How to Decorate a Room With No Windows

Some rooms are simply windowless. It could be a guest room in a basement, a hallway, powder room, or even an interior bathroom or kitchen in an apartment or townhouse that lacks a window. The trick to decorating a dark, windowless room is to create the illusion that there’s a window in the space. Then add in plenty of the right lighting along with light and airy furniture and fabrics.

Simulate the Look of a Window

This easy trick can be accomplished in two ways. Hang an oversized mirror on a wall or hang floor to ceiling drapery on a rod. For extra depth on the wall that creates a window-like effect, hang drapery on a rod over a large mirror. Here are a few placement ideas that will give you the feeling that there’s a window in the room.

• In a basement guest room, create the aura of a window behind a headboard by hanging floor-to-ceiling drapery that’s kept closed.
• In a windowless living room or guest room, mount a mirror with divided panes of glass that makes it look like a window. Place it next to your sofa, chair, or bed and then hang curtains as you would on a regular window.
• Mount a large mirror on a wall opposite a sofa or bed, and add wooden shutters or blinds over the mirror for the illusion of a window.
• In a kitchen or bathroom, add a mirror the size of a window across from your sink, then hang a green plant near it so that it’s reflected to give the illusion that there’s a bit of foliage peeking indoors.

If you don’t want to create a faux window, take advantage of the magic of mirrors by hanging a few of varied sizes throughout your windowless space. Drape a string of white lights around them for added sparkle. The mirrors will work together to reflect and bounce light around the room for a dazzling effect.

Use the Right Lighting

It’s especially critical to have enough layered lighting in a windowless room. Overhead fixtures (think crystal chandeliers that reflect light), accent, and task lighting with clear glass or light, sheer shades to hang or place on the table or floor, will work together to create a brilliantly lit room. Add track or recessed lights strategically aimed at dim corners and to highlight artwork around the room. Run light strips underneath upper and lower cabinetry and inside exposed shelving to brighten surfaces with diffused lighting, especially in a windowless kitchen.

Bulbs Matter

Bulbs impact how a windowless room looks and feels. Color temperature (bluish mimics daylight while soft/warm white is more yellow like an incandescent bulb’s glow, for example) is a personal choice. However, as a guide, choose LED bulbs with the brightness of 1,100 lumens (equivalent to 75-watt incandescent bulbs) or 1,600 lumens (equivalent to 100-watt incandescent bulbs) in your preferred color temperature to compensate for the lack of natural light coming into the room.

Keep It Light and Simple

Decorate a windowless room like you would a small space, with lots of light colors and fuss-free furniture. There are a few more tricks to turning a windowless room into a breezy, bright space.

13 Effective Ways to Cool a Room with No Windows

When a room that has no windows becomes hot, it needs to be cooled down so that it will remain useful. Windows provide a place to use a window AC unit or to have a breeze blow through, and these options are not available without them.

You may have space that is not usable in the hot summer months, but if you find a way to cool it, this could change. Fortunately, there are ways to cool a room with no windows. Some ideas include cutting into walls or the ceiling, and others are simple tricks to reduce the heat.

Read on to learn how.

1 – Install a Ceiling Fan

One way to circulate the air in the room is by installing a ceiling fan. A ceiling fan moves the air around, which cools the people who are inside the room.

When you are in a hot room, there is a stagnant layer of heat around your body, and the ceiling fan jostles that stagnant layer of air, which allows your body to lose heat and feel cooler.

If your purpose in cooling this room is to make it more comfortable for people while they are in it, a ceiling fan will do the job. It is a great way to circulate the air, and it is fairly easy to install.

2 – Install a Through-the-Wall Air Conditioner

This kind of air conditioner works the same way as a window unit, but it vents through the wall instead of through the window. It is important to note that the wall must lead to the outside of the building because it has to be vented correctly.

These units are more energy efficient than central air conditioners, and the room will stay cooler without any windows. In fact, it will take less energy to cool a windowless room than it would one with windows.

They are installed directly in the wall, and their design prevents drafts. The unit will be secured, and it is a great solution to cooling a windowless room.

3 – Set up a Portable Evaporative Cooler (Swamp Cooler)

Portable evaporative coolers or swamp coolers are energy efficient, and they can deliver cool air to a room. This works well in dry climates, and it is less expensive and more energy efficient.

It works by taking the warm air in and running it through wet cooler pads. Then it blows cooler air through a vent. You can add water or ice to this device, and it changes it into a cool air mist.

You can create a homemade version of this machine by using a box fan and ice. If you fill a bowl with ice and put it in front of the fan, the fan will push the coldness from the ice around the room to make it cool.

This is a simple way to cool a room without any windows.

4 – Use Two Fans to Circulate and Remove Hot Air

It’s a known fact that hot air rises. The problem is that a windowless room can have very still air.

If you blow one fan toward the ceiling and the other toward the doorway, they will circulate the hot air on the ceiling and blow it out of the door. This can help to cool the room.

In addition, free standing fans or box fans will have the same impact on people as a ceiling fan. The air circulation will move the stagnant air around and allow the body to release heat, which has a cooling effect.

5 – Turn Off Appliances and Lights

Most items that use energy give off heat. The more energy a device uses, the more heat it gives off. If you have appliances or lights in the windowless room, be sure to turn them off when they are not in use.

It might be easy to leave these items on, but it will make your room very hot. Make it a habit to turn off everything in the room when you leave, and leave the items off unless you are using them.

6 – Close the Doors

When you close doors, you isolate spaces. If you have a windowless room, it will stay cooler if the door is closed and the light is off.

When you leave the door open, light from the outside room will actually make its way in and make the room warmer. Keep the door closed until you want to enter the room.

7 – Extend Your Existing HVAC System

If you have central air conditioning, it may not be too complicated to add your windowless room to the system. It requires ducts and vents, but if the house is already set up, it may be pretty easy to do.

If you are able to extend your existing HVAC system, you will have no trouble cooling your room.

8 – Install a Ductless Air Conditioner

A ductless air conditioning unit gives you all of the convenience and cooling of central air, but there are no ducts. You do need to install an outdoor piece and an indoor piece that are connected by refrigerant tubing and electrical wiring.

You can mount the indoor unit on the wall, but you will need to go through the wall to the outdoors to connect it to the outdoor unit.

9 – Buy a Portable Air Conditioner

This option may not be the most effective because the portable air conditioner still needs to be vented to the outdoors. It needs a place to send the hot air.

If the windowless room has a wall that goes to the outside, you can install the hose through it to the outside, and your portable AC will work well. Otherwise, you will need to run a hose through another room.

10 – Lower Your Body Temperature

There are actually ways that you can lower your body temperature, which will help to cool a room without windows. You can drink cool drinks with ice and wear light colored clothing that will reflect heat.

In addition, taking a shower will help to lower your body temperature and make it feel cooler in the room.

11 – Cover Your Furniture with Clean Sheets

If this room is an office or a sitting room, cover your couch or chairs with clean cotton sheets. If you keep the sheets stored in a cool closet, they will be cool and help to make the room feel cooler.

If this room is a bedroom, be sure to make your bed every day, and do not use flannel or fleece. You need cool crisp cotton sheets, and the room will feel cooler.

12 – Turn Your Bathroom Fan on

If your windowless room adjoins a bathroom, you can turn on the bathroom fan and open the door. The bathroom fan pulls air out of the room, and this will help to pull the hot air away.

Your room will actually cool down, and the air will circulate.

13 – Plant Bushes on the Outside of the Home

You can plant bushes along the wall directly outside of this room. It will prevent the sun from penetrating the walls of the house, and it helps to insulate the home from heat.

With bushes in the way of the sun’s rays, your exterior won’t absorb as much heat, which will keep the inside cooler.

Is it Possible to Cool a Room Without Windows?

It is definitely possible to cool a windowless room, and it will depend on other factors. If you do not have air conditioning installed, there are still a few tricks you can try.

In some ways, a room without windows is beneficial because it will not have the rays of the sun blaring into the room. The sun’s rays can heat up a room, even through a window, so this can help to keep it cooler than another room in the house.

You can install one of many different types of air conditioning system, depending on your budget and how much work you want to do. If the rest of your house has an HVAC, you might consider having the windowless room connected to it.

Otherwise, there are ductless and portable AC options that you can employ.

Fans can be very useful in a number of different ways. The key to cooling the room is to circulate the air and get rid of the hot air near the ceiling. You can strategically use fans to pull the air down and expel it from the room.

You can also make sure that you are comfortable by drinking ice cold drinks and taking a shower. Showering in a hot shower will make the air temperature feel cooler once you finish, and showering in a cold shower will lower your body temperature so that you will welcome the warm air.

You need to make sure that you keep the appliances shut off unless they are in use. They will give off more heat, which will only make the room warmer. In addition, lights tend to emit heat. You can consider LED lighting as it gives off less heat than other types.

Turn the lights off when you don’t need them, and keep the doors closed. If the room is dark and closed up during the day, it will feel cool when you open the door. Any of these methods will help to cool your windowless room.

Lighting for video in room with no windows, choose led or cfl

I want to produce some cooking videos with recipe preparation demonstrations. The shooting area is about 1 square meter. The room doesn’t have any windows, so there is no natural/daylight. It is an inexpensive production using a Pentax K-S2 and GoPro Hero4. Currently, I use 2 soft boxes with 135W compact florescent (CFL), which leads to noisy video in the low light.

I want to buy more lights and add like 4-8 more bulbs.

From what I have seen on the net, a 15W LED that costs $2.50 outputs 1500 lumens, while a 200W CFL bulb costs $22 and outputs 3200 lumens.

So is it more economical to buy LEDs instead of CFLs? Or am I missing something, like inaccurate light output labels?

2 Answers 2

It’s not just about lumens. Generally you get what you pay for when you’re buying lights, and the difference between an expensive LED and a cheap one is not usually the power output, it’s the colour fidelity.

White lights look white because they produce a range of colours which our eyes mix together and perceive as white. The better the light the smoother the graph of the intensity across the spectrum is — so there’ll be a smooth line going from red up to violet.

Cheaper lights produce a more jagged spectrum. So even though they may look white overall, there will be certain colours that are less intense or missing, and other colours that are brighter.

Fluorescent lights, including CFLs are notorious for having a spiky spectrum:

The spike right in the green area of the spectrum can give the footage a greenish, slightly morbid look. This is quite popular in the shaky-cam horror genre, but it may not suit your film:

Cheap LED lights are less spiky, but the spectrum is still missing some areas. Even though this light might balance out as a warm white, it is not providing light across the whole spectrum. Anything cyanish will look darker and less saturated under this LED:

What this means for video is that some cheap lights are very difficult to grade. Skin tones will go from looking sunburnt to jaundiced with no happy medium. Some things will pop, while others will be undersaturated. The price of cheaper lights will be the cost of extra time spent making it look good.

Tungsten (hot filament / incandescent) lights however, even cheap ones have a very smooth spectrum. This is a standard household incandescent bulb. Although this light is very orange, it is probably possible to get an acceptable grade by adjusting the colour temperature in-camera:

Halogen lights have an even better spectrum, with more light in the blue end. You can get halogen work lights that would do quite well as film lights with a bit of diffusion. They do however run hot as a lot of the energy they use is turned into heat. They have a smaller up-front cost, but cost more in terms of power usage and replacement bulbs, and because they use ten times the power you can’t run them off batteries, like you can with LEDs.

Of course, for the average youTube face-to-camera type video the colour fidelity of the lights may not be such a problem, especially if you’re reusing the same setup again and again — you can get the colour grade right using your tool of choice (most NLEs have pretty good colour grading tools built-in these days) and then keep the settings from one video to the next.

Read the article that goes with those graphs here, though it’s talking about lighting for household illumination, not for video.