Lots of light good for painters

Budding artists could benefit from large windows, roof lights or other sources of light, it is claimed.

Sculptor Nigel Hall tells The Independent of the benefits he and his wife enjoy from having large bay windows in their property.

"I do love these bay windows – they remind me of Chinese screen paintings," he comments to the publication.

This, he says, is due to "each vertical pane of glass offering a different segment of view in an otherwise continuous panorama of west London".

He adds that the view is particularly enjoyable from behind the protection of the windows during the cold and frost of winter, while his wife uses the light let through to help her work on her paintings.

While not everyone can live in a five-storey Notting Hill house, a conservatory, kitchen extension or roof light could be one way of adding a little extra illumination to a property.

Guidance from the National Homebuilding and Renovating Show suggests that a kitchen extension can often make use of the area behind a propertys dining room without reducing the amount of light let into the rest of the house.