12 Rooflight and Roof Lantern Design Ideas

2. Kitchens

The kitchen is increasingly becoming the hub of the home, where families not only cook and eat but also socialise and work, so the ideal visual of the kitchen is a sunny, happy room where everyone congregates for all-important quality time and other pursuits. In kitchens, rooflights offer a practical and elegant way to enhance the function and atmosphere. They introduce overhead daylight where it’s needed most, improving lighting and creating a pleasant place to cook, dine, and gather. These kitchens have been transformed into light-filled havens for the homeowners, with the rooflight a magnificent addition to brighten up each room effortlessly.

3. Dining Rooms

Glass rooflights, when used as a connection to the garden or outdoor surroundings, can give a feel of al fresco dining by bringing natural light directly into the centre of the space. This provides a delightful addition to a dining area, and allows meals and entertainment to be enjoyed in a light and bright atmosphere throughout the day.

4. Living Areas

Rooflights and lanterns within living rooms provide an abundance of natural light and our designs makes them ideal for use all year round. Spending plenty of time in natural sunlight has been proven to improve mental wellbeing, and these beautiful rooflights offer perfect lighting levels and ventilation from above and create a relaxing and ambient space.

5. Hallways and smaller rooms

Rooflights can be created for most rooms and areas, but consideration has to be made as to the design of the rooflight or lantern to ensure it is proportional to the room it serves. Smaller rooms such as utility rooms, boot rooms, narrow dark hallways, and small offices would greatly benefit from a small rooflight to brighten up the space.

6. Introducing Different Shapes and sizes

Rooflights offer not only lighting solutions for rooms, but when created in different shapes, can also offer an interesting visual centrepiece for the space. Vale can design and manufacture a wide range of shapes of rooflights – including traditional rectangular, pentagonal, octagonal, oval, pyramid, square, and many more glass structures. Whatever the scope or style of your vision, we can create a beautifully shaped rooflight to bring this to life.

7. Maintenance

Rooflights are generally hard to access and are often extremely high up, so having a low maintenance solution is of utmost importance. Vale’s unique roof system ensures the protection of your structure. Externally, a powder-coated aluminium glaze cap with attractive mouldings secures the glass of your rooflight in position. This cap ensures minimal maintenance of the roof’s external, which is important as the outside of the roof is the hardest area to reach.

8. Glass Options

You don’t have to opt for a traditional straight glass roof, as our rooflights can also incorporate curved glass. Another option you could consider is self-cleaning glass, which can work for properties with overhanging trees, and tinted and obscured glass could be considered for those whose properties are overlooked - excellent in city locations. Glass can also be filled with Argon, Krypton or Xenon gas which will improve the energy performance and efficiency of your rooflight or roof lantern.

9. Ventilation and temperature control

Ventilation is key to any glass roof, and most glazed roofs are designed to incorporate some form of vent opening, whether manually or electrically operated. This helps to regulate internal airflow and prevent overheating. Alternatively, a lattice ceiling discreetly hides a thermostatically controlled rising ventilating canopy in the apex of the roof. Blinds will contribute to creating a cosy atmosphere in the evening and winter months, while keeping the worst of the hot sun off the room during the day, while helping to provide privacy for glazed rooms in more built-up areas.

10. Lighting

Rooflights and lanterns will obviously bring an abundance of natural light to your room, but in the evenings and darker months, consider what lighting option will be best for your project.

You can choose either primary lighting, which is your main source of light via ceiling or wall fitments, or decorative accent lighting which can be used to complement a stand-out architectural feature. Many homeowners will install downlighters around the perimeter of their project as a way to provide eye-catching feature lighting in their rooflights and lanterns.

Either way, LEDs are known to last longer than conventional bulbs and also offer better economic efficiency, as well as adding the ‘wow’ factor to a rooflight or lantern.

11. Panelling

To add more design features to a rooms, decorative panelling can be designed into the upstand of a rooflight or lantern. Not only does this soften the transition between the glass and the ceiling, but adds more elegance and interior design elements to your rooflight or roof lantern. A variety of panel styles can be incorporated to create interest and additional features in the room.

12. Colours

When it comes to colour schemes, we can design rooflights to suit all rooms and tastes, which includes matching interior colours according to your vision. Vale’s Period Paint collection ranges from lightest white/cream to dark carbon, and a darker colour scheme to your rooflight reflects personal taste and adventurousness.