ᐅ Children’s Bedroom Facing North – What Are Your Thoughts?

Bertram100 schrieb:

I think north-facing windows are great – they provide plenty of natural light without direct sunlight. It’s not true that rooms facing north are automatically dark. The window should primarily be wide enough. Light mostly comes from above. Floor-to-ceiling height is less important for light.

What exactly do you mean by a slit window?

It’s probably one of those KfW40 slot windows with a 1.5 m (5 ft) sill height.
Regarding the north-facing window, I can confirm we have one in the bedroom and a child’s room, and I’ve never had to switch on the lights during the day.
As I said, I expect the kids will fight over the rooms when they’re older… because the second child’s room faces west with two floor-to-ceiling windows, and in summer, it gets really warm. And with the sun shading closed, nobody wants to sit there… in summer, under artificial light.

xMisterDx schrieb:

Probably some kind of KfW40 shooting slot window with a 1.5m (5 ft) sill height.

That’s a bit harsh. 😀

My office faces north. In summer, I can keep the window open almost the entire morning before warm air starts coming in. It’s definitely not too dark. I wouldn’t install just a small slit window but, depending on the layout, at least one large window. Your children will appreciate it if the sun doesn’t shine directly into the room all day.

Same here. My home office is on the northeast corner of our current rental apartment. There is a window of about 2 x 1 meters (6.5 x 3.3 feet) facing north. I work almost 100% remotely and really appreciate not having direct sunlight on it. It usually stays nicely cool but is definitely bright enough.

Currently, there is an issue with heating the room in winter because it is on the corner next to the almost unheated bedroom. However, this wouldn’t be a problem in a new build.

By the way, none of the bedrooms or children's rooms in our new house have south-facing windows, but they do have very large east- and west-facing ones (about 3.25 square meters (35 square feet) of glass area). That is more than sufficient. When I was a child at my parents’ mid-terrace house, we also had only a north-facing window for a long time, which is common in mid-terrace houses due to the building orientation. That was perfectly fine as well.

Our north-facing bedroom needs light during the transitional seasons, while the south-facing children’s rooms don’t require it yet.
Our living area also faces north, and yes, there is a lack of light during the darker months – but the windows there are more than sufficient; no larger ones are possible.
South-facing windows need to be shaded more or less in summer. The children’s rooms have windows on two sides, so they always receive enough light.

I wouldn’t give children’s rooms a fully north-facing orientation. In existing buildings, terraced houses, or similar situations, if that’s not possible, then that’s just how it is.

In reality, all the windows, except those on the north side, are shaded all day with the blinds down, and the kids end up sitting in their rooms under artificial light. At least, that’s what I observe in over 50% of the new builds around here.

Sure... during the transitional seasons, a room with a south-facing window is brighter than one facing north... but where’s the problem in that?
In winter, it hardly matters since people are rarely home during daylight anyway... in summer, it’s not just south-facing windows that need shading. Especially the evening sun from the west causes significant heat gain... for anyone wanting to keep the blinds down until 10 p.m.
Opposite our neighbors kept their west-facing blinds down all day during the height of summer... I might as well move into a cave then...