So todays "if" question is brought to you by the fact that I've been daydreaming of houses lately. Lady D has the pefect one, Mr P (the Kiddo's idol at the moment) has a work in progress that's going to be amazing when it's done, my parents have a sprawler that has the best kitchen in the universe (*sigh* for two ovens!!). I have a friend with a house that overlooks a freaking lake (yeah sometimes I hate her heh). And another friend who's probably going to be buying himself a house in the next half a year. So I've got houses on the brain.
So here it is; if you were going to buy a house, and the livingroom window had to be facing either east or west which direction would you want? Assume the windows were really big and the view unhindered.
In my mind the house is on a hill, and the view includes the city (so that at night I get the city lights). I figure that location should ensure a fair amount of privacy. So since either view (in theory) would give me the night cityscape, then my big concerns are a) sun-heat through the windows, and b) sunset vs sunrise.
Course right now I deal with west facing windows and the afternoon sun is hot! That makes for an expensive a/c bill in the summer, but a low heat bill in the winter. Even still "a" really isn't much of a concern to me. If I can afford a house I can afford decent windows, and/or thick curtains to block the heat. So "b" is really my main concern.
I'm usually up taking the dog out at sunrise. I love watching the sun fight it's way up over the Wasatch mountains. But I also try to time the evening walk for sunset, and the colors are so much more vibrant. I think for me I'd pick sunset, because I could watch the sun go down and then, as the world darkens, watch the city lights come alive.
How about you?
5 comments:
North facing.
I know, it wasn't one of the choices you gave. The point is that it wouldn't matter which way the house faces because you would still time your walks to get both views.
The real point is that you would have a house! ;-)
You miss the point mr man... I don't want to HAVE to time my walks to match the sunset lol
Um, er, yeah ... north.
Y'see, the living room is where his royal highness -the ambulatory heat generator- spends the bulk of his at-home time, so it should be the coolest (temp-wise) room in the house. That means north.
Bedroom should face east and south: east so the sun wakes us up in the morning and we don't sleep in too late, and south so it is warm for *coff* her royal highness the ice sculpture who spends much time at the bedroom computer.
West and south is for driveways and front walks if you live where it snows, so the sun finishes clearing off and drying what the shovel leaves ... thereby avoiding the overnight icing that happens otherwise.
Put that together and you have an awkward arrangement with a front door opening on to a hallway that separates the garage from the bedroom and leads back to the living-room at the rear of the house :-P
C you cheat.. though I take your point. I suppose I should have opened the question to any direction facing house, and then gone logical with north facing too. I agree with the bedroom, East facing is perfect... waking up with the sunrise is a good thing :)
yeah, i'm surprised you asked about the living room.
...now you got me wondering about glare. That's the REAL question: where and when is the glare in the living room, that gets in the way of computer and tv time? I suppose I could just move the respective electronics.
Before now, I've only considered the bedroom windows, and I agree: east.
If I'm worried about temperature, then...well, windows facing east will give me heat sooner, and I'd primarily want the heat in the livingroom during the day - not the night. Right?
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