09/03/2026
Do this before November and you'll spend the winter in a different apartment without moving.
Stand in each room and note which way the window faces. Then bet with me: which room goes dark first?
1. East. 2. North. 3. West.
It's the north one, and it isn't close. From the autumn equinox through to the spring equinox, a north-facing window in the northern hemisphere receives no direct sunlight at all — and never any direct midday sun in any season. In July that reads as soft. In November it reads as grey, and you quietly stop using the room without ever deciding to.
East is the second trap. Beautiful at eight in the morning, finished by lunch, and most people aren't home for any of it.
West is the one that matters, because west light arrives in the late afternoon — the only daylight hours most working people are actually in the apartment for.
So the good chair goes near the west window. The desk can have the north one; you'll be lighting it artificially either way.
Clocks go back Sunday, November 1. After that the evening light doesn't come back until spring.
Here's the part where we argue against ourselves: we sell floor lamps. We would love to sell you one. And the first move here is dragging a chair eight feet, which costs nothing.
Which window is your dark room — 1, 2 or 3?
