How to Beautify your Home with Illuminating Skylights

Guest Blog #243, Entry #743, November 4, 2011

Many homeowners are looking for do-it-yourself projects for their homes that will not only add to their enjoyment of their home, but add value to the home as well. With money being tight, homeowners are looking for DIY projects that are easy to do, inexpensive, and have a good return for their investment of time and money. Adding a skylight or sun tube to your home is just that kind of a project.

Look around your home. Which rooms seem dark even during the sunniest days? Are you constantly turning lights on and off? Do you always have to fuss at family members for leaving lights on? Then your home will definitely benefit from adding one or more skylights. If you like to sleep late, then do not add a skylight to your bedroom unless you are also going to add a blind to it as well.

Skylights can be used in exterior courtyards and walkways too

Image via: Home Hagler

How Skylights Help

Rooms with skylights are flooded with natural light, making the rooms appear brighter and more open. There is nothing nicer than coming into a room full of natural light. In addition, the added natural light can assist you in lowering your power bills, since you will have less need of electric lighting during the day. During the winter months, many rooms feel too dark and closed in, even with the lights on. If you are one of the many people who suffer from the winter blues, then the added natural light that a skylight can bring into a room help you to avoid feeling down.

Homes with skylights tend to have a slightly higher resale value. In today’s competitive real estate market, home sellers need every advantage they can get. Having one or more skylights in your home can put you ahead of the competition when selling your home. Just make sure that your Realtor highlights the skylights when listing your home for sale.

Skylights can improve the natural aesthetics of any room

Image via: Modize

Where to Use Skylights

Skylights and sun tubes are an excellent choice for bathrooms that do not have windows. Bathrooms tend to be the smallest rooms in the house. The added natural light from a skylight will instantly make your bathroom appear to be larger and more inviting. An added benefit is the ability to use the bathroom during the day without having to turn on a light. Skylights and sun tubes also open up dark hallways, in turn adding additional light to the rooms that open off the hallway.

Well built and leak proof, today’s skylights and sun tubes will be a beautiful and welcome addition to your home. Many homeowners remember hearing stories of skylights that leaked when it rained and let the cold in during the winter and the heat in during the summer. Better designed to prevent heat and air conditioning loss, today’s skylights also come with UV protection to protect your furniture and carpet from fading. Designed to be leak proof, they come with easy to follow installation instructions. For homeowners who are comfortable with doing DIY projects around the house, adding a skylight is easily within their skill set.

Installing a skylight is so easy that installation instructions are even on the Internet. If you are still uncertain as to whether or not you can handle this, just ask someone at your local home improvement store. They will be more than happy to explain the procedure to you and make certain that you have everything that you will need to do the job properly.

Citations:

• By Downtowngal (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

About the Author: Aaron Garcia has completed numerous DIY remodeling projects on his home, including the installation of polycarbonate skylights and aluminum sun tubes.  He knows how to add more value to a home with easy, inexpensive DIY projects.

For more DIY ideas on Stagetecture, & Stagetecture’s YouTube Channel, click here.