How To Utilize Interior Windows Between Rooms

Before you think we’re crazy, hear us out! Adding windows to the interior rooms of your house isn’t a typo; it’s a clever way to brighten your rooms and unify your home’s design style. 

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking of rooms in your house as cramped or gloomy, this interior window solution is for you, and it may not require too much fuss to install. Still not sure? Let’s look at some areas in your home that may be begging for a window treatment and why.

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‍Interior Windows Add Light Between Rooms

We all know windows are for letting in light, but we don’t always consider how that light can keep shining from your exterior rooms through to your interior spaces by adding a window or two.

Lighten Interior Rooms With Large Windows

There’s no reason to have a living room that feels stuffy and dark when the sunroom, on the other side of the wall, is bursting with light. Adding windows to the wall between the two would transform your living room into an open, airy gathering place while letting the small sunroom breathe a bit. Make your windows the same multi-paned, traditional style as those of your sunroom, and you’ve increased the cohesion of the spaces.

Replacing solid walls with French doors can work wonders to let in light and give your home some old-fashioned charm. Consider using French doors to widen a doorway between rooms. That way, you can improve the quality of light in your home without the expense of adding more exterior windows or skylights. 

Brighten an Interior Bathroom With a Transom

Transom windows aren’t only for exterior walls anymore! First seen in the 14th century in Europe, these small rectangular or half-circle windows at the top of the door are still going strong. 

They are an excellent way to allow light to pass through interior rooms without skimping on privacy. You will still have a wall to divide your spaces for a cozy feeling but have shared light that helps make even the smallest bathroom seem bigger.

Use Frosted or Fluted Privacy Glass

Windows in those interior spaces that could use some brightening but also require privacy don’t have to be transoms. You can still have full-sized interior windows: You simply need to choose the right kind. There is the old standby of glass blocks, but why not try the delicate appeal of fluted privacy glass? It adds a unique vertical detail along with the illusion of creating more space. 

Frosted glass is another easy way to get all the benefits of extra light without giving a peep show. If you don’t know if you can commit to frosted glass all the time, consider smart glass windows that allow you to adjust privacy on demand.

Make a Space Feel Larger

Just as sunlight shining through exterior windows opens up dark corners and seems to enlarge your space, letting the same light make its way through internal windows has an equally expansive effect on interior rooms. 

Create a Window Wall

Take a wall down to the studs and make it a gridded window glass wall for an excellent way to allow two rooms to have their own individual decor and coziness while visually increasing the sense of space. Windows can provide a noise barrier between spaces, like between two living areas where you want visibility but not necessarily to hear what’s playing on the TV.

Try out different layout options with Spoak’s room visualization layout tool before you start demo’ing anything.

Use Windows for Modular Spaces

Any home can benefit from the tricks studio apartment dwellers have relied on for years by keeping room partitions as modular as possible for the day’s changing needs. Sliding glass doors or windows can be as useful to interior rooms as they are on the patio. 

Having the ability to section off a portion of your home, like a bedroom, with sliding doors and then open it up by sliding the door to close off a kitchen instead is a smart use of windows that lets your home change with the time of day. 

Use a Porthole in Tight Spaces

Portholes fit in small and awkward spaces, entryways, and hallways to inject unique curves and compelling design into a space. That little window can greatly increase light in a mudroom or a dark stairwell without requiring a big remodel. Plus, for beach-style homes, this gives off a distinctly lovely nautical feel. 

Create Visual Interest

If you want to add a little visual interest to your home, what could be more interesting than placing a window in an interior room? We’ll wait …

Get Evening Ambiance

The glow of light emanating from a row of windows on an interior wall at night can produce a warm, ambient light for the whole house. For instance, a loft room with added windows can give off soft light to the living room below. The effect can be similar to a home’s welcoming shoji screens lit from within in the evening. 

Turn an Eyesore Into a Feature

If you have a pony wall that seems a tad awkward, you could have it removed … Or you could turn it into an engaging feature wall by topping it with a custom window that gives a nod to room division while keeping the two spaces unified. 

A support post in the center of a room could be an invitation to build a wall of windows around it as a room divider rather than leave it sticking out like a sore thumb. 

Bring a Vintage Feel To a Historic Home

If your home has characteristics of those built in a certain time period, play it up with windows from that era. Accentuate the rectilinear qualities of your craftsman-style home with leaded glass indoor windows featuring floral and grid motifs.

Let steel frame windows divide spaces in your modern home, or for your classic Victorian, use traditional half-round windows that speak to that design style.

Add Architectural Interest

Using a window in interior walls creates a wonderful opportunity to add architectural detail to a space that may be devoid of interesting shapes. Why not choose arched windows that mirror those on your home’s exterior for the wall between your living and dining rooms? A running theme through the house gives a sense of unity to the space.

Promote Better Communication

Using interior windows rather than walls is also a smart design solution for bringing people together and increasing communication.

Improve Home Office Visibility

Just as many businesses use windows to link workspaces indoors, your home workspace can have the same focused feeling for work while keeping you connected to the rest of the family. 

Windows, even if it’s just a partial room divider made of a glass track door, make it easy to check on the kids and ensure everyone is playing well together as you work without having to get up so often. It also improves feelings while at work when you have the added light and feeling of spaciousness windows provide. 

Create a Pass-Through

Having an open space with bi-folding windows that can open to allow conversation or the service of food, as in a kitchen pass-through, gives you more flexibility with noise control. You can easily close off the kitchen to make the dining area quieter. 

Adding sliding partitions to a room-dividing bookshelf or storage cabinet can allow different areas to be visible at different times. The sliding dividers can be frosted glass or solid, colored materials to coordinate with your space. These rectangular shapes are a great way to add interesting geometry that echoes other features of your home.

Take This Window of Opportunity To Re-Envision Your Space

Glass windows might not be the sign of luxury that they were in the early 17th century, but they can still add an undeniable air of glamor to your home. Adding windows between spaces is one of the many ways to celebrate natural light and your unique interior design style. 

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^{Photo Credit: (Left) Plank and Pillows}

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^Sources:

^{Smart Privacy Glass: The Biggest Innovation in Glass Technology | PR Newswire}

^{Window Treatments Using a Shoji Screen | SF Gate}

^{All You Need to Know About Transom Windows | BobVila}

^{Access to view in an office improves cognitive performance and satisfaction | ScienceDirect}

^{The Evolution of Old-House Windows | This Old House}