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chanceuponchanshome
Minimalist. Modern. 94sqm for 👨👩👧 & 🐹🐹🐹
From Sunlight to Style: Lighting’s Role in Our Home Design | Tampines
4405
Hello! Just wanted to do a quick post on something that really influenced our home decision (unit selection) - sunlight direction! Based on experience staying at my parents’ (NS-facing), my room, my parents’ and kitchen used to have west sun hitting one wall. No biggie, but the heat from west sun was… So I knew from the start I wanted to avoid units with direct forms of west sun (afternoon sun) on our main living space. Though west-facing units boast a great sunset view 🌇, I personally couldn’t tahan the heat build-up. 
Marked up an estimated sun direction for our floor plan. Our estate doesn’t have many NS facing units (at least not those that I considered as our top choices!) Hence we had the option between NE (morning sun) or SW (afternoon sun) in general, and we picked a NE facing unit, SW for kitchen/toilet windows! West sun in the kitchen/service yard helps a lot in drying clothes as well! 🤭 
Morning sun in our living room! Light affects how materials and colours show up. That same warm oak or grey wall may look totally different depending on whether it’s bathed in golden evening light or soft morning light. We have Ash Grey for our living room, and Birch Patina for the TV wall. In the morning, our walls look pretty warm with the soft morning light shining on it! 
Morning sun tends to be gentler and less intense than the afternoon sun! Here’s how it looks at 8am, casting a soft glow onto our curved kitchen countertop. This light direction changes throughout the year (summer vs winter solstice), so we don’t get much light in our kitchen during the year end! 
As the day moves on, this was taken around 6pm — the west sun shining at an angle into our kitchen. Honourable mention to the solar films we installed on our kitchen windows — they’ve been a real lifesaver! From about 4pm onwards, it gets noticeably warmer, and on some days, keeping the windows closed helps reduce the heat and block out those UV rays (save my skin please!). You can tell the obvious difference with and without the solar film here too. 
Same goes for our kitchen cabinets; we noticed a clear difference before and after applying the solar film. I also believe having solar films helps preserve the colour of darker finishes at home, since dark materials tend to fade faster under strong sunlight compared to lighter ones. 
The bright, glaring afternoon sun isn’t always fun but it does highlight the beautiful texture of our matte sintered stone countertop! Understanding how much direct sunlight your space gets, and from which angle, can really guide your choice of finishes and colours for a more comfortable and practical home. 
Onwards to the bedroom - soft, cozy morning light streaming in at an angle, gently hitting our puffy headboard. Since this space is meant for rest and winding down, we chose a darker colour for this wall compared to the others in our MBR. Knowing the morning sun would brighten the room just enough, it gave us the balance we wanted for that cozy, warm vibe. ☁️🌤 
Also onto our mood microcement laminate~ our favourite laminate! Summary (whichever unit you chose!) ✅ DO • Choose materials with varied textures to catch and soften light (think matte finishes, natural stone, wood grain) • Use lighter or mid-tone colors near windows to reflect light, and darker tones to create cozy contrast • Observe your space at different times of day to understand light patterns before finalising layout ❌ DON’T • Block windows with bulky or tall furniture that cuts off natural light • Use overly glossy or reflective surfaces that cause harsh glare • Forget to consider how seasonal changes affect sunlight angles and intensity We hope this post has been informative and guide you in colours/furnitures/laminates selection! :) Also let us know - are you a morning sun or afternoon sun person? ⬇️
1 August 2025
