Light up your life

We're only a couple of weeks away from the shortest day of the year, when the sun is as low in the sky as it's going to get for the rest of the year (about 40 degrees off the horizon at midday, here on the Coast), and due to a nasty little design habit I picked up in the 90's, my thoughts often stray to lighting and shadows as they move around the house, and everything takes on a very 'winter feel'.

I decided today was the day to knock out some wall framing in the NE corner of the kitchen and get some more natural light and warmth into that part of the house (don't ever leave me alone in a house with coffee and a hammer).

I've been meaning to do it for a while as I've been tracking the sun's gradual progression over the kitchen floor, as winter approaches, and decided a full 2100 opening would be better than a window over a breakfast bar.  Last year I'd put a 900 eave over this window (which faces almost True North)  so I can have sun streaming in the window in the cold months and be nice and shaded in summer. More on eaves and windows here.

When funds permit, (probably next winter!) I'm going to make a 'floating' polished concrete bench top that will have hinged second-hand casement windows above and fixed glass below, with a small deck on the outside.  Winter sun will come in above the bench and warm it due to it's thermal mass (heat-storing) qualities, and be a beautiful place to sit with a morning coffee - well, anytime after 8.30am anyway.  Below the benchtop, sun will come in via the fixed glass and be a great space for standing on warm floor, drying tea towels, proving bread yeast etc.  In summer, the ratio of eaves to window height will ensure that no sun hits the bench and it will stay beautiful and shaded and cool. Can't wait. But for now, I've moved the kitchen table into the open space and it's just nice to sit with a good book and cuppa. This is [another] very convincing argument for putting the kitchen on the NE corner of the house (or at least with some window/sitting space positioned to capture that early warmth).

Another little project I'm working on is a triple window for the bathroom, that will also serve a few functions - one being to create some beautiful filtered natural light.

I picked up this pre-loved carved timber screen in the Cooran Trading Post a couple of years ago and then realised that one leaf of it would be a perfect fit to make a small set of shutters (opening inwards) for a narrow 2100 high window in the Eastern wall of the bathroom, that connects the outside to the bathroom and main bedroom.  I've had it sitting in front of the window for a while to get a feel for it (first light is just beautiful).  I'm working out how to detail a frame for a triple-leaf window (one glass and one timber shutter on the outside as well as the carved ones) to be able to catch and funnel cooling summer breezes in summer from a 180 degree radius. (There used to be a pokey aluminium slider there that didn't bring any breeze into the house). I've got a high verandah over the Eastern wall, and will eventually design a pulley-type clothesline (bit like the one on Sesame Street that fascinated me as a kid) which will add another lovely element to light quality in summer, as sheets and washing move around outside the window.

When I get it sorted I'll write another post with pics and detailed drawings.  It will need to be quite a deep frame and I haven't quite worked it out yet.

Also thought I'd post some pics of my '5 Watt Wonder Wall' with the thought that lighting doesn't have to be overt and uniform as it often is in newer houses.

If you have any interesting lines, recesses or shapes in your rooms - make a feature of them with lighting (like the abundance of wall framing between the loungeroom (above) and main bedroom (below), which I lined with laserlite instead of a solid sheeting and am making a big book wall on the lounge side. When I switch a lamp on either side of it, (with a simple 5 watt Ikea globe) it casts beautiful soft light into the other room - you just have to be careful you don't create a puppet show on the other side!



On the bedroom side, an otherwise dark internal room is now bathed in soft natural afternoon light - absolutely free, and a lovely reminder that the day is changing around you as the light quality changes from one hour to the next.

All up, two lamps for the bedroom and lounge and the dining room light (top picture) on for 4 hours a night, costs me about 2c a night.  That's a combined wattage for the three light sources of about 25 watts - most new houses looking to light 50-60m2 would use a tonne of  halogen down lights recessed into the ceiling (maybe a dozen lights at 60 watts each once you include the transformers) These are not only costly, inefficient (most of the energy is converted to heat, not light) but the ceiling fittings also allow valuable warm air to escape out of rooms in winter. Halogens really need to go - there are just so many other creative ways to light up your life that are more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Have a look around your house. Have you got any shapes or interesting features that could benefit from a bit of creative low energy 'mood lighting'?  What about hidden uplights above a bank of cupboards or a change in ceiling shape that can have uplighting rather than more harsh down-facing lights? I'll repost with some more technical links soon.

Enjoy the Winter Solstice!