open, bright space now, but it really required an overhaul.

[Laura Corin]

The OP asked if we'd ever been in a two story house that had natural light downstairs. Regardless of whether there is a floor above you or not, the natural light would remain the same downstairs. It would not make it darker.

 

Perhaps I'm particularly attuned to the angle of the sun, given that I live on the same latitude as Juneau.

 

When the sun is low in the sky (morning and evening, and all through the winter where I live) a nearby hedge/building will shade the lower floor whilst the upper floor will get direct light. 

 

[ThisIsTheDay]

Perhaps I'm particularly attuned to the angle of the sun, given that I live on the same latitude as Juneau.

 

When the sun is low in the sky (morning and evening, and all through the winter where I live) a nearby hedge/building will shade the lower floor whilst the upper floor will get direct light. 

 

 

The latitude is irrelevant. Wherever you are, you would still have the same effect on the first floor regardless of how many stories the house is--1, 2, or 10.

 

If you live in a one story house, and your neighbor lives in a two story house, the sunlight that hits your first floor will be the same.

[Laura Corin]

The latitude is irrelevant. Wherever you are, you would still have the same effect on the first floor regardless of how many stories the house is--1, 2, or 10.

 

If you live in a one story house, and your neighbor lives in a two story house, the sunlight that hits your first floor will be the same.

 

I'm sorry, I'm confused.  If there is a high hedge or a neighbouring house that is near my house, then when the sun is low on the horizon, the rays will be blocked from entering the lower floor but not the upper floor.  The lower floor will be in shadow.  It was this circumstance that I brought up.  Maybe I am thinking about tighter lots than you are or something. 

 

Every day at my house, as the sun goes down in the west, my upper storey holds onto more light for longer, as the trees throw the lower floor into shadow.  Looking at it from the other side: if I stand in my lower storey at 5pm I can no longer see the sun, but if I stand in my higher storey at 5pm I can still see the sun.

 

[gardenmom5]

The latitude is irrelevant. Wherever you are, you would still have the same effect on the first floor regardless of how many stories the house is--1, 2, or 10.

 

If you live in a one story house, and your neighbor lives in a two story house, the sunlight that hits your first floor will be the same.

 

latitude is completely relevant - I live at 47N.   and believe me - there is a huge difference  in the amount of light coming in depending upon the angle of where the sun is in the sky.   in the winter - the sun is pretty far south.  (and why we refer to the month before and after the winter solstice as "the dark times".  my full west unobstructed windows get very little direct sun during that time.)

 

my living/dining room have a wall of windows facing full slightly sw - it is always bright in the afternoon.  (and a testament to the difference good windows make. it could get unbearably hot in the afternoon in summer. even WITH A/C running.  new windows with southern e-glass. so. much. better.)

[gardenmom5]

Yes!

 

It isn't simply windows.  I was really shaken by my first winter in the PNW.  And after that year, I truly wondered why anyone there ever painted in deep reds, browns, etc.  Yellow & vanilla should be about the only color allowed!

 

Our front room is quite bright - a large bay window, light paint, breezy curtains, however, the kitchen felt very dark.  We had to open up a wall (pass-through) to allow more natural light, take down some upper cupboards, and change the lighting in the room and paint.  It feels like such an open, bright space now, but it really required an overhaul.

 

it's more than "yellow or vanilla".   I was painting my mom's (dark - surrounded by doug firs on the south/west) and as I was choosing the color-held the chart of paint chips of 25 different "white" colors.  fully half - sucked up the light, and didn't reflect any of it.   I chose one that reflected, it was amazing how much lighter her house felt - and it had already been painted an "off-white" when we repainted it.

[AK_Mom4]

Ours - both the south and north walls are covered with windows, so we get tons of light. Ok - to be accurate, tons of daylight when there is daylight out there. Days are short here in winter, so every drop of daylight is precious.

[Seasider]

The latitude is irrelevant. Wherever you are, you would still have the same effect on the first floor regardless of how many stories the house is--1, 2, or 10.

 

If you live in a one story house, and your neighbor lives in a two story house, the sunlight that hits your first floor will be the same.

Not necessarily. Balconies, deep raves**, other architectural features make a difference in how much light actually enters the home, even with good windows. And that's just the structure itself, not counting what's outside around it.

 

OP, I think your question is too general. It's not simply a second floor, there are a lot of factors.

 

**meant to say eaves. Guess autocorrect wants to party. If you're having a rave I'm certain that would affect lighting! LOL

Edited March 8, 2018 by Seasider

[maize]

Yes; lots of windows and light colors.

[LarlaB]

Our main floor has 14+ windows and 1 sliding door (7 windows and sliding doors are fully south/southwest facing), 1400sf on that floor and vaulted ceiling w/ another window at 12'.  We have lots and lots and lots of light.  Too much sometimes, to be honest.   We have light/heat blocking blinds because the strong Colorado (altitude) sun bleaches the wood floors and overheats the house during the summer.  

And wow- there's a LOT of light/sunny days here in Colorado.  I actually have reverse SAD from so.much.constant.neverending.sunshine (especially during the summer) that we keep the blinds shut, at least partially.   We get tired of sunny days and like to hide. 

We have light colored walls, lighter carpets and medium toned wood floors with high gloss finish that causes a glare. From the sunshine.  So much sunshine.

Other houses we've owned in different areas felt so much darker and enclosed. Very little direct light actually came in, but I still wouldn't say they were dark. 

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

We have a lot of windows so there is plenty of light.

[TravelingChris]

My downstairs is a lot lighter than the main floor.  Mainly because we have a sunroom addition on the main floor and it is sunny but our gigantic living room and dining room only have light from the west and our west is a hill so no light comes in.  One of our future remodeling projects will be to add sky windows to this giant room to make it sunnier.  If I am craving light, I turn on all the lights upstairs.

[Farrar]

The McMansions that my father lived in were plenty bright on the first floor - they typically had one of those open absurdly tall rooms with two story windows that are such a pita to maintain.

 

But we live in an historic rowhouse and I feel like the first floor has enough light. There are transoms and three giant windows in front and 9' ceilings and our side room is recessed so that there's a window there too. So even older houses can feel bright enough, I think. It's actually much darker upstairs - the hall is very dark.

[Farrar]

Dark hallways are so tough. Ideally there’d be a window st the end or skylights or something, but in older and narrow construction it’s just not always possible. A table with a mirror is probably my solution at the new temp place, but it has dark hallway-itis too.

 

If there was room, I'd put in a table and mirror but there's zero space in that hall or in the landing. When we first moved in, we talked about putting in a skylight. It's a flat roof, so it's definitely possible. It's just... money. We learned to live with it instead. It's not so bad. There are transoms upstairs too. Most of the rowhouses don't have windows in the side rooms (the layout of these is all pretty similar all over the city - big front bedroom, side bedroom, tiny bathroom, small back bedroom that's sometimes subdivided into two tiny rooms because the very back is over the tiny porch. We're just lucky to have the windows in the side room and the bathroom, which is not the norm.

[KungFuPanda]

I have a light paint color, 4 x 6 windows, and mirrors on several walls. It’s as bright as the upstairs. I guess upstairs would be brighter if we had a skylight, but both levels are under the same roof and the same tall trees.

[StephanieZ]

My house is well lit on all levels, but that is mostly because it has tons of well places windows and only has window coverings on a couple windows that face the front yard. Most of our windows face south-isa (best light) and the back yard, which is entirely private, so we don't have window coverings on those windows. 

 

We also have tons of high quality LED lighting, which allows us to make it light and bright even if the sun isn't shining. 

 

 

Intelligently placed windows are the answer, IMHO. 

 

 

[Kalmia]

We live in a south facing two story home on a corner with windows on all sides and no porch so we get sunlight pouring in all day long. The direction the house faces, the number of trees in the yard, and the presence or absence of porches (I am no fan of the interior darkness caused by porches) will all influence the amount of sunlight. A previous poster mentioned latitude too. We are at 43 degrees, the sun is only directly overhead for very short periods in high summer.