Any light at all in north-facing apt?

Not sure whether this should go here or home & gardens?

I'm particularly interested in the opinions of people who've actually lived in a north-facing apt. If you had an option of a large north facing apt or a small south-east facing one which would you buy?

Is life in a north facing property totally miserable??
I found a thread on north facing gardens, but not apt aspects.

Thanks

My opinion is that while you'd be grand in the north facing apt, it'd be so much nicer having all that natural sunshine streaming into your home, I would plum for the south facing.
I paid 5k extra for westerly facing backgarden and don't regret 1c of it!

Just an aside ....
Artists, I'm told, prefer their studios to be north facing as the light is steady and unvaried.It is very 'cold' light.

At least your curtains, books and pictures won't fade.

Personally, I would not like it. Light has a very strong impact on mood, as well as influencing the atmosphere of a place. Even if you are getting a big discount because of it's aspect, remember that you may have to give a similar discount if you ever want to sell it.

mmmm im an artist and i just moved into a new 2 bed south west facing apt... we did choose our apt with an open planned kitchen / sitting room because of the aspect... the other apts on offer had separate kitchens and bigger more secluded balconys-but had no sun on them,and smaller bedrooms.... we have a big corner bay window which lets in lots of light and we dont regret our choice at all... i think it is difficult to decide for you with out seeing the two choices... what is the difference in size and is the layout better in the north facing one-because you can stil make it really cosy with clever lighting...say a bit more about the two choices and which are you leaning toward at presentxxxx

I rented a north facing place for about a year and I couldn't wait to get out of it. I remember sitting in the sitting room, looking outside at the sunshine and getting none of it. The house always felt cold and depressing. I would strongly recommend to go for the south/east facing place - that's what I have now and the difference is massive.

The things I found about living in a north facing apt (well at least I think it was north facing), was that the place wasn't as warm or bright. Also the apt seemed to suffer from damp a bit, but that could have been due to poor ventilation either.

Our current apt gets a lot of sun on one side so we often don't need the heat on in these rooms. The rooms on the other side don't get as much sun & are colder and darker.

Thanks for the replies. In general yes, south facing would win my vote.
Choice here is between North facing penthouse with HUGE living area and good patio (not overlooked), or very small south-east facing apt a floor down (overlooked). They might actually be equal in their pros and cons.

Aren't all (new) apartments meant to be dual aspect these days? If so, then I would imagine a single aspect north facing apt would be a hard sell in a few years.

This place has two small (v.small!) south west facing bedrooms. In a way that's a killer because you feel the sun in those rooms and realise that the living area is an icebox!