Hi there, I think that the skylight would definitely be the way to go, if your budget runs to it. It will really lift the whole stairwell and make it much lighter and brighter. Full height frosted doors may be OK on the laundry, but I wouldn't recommend it for the bathroom as when lights are on in the room, you may be able to see more than you bargained for, from the corridor. The occupants of the house may feel comfortable with it, but any guests or visitors may not. A frosted panel at the top of the door would be as far as I'd go. Bear in mind too, that glass lets more sound through than timber, and in a situation like yours, I'd recommend a solid core door, for that reason. I hope this helps!

Hi Kate, I have to agree with you, I absolutely hate that mint green so I feel for you that it just doesn't suit your colour scheme irrespective of how much others suggest this green and blue might go together, personally I don't like blue either so I might not be much help there ha-ha I do think the suggestion of placing a mirror over the splashback could be the best option so that you don't run the risk of damaging any part of the kitchen trying to remove it and I think a mirror could look amazing, catch the light and obviously make the room look bigger too. Good luck. Barbara

Ours never leaked. We'd installed it, then lived in the house 7yr. The previous skylight was leaking badly when we bought the house, it was one of those plastic dome ones- revolting. It was pretty easy to work out why the flashing had corroded in the old skylight- it was chock full of leaf compost. After that- every year the husband would get up and clean the roof gutters and the gutter of the skylight. Like anything regular maintenance will prevent leaks. I'm not sure what the rules are with cyclone-zones. Velux are made from toughened glass. I'm sure their website would give you this detail. Yeah- they get dirty, then it rains and they are clean again! At one stage we got a little bit of lichen growing, but then in Summer it died and just went away! The dirt/dust never bothered us....it's not like you walk around staring up all the time. It doesn't lessen the impact of the extra light and height.

we have several Solar Skylights ...one square 45cms Illume fitting in an ensuite without any windows and two 30cm Arcol circular fittings to add extra light to a dining area without direct external windows...we're very happy with the Solar Skylights after years of leaking "proper" skylights ..our roof windows and standard skylights looked excellent with a view of sky and trees but, tired of constant leaks, we changed the roof and swopped the leaking holes for the small Solar Skylights .....they averaged about $260 each and can be DIY although our tradesmen were happy to install while doing other work for the cost of about 1 hrs extra labour...some brands have a model that includes electric connection to use the same light for night and overcast days but we have extra downlights instead .. they're just solar powered light fittings, ceiling mounted with a fibre optic cable through ceiling and roof space, up to 9 m (so plenty of options to disguise the cable instead of more complicated access to roof through a second storey) and then out under the ridge capping to connect to a small roof mounted solar panel...only problem is i kept trying to turn off the "light" until we became used to them ...there are also custom sizes and they can also be installed vertically to have the appearance of a window or fanlight over a door...very satisfied