Lounge with no windows

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have just been nosing a planning approval for a local house, which is to have a first floor bedroom added and a dining room. The dining room is to be added at the back, to what was the French windows to the garden.

The other end of the lounge is a wall with a door. Which basically means the lounge will have no windows at all, no light apart from that which comes through from the new dining room. Which means it will be awfully dark in the lounge. I thought (living) rooms had to have some natural source of light?

[Brian Gaff]

Maybe they are building a dungeon in there and don't want anybody to see? On the other hand maybe not!

Does seen an add thing to do unless both are blind of course. Brian

[Rob Morley]

You just have to call it a home cinema ...

[Harry Bloomfield]

Jim GM4DHJ ... used his keyboard to write :

They will be buying head torches, to see where they are going :-)

[Brian Reay]

You may be surprised at the layout some people live with and (presumably) get by building inspectors etc. While looking for properties- mainly flats- over the years as potential purchases, I've seen some very odd layouts. 'Stolen light' is a give away, it tends to mean a window between two rooms, one of which doesn't have any other natural light. As for the shape of rooms....

[Tim Watts]

Remember when window-lights (to distinguish from electric or gas lights) over bedroom doors where a thing back in Edwardian and maybe earlier times? Though that was to allow light into the hallway.

[Tricky Dicky]

The rules on windows seem much more relaxed these days. My daughter had a modern studio flat for a while, so lounge dining area and kitchen were one room must have been about 8m front to back with just one window at the front. Being on the ground floor the kitchen area was always shaded and you virtually had to keep the lights on all the time when working in it.

Our bungalow is the opposite being a 70's build it has massive "picture" windows sold to the punters as a feature when in reality it was all about saving on extra brickworks. Our first house had a 12' X 6' lounge window virtually taking up one whole wall, we felt like goldfish when we sat in the room.

Richard

[spuorgelgoog]

My 1960s flat had them.

I've dropped the door architrave and plastered most of them in.

Owain

[R D S]

My neighbours ended up with this when they had an extension built. It wouldn't work for me.

[Harry Bloomfield]

It happens that R D S formulated :

Nor me, which was why I mentioned it. It will be like living in a cave. I like to be able to see out and get lots of light in. My windows are just right, big enough, without being too big - we are not over looked.

[mm0fmf]

You are my late mother AICMFP!

She was the only person I knew who ever called such windows "picture windows". Were she not well dead she'd be 100 this year. Thank you for bringing her back to life for a moment :-)

[Rob Morley]

My mum called them that too, I think many people did at the time that they were ever so modern, all light and minimalist.

[tim...]

Oh is that what it's for

I always wondered

Our house was built in the 30s BTW

Sister's previous house that them was built in the 70s

tim

[tim...]

I used the term for mine only yesterday

what else should I call them?

tim

[Max Demian]

"Windows"

I don't know why large windows became so popular in the 50s and 60s when electric light was available and people rarely had double glazing (unless they stuck polythene sheeting to the inside).

They went smaller later and people stuck fake leading on.

And people fitted fake panelled doors made of MDF (or whatever). Barry Bucknell must have spun in his grave:

[Max Demian]

I thought it was so the landing light lit the kiddies' bedrooms if they were scared of the dark. And you can tell if you have left the light on in the room. (A flat built in the late 80s I had had them.)

[tim...]

but I needed to identify the fact that they were full-wall height

tim

[tim...]

Not convinced that's a valid problem looking for this solution

Most cases you can tell that because the light leaks around the door frame

tim

[Max Demian]

AFAIK 'picture windows' are just big windows with few panes.

[Rob Morley]

A single pane if you're being strict about the definition.