quick question about north facing property

[notastylequeen]

Trying to buy a house/flat just now and have always lived in south facing or east west facing properties (just by chance). However spotted a lovely one this week but it is north facing. However it does have a large bay window (3 panes) and it is big enough to fit a small table in with four chairs in the spec. Would that make it still quite a light room?

thanks

One side of all properties has to be north facing. The most important consideration is which way the garden faces ... a south facing garden can be quite hard work in a dry summer (hollow laugh), a west facing garden is ideal imvho.

my house is north facing and tbh it's not so bad. although I suppose that's partly because the back is south facing which I suppose you miss out on in the flat?

i think you would get enough light through a bbig bay window though

thanks - the small kitchen and bedrooms are the south facing rooms so not really a huge advantage for those rooms. There isn't a garden with this property (it is part of a terrace house). thank you for your views on this though. I suspect the bay window will make it ok too. Will find out when I view this weekend

even hollower laugh about the dry summer - this is a Scottish property

I know someone with a north facing flat. No natural light to the hall or bathroom, bedroom and the other room which is living/dining/kitchen both have floor to ceiling triple pane bay windows and exceptionally high ceilings. The light is fine but well situated table and floor lamps add ambience. Interlined thick curtains and the original shutters make it cosy in winter and it stays cool in the summer too.

It wouldn't have been first choice of aspect, but it works well and in their case they have use of the south facing rear garden, which admittedly was a clincher.

I'd say if the flat fits the bill for all other requirements then I wouldn't let the north facing stop you, just be clever with decorating ideas.

Check out the state of the windows (a double glazed wooden bay will be circa 1500-2000+ to replace depending on size and number of openings) and if the front door opens directly into a room, consider how you will deal with a nice northerly sweeping in.
Shame there's no garden to offset it.
Re the aspect generally - it is in a built up area or is there sufficient space between it, and the house across the street for there to be plenty of natural light, although not direct sunlight.