I like different rooms in my house at different times of day, is that what you mean? I'm always following the sun from room to room, but the rooms we use at night like the family and living room have lots of lamps for lighting.

judithva, I understand exactly what you are saying, as I have the same situation in my home. I use a lot of dark tones in my home, and collect lamps and love small lamps in my bookcases, chandeliers with dimmers, etc. I prefer my home in the evening, or on rainy days with the lamps on.

Chrismtas, at night, is a real treat. :)

Heh. I like mine best in the evening, because in the day, I'm at work to pay off the mortgage and the work that has to be done on the house. :-)

Seriously, I think my place looks better at night. The daylight is nice and strong, but the orientation of the house is such that the daylight is not uniform. I can address that with lighting.

LOL, Steve. : ) Spoken like a true breadwinner. My DH would probably say the same.

I'd have to say I like my home in the day the best. Not that I don't like it at night, but in the day the wall colors come alive to me. We have loads of light at this mile high elevation and we also have lots of large windows, so the natural light changes the colors from one wall to the next. Some rooms are more dramatic than others.

I'm also an outdoors kinda gal so I like the feeling of the outdoors coming in, if that makes sense. And I love colors that are fresh and light and remind me of my gardens. The exception would be our den/office in which the colors are a bit darker. It's very cozy in the evenings.

Diana

Well, I like it best during the day due to the large windows letting sunlight in. I like the way it feels open when all window blinds are open.

Interesting answers everyone.
Steve, LOL, I have to work during the day too, being the only "breadwinner". I only see the inside during the day on the weekends (thats if I'm not outside gardening, I love gardening). I will be inside a lot more in the upcoming months since I am refinancing now to do some remodeling (just finished Central AC and Heat love it!)

I wish I received more natural light like some of you, but the way my house is situated, it's basicly indirect light.
Actually, my bedroom looks good during the day becasue it is decorated in all white, whereas the rest of the house is more "jewel tones".

i like it best in the day. i have quite a few large windows and it's very cheery in here on a sunny day.

from the outside, though, i prefer sunrise or sunset. i don't have any large trees to shade the house so things look pretty stark at noon.

I like it best in the day, when I can see the views and garden and birds. We have LOTS of windows. One thing I dislike about double pane windows is how they reflect the outdoor light at night - it is hard to get a clear view of the night sky (you get double images of stars and moon.)

I really, really wish we had a fireplace. There's not a lot of ambience in the evening with the cell blinds down. I should probably do something about the lighting.

What an interesting question! I really can't decide, because I like mine at both times. Although it's small , most of my house is really BRIGHT during the day and I just love that. I added a skylight in the kitchen last year, and that really opened up that area. I also had recessed lights put in and the kitchen is now so bright at night you could do surgery in there (or at least cut up a chicken). One set of lights are on dimmers, so I can adjust for ambiant lighting. Next is undercab lighting. I'll try top find the time to post some pics soon.

What a great ? and interesting answers. So glad I just spotted this forum and that I qualify sq ft wise to be here lol. Not that you'd kick me out... least I hope not roflol.
Anyways I have one spot in my house at one time of day that I love during the day- otherwise I love my house at night- have lots of mood lighting and the house feels warm and inviting and as someone else saif full of sparkle at night.

The one spot during the day is sitting on this one couch with me pointing south with the north windows behind me the light streaming in and hitting the 3 colors of our semi open plan- showing the colors light and clear and very beachy cottagy like it always makes me smile.
RaNae

I love the look of my home at night! I have lots of lamps and love to turn them on also the darker tones I use look so rich in the evening. I also like to turn the lamps on my font porch on and use it at night as well. My husband thinks that I am crazy because I always turn off the task lighting around the house. I find with bright lighting I notice the crumbs on the counter or that the floor needs to be swept!

Good question! I've always loved enclosed porches, so the living room in the house we're building is wrapped around with double-hungs, with nice views in three directions--a day room and a night room when the windows can be left open to let the bug-song in, but definitely less appealing for winter nights. A small sitting room/guest bedroom will provide coziness when we want the lights on and curtains pulled. We're semi-retired and home in the daytime a lot, though, or I'd have had to make that the main-room character.

Good question! I like my home best during the evenings. I'm not big on bright lights and I prefer to have lamps and candles, rather than sun or overhead lights. Weird probably, but that's me. The other issue is that I work part-time and go to school during the day so evenings are really the only time I'm home.

And southernheart, I completely agree...evenings during the Christmas season are the BEST!!!

I learned a lot about lighting from a hotel in Winston-Salem NC where I stayed a number of times on business in the 80's. The Brookstown Inn is a converted cotton mill with lots of exposed brick and overhead beams in the guest rooms. Because the ceilings are so high and irregular they were forced to do all of the lighting with wall sconces, floor lamps and table lamps. Only one lamp in the room was on the wall switch by the door. All of the others were individually controlled by switches on the fixtures. I quickly found that I liked having good light where I was in the room and minimal light in the rest of the space. It felt very comfortable.

In remodeling our house we removed all ceiling lighting except for one pendant lamp in the kitchen and a second one over the dining table. The former is just 78" from the floor. The latter is adjustable and is currently just 26" above top of the table. All of our other lighting is by wall sconces, table lamps and floor lamps.

The effect of this kind of lighting is to transform the spaces at night. We can paint and furnish the space for a light and open appearance during the day and control the lighting for a snug and cozy appearance at night.

The daytime is my favorite....am a early to bed/early to rise person. A total slug in the evenings, one of those people who greets the sunrise and wishes daylight savings would go away.

I bought this little house because of the large windows. Previous home had lots of windows, but nestled in huge pines, never could get the sun to shine in....so am loving the sunny side. There are a lot of huge trees surrouding me without hanging over every window and can enjoy a view from all rooms.

At night though, it is a comfort to go to sleep seeing the stars through my bedroom windows. Have always had my bed. C placed in a location to do this and chose the smaller than master room to take advantage of the bigger windows.

As with all of you, this is an interesting question. I'm retired, not sure what my answer would have been when working. Am also in snow country love to garden, seeing the change of seasons, and an artist/photographer with the need for visual.

REading so many posts about evening ambiance and how you have created such leads me to consider that this is something look at and incorporate into the scheme of decorating.

Sandy

Oh dear...I can't give you a straight answer....I love the east facing back bedroom in the mornings. In the afternoon I LOVe having a chair in the west facing dining room window!! Then there are the zillion morning birds outside the east facing kitchen window..... I guess I would have to say that I like the house best at night, except for.......
:^)

Probably morning looking over the valley and sunset, looking over the vally. We have a lot of windows facing West for the view and I never get tired of it. The way it changes the colors inside is always different.

georgeanne

This is a great question, and really got me thinking....I also enjoyed reading all the responses.

I, too, like my house in both the daytime and nighttime. The colors I used look great during the day and equally nice in the evening. I guess, though, with our view, you couldn't help but love it all the time. This is a partial view of what we see from our living room, dining room and master bedroom....looking due north....
{{!gwi}}

This is the only shot I have in Photobucket that shows a glimpse of the view out the d/r window....this was at Christmas last year, so excuse the excess frou frou....
{{!gwi}}

At night, the lights sparkle like a giant Christmas tree. It's magical and I could sit for hours and watch them....but daytime is just as good. : >