Natural light can make a home feel brighter, more spacious and inviting. Whether you’re building a new property from scratch, or you’re looking to improve the one you already have, selecting the right glazing should be high on your list of priorities. Take some inspiration from these key glazing options, all perfect for helping you add the wow factor while bringing in the light.
Aptly named, sidelights are a fantastic option for those hoping to create a wow-factor entrance. Sidelights are essentially long, thin sheets of glass that frame a front door, allowing extra natural light to filter inside. Style-wise, there are endless options. Choose a top light that sits above your door, single or double lights, or even decorative or frosted glazing that will provide you with privacy without blocking light flow.
Iroko Rondo V pivot door set, Urban Front
A versatile option for any self-build project, tilt and turn windows provide secure ventilation, easy cleaning and multiple opening configurations to suit your daily needs. These sophisticated windows come with a mechanical hinge that opens on two axes, meaning you can either open them fully, or tilt them open from the bottom, providing ventilation without compromising on security – making them perfect for kitchens. You can also source tilt and turn doors.
Tilt and turn uPVC windows, Everest
Unlike flat roof windows, roof lanterns protrude up from your roofline, creating a higher apex that captures light from all angles, resulting in the maximum amount of sunlight entering your home. They also provide your interior with a pretty amazing focal feature, as well as added ventilation.
Slimline® Roof Lantern, Roof Maker
The ultimate way to welcome light into your home, pocket doors slide into a recess inside the wall, so that they are completely hidden when opened. This allows you to create a huge opening, with unobstructed views. Pocket sliding doors are also a fantastic option for those with children and pets. With this style, it’s best to plan in advance, and remember, pocket doors are easier to integrate into new walls.
theEDGE2.0 & Grand Slider II system, IDSystems
Bi-folding doors are a fantastic way to maximise natural light, while creating a seamless link between your internal and external spaces. These sleek doors transform an everyday room into a contemporary space with real wow-factor. As far as glass doors go, bi-folds are market leaders.
XP10 bi-folding door, Express Bi-Folding Doors
Opting for ultra slimline windows has its benefits. As well as a slick design, these clever new designs maximise natural light and views. Durable and low maintenance, slimline windows also provide an easy route to modernising your home – plus less frame means more light and an elegant finish!
Origin Slimline Window (OW-70), Origin
Modern casement windows offer high-performance glass in double or triple glazing, reducing your energy bills while simultaneously allowing lots of light to enter your home. An easy side-hinge opening means you can make your home nice and airy. Many companies also offer casement windows in a range of styles, colours and finishes, so you can control their design throughout your home.
Aluminium casement window, Kloeber
Floor-to-ceiling facades are essentially entire walls of glass, with minimal framing and an ultra-slim finish. Glass facades invite light into otherwise dark corridors, helping to transform a dingy hallway into a bright space that seamless blends into the garden.
Slim aluminium glass facades, IQ Glass
Ideal for impressive vaulted ceilings, trapezoid windows can turn unused space into a gateway for natural light. Usually positioned above a set of traditional windows, trapezoids are bespoke made to fit the shape of your roof, drawing sunlight inside and utilising redundant walls.
OW-80 Premium windows, Origin
So named because of the way that they frame views, picture windows have one main purpose: to allow in lots of light! Non-opening, picture windows are generally large and offer uninterrupted external vistas. Another benefit is that they tend to be cheaper and easier to maintain than other opening windows.
The perfect addition to awkward or light-challenged rooms, pitched roof windows provide fantastic ventilation while allowing sunlight to flood down into your home. Generally highly thermally efficient, roof windows help retain your home’s heat. This product from VELUX also allows you to open and close your roof windows with the touch of a pre-paired wall switch.
VELUX INTEGRA® electric and solar powered roof windows, VELUX
Internal glazed doors not only allow you to separate rooms, aiding privacy and noise control, but also allow light to continue to flow through your property. A simple and easy way to increase your home's brightness, glass folding partitions can really enhance the finish of your interior spaces.
Internal bi-fold doors, Scotts of Thrapston
Contemporary and unique, glass entrance doors offer drama and strong design presence, while simultaneously welcoming brightness into your home. Mostly triple glazed, glass doors come in all shapes and styles and are highly secure in their strength and durability – offering the perfect balance between great design and practicality!
Apertio Glass entrance door, IQ Glass
Transform your roof space with a glazed pop-out balcony, adding air, light and views to the top floor on your home. Glazed balconies open up like a traditional roof window, meaning they can be used throughout the year. On warmer days, open the window to its full extent and bring the outside in. The side railings collapse down seamlessly when you're ready to close them up.
VELUX CABRIO® balcony, VELUX
If any of your internal rooms are lacking windows, a sun tunnel could be a straight-forward and affordable solution. Easy to install, sun tunnels are designed to provide windowless spaces with natural sunlight. Sun tunnels do what their name suggests, providing a channel for light to travel down from a roof or outside opening, brightening dark spaces in your home.
VELUX Sun Tunnels, VELUX
On-trend glazed internal screens not only maximise light levels, but create internal zones without impacting on space. Putting a spin on open-plan living, these sleek partitions combine a slim silhouette with large amounts of glass, breaking up your interior without affecting brightness.
Crittall InnerVision screens, Crittall Windows
A popular option with many homeowners, French doors amplify the amount of light that enters a home, while simultaneously offering easy access to the outdoors. Durable, low-maintenance and attractive, French doors are a great option for adding light to your ground floor rooms and are perfect for traditional and country-style kitchen diners.
For a truly timeless look, opt for traditional French Windows. Stylish and sleek, these simple windows utilise wall space while simultaneously allowing light to flood your home. Contemporary yet classic, modern French Windows are thermally efficient, secure and durable, making them the perfect alternative to the French door.
Premium-grade aluminium Origin French Windows, Origin
A gable is the triangular space between the top of the wall and a ridged roof and are usually made from timber or the same material as the walls. Replacing structural gables with glazing automatically increases the light that floods your home. Installing large amounts of glass high up maximises light gains and allows for better views from every floor of the home – perfect for creating a bright and inspiring self-build home!
Structural glazing, IQ Glass
Different to skylights in that they generally sit on a flat surface, rooflights (AKA flat roof windows) allow the sun to enter the home from above, while not impacting on a room's wall space. This can be particularly beneficial in a kitchen where storage is limited. Ideal for the design conscious, rooflights have low aesthetic impact on a property, making them discrete yet effective!
New Generation VELUX flat glass rooflight, VELUX
Glass corner windows are a fantastic way to exploit the light that hits your house each day. As one of the most contemporary glazing elements on the market, installing a wraparound corner window can add real wow-factor to any project, turning otherwise unused wall space into something much more practical!
Corner glass, IQ Glass
New switchable smart glass allows you to turn a window from clear to frosted at the touch of a button. Perfect for exterior windows, this uses PDLC (Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal) technology to filter out light by applying voltage, light or heat. These fully contained units are fitted like regular double glazing windows and are filled with Argon gas to make them more thermally efficient and reduce condensation between the panes.
Bespoke switchable glazing, Intelligent Glass
Choose glazing that adds an extra design element to your space while bringing in the light with a circular rooflight. These round wonders look frameless, let in maximum sunlight and are usually triple glazed and thermally efficient. You can choose tinted glass if you wish to control glare but they don't usual open, so better for a hallway or transitional space than a living area. Why not add a lighting element to highlight the shape after the sun sets? An LED strip will make a showstopping contemporary home.
O-lite round rooflight, Roof Maker
Sliding doors are perhaps the most popular glazing option for homeowners looking to modernise their property. The perfect way to draw more light into an interior, sliding doors cover larger expanses of glass than bi-folds, opening by slotting one pane behind another. Sliding doors are your best option if space is limited, or if an uninterrupted view is your priority!
theEDGE2.0 sliding doors, IDSystems
The perfect way to add extra space to an attic room, dormer windows are a classic option, whether you’re transforming your loft or building from scratch. Dormer windows welcome in plenty of natural light, while adding head height – just remember to keep your dormer in preposition to the rest of your roof.
A very traditional glazing option often found in Victorian and Edwardian properties, bay windows are as timeless as they are attractive. Offering fantastic curb appeal while inviting in ample light, there's a reasons the simple bay has been popular for decades! Their elegant design allows for plenty of customisable features, from uPVC to timber frame, across three or five panels. Bays also provide extra interior space, ideal for a snug window seat!
Timber sash windows, Scotts of Thrapston
Usually installed to link a property with a modern extension, glass corridors are a fantastic way to draw the sun's natural rays inwards. Frameless glass corridors not only act as a contemporary design feature, but they amplify the feeling of space and create a naturally bright passageway within your home.
Frameless glass links, IQ Glass
If you have a mezzanine floor or want to increase light flow to your stairwell, then installing a glass balustrade could be a fantastic interior choice. Strong and secure as a barrier, glass balustrades make sure light isn't stopped in its tracks. Balustrades also instantly add a modern edge to any interior space.
If you're lucky enough to have a double-height living space in your home, then maximise your solar gains by installing windows to fit the height of your walls. Double-height windows create real wow-factor, drawing in twice the amount of light as single-height glazing.
Aluminium glazing, Kloeber
If you're adding an extension to your current home, opt for one with ample glazing. Not only will a glass box extension amplify the interior of your new space, it will also allow for maximum external views. Glazed extensions are also fantastic for those lucky enough to have a south-facing garden.
Bespoke glass boxes, IQ Glass
Seen most prominently in religious buildings, clerestory windows are becoming popular in contemporary homes. Thanks to their ability to slot into redundant spaces, these narrow glazed strips sit above eye level, usually running the length of a room. Their high position allows light to shine in a downward direction, hence the name!
Malvern House, Jost Architects
An ever-popular option, uPVC windows come double or tripled glazed and offer thermally efficient options. uPVC windows are also known for their strength, longevity and durability. Whether you select triple or double glazing, uPVC windows are considerably cheaper than many aluminium and timber options. There are lots of different colours available, too, ranging from charcoal grey to sage green so you can choose the perfect finish to match your home.
If you have a flat roof, why not draw more light inside with a simple glass roof? Non-opening, glass roofs simply allow sunlight to travel inside, making redundant ceiling space much more efficient! They can also quickly modernise a kitchen or an extension.
6-panel SUNFLEX SF55 aluminium bi-fold door integrated with 6-pane lean-to glass roof, Sunflex UK
As attractive as wooden or metal staircases can be, glass is the perfect option for permitting extra light to enter your hallway. Not only will a glass staircase reflect sunlight, and not stop rays in their tracks, but it will also open up your interior and give your home a trendy and contemporary finish!
Contemporary Lounge, Neville Johnson
If you're wanting to create a timeless, traditional finish that doesn't compromise on style or light flow, then heritage doors could be for you. Unlike sliding and bi-fold doors, heritage doors provide expanses of glass, broken up by steel framing. Opt for French doors with a set of sidelights for added interior light – and more visual impact!
Heritage doors, IDSystems
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