Rooms That Look Brighter Than They Are
A room can feel full of light while a plant a few metres from the window sits in far less than it needs. Our eyes adjust to a dim room so well that it is hard to judge by looking.
Each drawing below is a section through the room, with the window on the left. To check a position in your own home, use the Indoor Light Planner.
The Far Corner of a Bright Living Room
The room feels full of light, but two or three metres back from the glass a plant gets a fraction of what it would beside the window.
A Window Under a Verandah or Deep Eave
The roof over the glass cuts down the sky the plant can see, so the light inside drops well below what the room suggests. Bring the plant closer to the glass than you would under open sky.
A Bathroom With Frosted Glass
The light feels soft and even, but frosted and textured glass lets less of it through.
A Hallway or a Room With One Small Window
Very little sky reaches a plant here, even in the middle of the day. A plant marked as tolerating lower light will hold, though it may not thrive.
A Sunny Windowsill
There is plenty of light, but sun through the glass will burn most indoor plants, afternoon sun especially. Set the plant back from the glass, past the patch of sun on the sill or floor.
Bright indirect light is a position where the plant can see plenty of sky through the window, but the sun never lands on its leaves. If you could read there comfortably all day without a lamp, the light is bright and indirect.