A Place in the Sun Is a Bright Idea : Remodel: Sun rooms can create more light and living space. Skylights, too, will brighten residence.

Style and practicality are two reasons often cited for building sun-space additions to a home, but many prefer another: let the sun shine in.

From solariums and greenhouses to skylights, from additions of whole rooms to kitchen and bathroom remodeling, the common interests are more light and more living space.

“The successful kitchen today is one with lots of light, a good view and good access,” says Joe Esposito, executive vice president of Four Seasons Greenhouses and Design Center, Holbrook, N.Y.

“People want to feel the activity going on in the rest of the house while they’re working in the kitchen,” he says. “Nobody who works in a kitchen wants to feel like a servant or a cook.”

Even in the bathroom, says Esposito, “natural light and expansion views give the room that pizazz, that special touch that is so important.”

“A sun space expands a house for anything a homeowner wants, a workplace for business or hobbies, private retreat or entertainment center,” says Lee Stanley, chief designer at Solar Additions Inc., Greenwich, Conn., “and helps reduce fuel bills at the same time by capturing and trapping solar heat. The most common reason today is to get more living space.”

The sun space, which attaches directly to a home, features panels of front glass that bring solar energy inside and insulated roof and side walls.

Stanley says a $10,000 add-on sun space can increase the value of an $85,000 house to more than $100,000.

Sun space in the form of skylights is one recommendation if you’re considering remodeling the bathroom.

Substituting a window with a skylight can provide a touch of elegance as well as more space.

Interior designer Alice Silverman, president of Creative Interiors and Decorate-a-Day Inc., Carmel, N.Y., says a skylight in the bathroom can have other advantages. “Many bathroom windows are located in the shower stall,” she says. “Water can collect on the sill, rotting it and causing moisture problems behind the wall. A skylight is a perfect solution and it offers total privacy.”

Most manufacturers offer three basic models of skylights, says Alec Bechtold, vice president of the Ventarama Skylight Corp.: fixed (cannot open or close), venting or motorized venting.

Motorized models, says Bechtold, can open or close with a switch rather than by a pole.