Dark days of winter: Add a little light to the bathroom

Now that winter has moved in we find that grey days can leave us a bit listless. Although, we are not entirely opposed to cuddling up on a cool bleak day, winter brings along shorter days and less daylight. We want to revisit the classic skylight style with different design alternatives, all to make bathroom brighter, be more energy efficient and reduce heating and lighting costs. Have a look.

This wonderfully open bathroom designed by Guy Peterson is the epitome of skylight perfection. Guy Peterson is well known for his modern architecture in Florida, frequently creating vast open spaces built with glass walls and lots of windows to ensure plenty of natural light. This bathroom from the Sky House by Guy Peterson’s Office for Architecture takes advantage of daylight with its high skylights whilst offering enough privacy for a pleasant bath or shower. The light from a space above the ceiling line of the bathroom floods the area below with natural lighting throughout the day.

We loved the bathroom design from the VK1 House in Capetown, South Africa by Greg Wright Architects which brilliantly combines its dark, masculine features with a breathtaking window row. The bathroom incorporates a different style of skylight that we found intriguing, simply creating a wall of glass as opposed to individual skylight units. The window cornice creates enough natural light to liven up the dark style of the bathroom while incorporating a natural outside environment in the privacy of the bathroom.

Let’s face it, most of us spend the a lot of time in the bathroom, and more importantly the shower for a place to decompress and relax. We thought a skylight in the shower is an excellent alternative to a more confined shower space with lighting as a necessity, opposed to natural light. The open air feeling certainly would create a more relaxing and “one with nature”, shower experience. Cool.

Lastly, we absolutely loved this “roof” skylight that extends the length of the bathroom. The natural lighting source perfectly illuminates the entire bathroom, again eliminating the need to turn the switch on during the day.

As Winter progresses our days become short, the skylight in the bathroom increases your natural light, reducing the need to turn on your lights by an hour or more, thus lessening your electric bill. But this all natural light fixture does more, it enhances our mood and allows us to embrace the outdoors even when weather outside prohibits it.