Home Design Tips: Which Way Your Window Should Face?

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Orient a door, window, or skylight to take best advantage of breezes and seasonal sunlight. Also take into account trees, neighboring structures, and the potential view that might block the sunlight or the wind. Getting the right window direction is kind of hard and also easy at the same time as it depends on how much you want the light to be brought up to your house.

- South light will pour into windows with a southern exposure in winter because the sun’s path is low in the sky. But in the summer, when it rides high in the sky, the sun will beat down on the southern roof instead. Southern exposure is an ideal placement for a window because it gains heat through the window in winter, but not in summer, especially if it’s shielded by a deep overhang. A skylight on a southern or western exposure will capture solar heat during the winter-and the summer, too. Be careful about this placement.

- East light brightens the morning yet rarely heats up the room. Skylights on north- and east-facing roofs lessen heat gain in the summer.

- West light subjects to the hot, direct rays of late-afternoon sun, which can make a room uncomfortable until far into the night. If a west window is your only option, shade ” it with overhangs, sun-stopping blinds, or broad-leaf plantings.

- North light has an almost consistent brightness throughout the day. Because it’s from an open sky, without direct sun, the light doesn’t create glaring hot spots or deep shadows in work areas. North light lacks the drama of other exposures, but interior design and colors can compensate for that.