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Home › Articles › Decorating Your Home › A World Without Windows

A World Without Windows

Solving the Design Challenge of Interior Rooms

By Laura Paul

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Interior rooms without doors or windows to the outside pose a design challenge for some homeowners. Yet it is possible to bring an illusion of space and natural light to interior rooms, dispelling feelings of claustrophobia.

Interior designers often borrow solutions from commercial architects who have applied the latest technology to office buildings or institutions without views. Environmental psychologists say scenes of nature elevate mood. Interior designers faced with the blank canvas of walls with no windows often compensate with artwork and murals.

Virtual Windows
Imagine a virtual window that depicts a waterfall scene with moving lights inside that gives the effect of flowing water. Ernesto Machado, who had a hospitalized father, came up with the idea for a virtual window after noticing the drab nature of hospital rooms with no windows. His windows, which are actually backlit nature scenes accented by panes and sills, are installed on walls or ceilings in windowless offices, cancer centers and intensive care units.

Paul Grazda, vice president of sales for Machado's company, Therapeutic Environmental Solutions in Kingwood, Texas, says he sees the likelihood of virtual windows hitting the residential market in the future. In recent years Machado came out with a smaller, mobile product similar to lighted pictures sold in import stores. "It's designed to relieve stress and create a positive experience," Grazda says.

Makeover With Murals
One of the more traditional ways to bring life to an interior room is by painting murals on the walls. Glennis McClellan, owner and artist of Big Mural Design Studio in Manhattan, N.Y., says subject matter depends on what the homeowners are trying to achieve with the overall d袯r.

"Rooms without windows, particularly basements, are perfect candidates for murals and tromp l'oeil," McClellan says. "While these rooms might present a challenge to a homeowner, they are an artist's dream. A wall without windows is like a big blank canvas, and rooms without windows are even better."

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