Bathroom Windows: Adding Daylight and Privacy

Your home’s bathrooms are arguably the most troublesome room to add daylighting. You don’t exactly want to expose yourself to everyone passing by, so larger windows are often out of the question.

The perks of natural light are just too good to pass up, though. So how do you add daylighting in your bathrooms without sacrificing your privacy? Renewal by Andersen® of Portland explains how.

Does Window Style Matter?

When you’re thinking of getting replacement windows to add more daylight into your bathrooms, the general assumption is that you have to go bigger to ensure sunlight gets in. While this is technically true, you don’t need to transform the bathroom wall into a window to get much-needed Vitamin D.

The actual size of the window generally doesn’t matter; what matters is the actual size of the glass pane. Good examples of windows with large glass panes that we always recommend to homeowners are sliding windows, bay and bow windows, as well as the classic double-hung windows. All these feature large glass panes regardless of the actual size of the window.

Maximizing Daylight

Your new replacement windows play a role in letting sunlight into your bathroom, but it’s not exactly alone in this endeavor. To maximize the amount of daylight that enters your bathroom, you need to think about your bathroom’s peripherals.

We recommend supplementing your new windows with a strategically placed mirror. By installing a mirror across or close to the window where the light is entering, it magnifies the amount of natural light in the room. This is due to the light bouncing off the surface of the mirror, allowing sunlight to penetrate otherwise unreachable spaces.

This strategy is ideal if your new bathroom windows are smaller in size. Additionally, keep the color of your bathroom walls lighter because light paint colors tend to reflect light, whereas darker colors absorb it.

Flexible Security

Finally, secure your new replacement windows. This is usually where homeowners have some trouble since they want more light in, but don’t want to exactly expose themselves to everyone outside.

The simple solution? Add a curtain, preferably with a translucent fabric that’s thin enough for light to pass through but thick enough to cover you. If curtains are out of the question, we recommend textured glass over film as the latter can affect how much sunlight enters your room.

Ensuring that your bathroom gets enough sunlight while still retaining your privacy is easy when you keep these tips in mind. Let Renewal by Andersen® of Portland assist you in finding the perfect replacement windows in Tigard, Beaverton, and West Linn, OR for your bathrooms. Get in touch with us today at (503) 419-3960 for more information.