Mews houses were never designed to be lived in. They were built to house horses, carriages and the grooms who looked after them, and their architecture reflects that: narrow footprints, deep plans, small windows set high in the wall, and flanks that butt directly onto neighbouring properties. The result, two centuries later, is a home that can feel genuinely gloomy by three o'clock on a November afternoon.

The encouraging news is that the same structure which blocks light also offers possibilities. Stable blocks tend to have lofty ground floors, simple roof forms and generous rear elevations. Work with those qualities rather than against them and a dark mews interior can become one of the most atmospheric homes on the street.

Start by understanding where the light is going

Before commissioning anything, spend a day tracking the sun. Most mews terraces run east to west, which means the front elevation catches morning light and the rear gets the afternoon. If your house sits on the north side of the terrace, the rear elevation may receive almost no direct sun at all, and your entire strategy needs to shift towards top light rather than side light.

Three constraints usually shape everything else:

• Single aspect or near-single aspect. Many mews houses only have windows front and back, with nothing on the flanks because the neighbours are attached.
• Depth. A ten-metre-deep plan with windows only at each end leaves the middle third permanently reliant on artificial light.
• Heritage status. If you are in a conservation area or the property is listed, external alterations need consent, and permitted development rights are often withdrawn through an Article 4 direction.

Roof lights are the most reliable single move

Because mews houses are usually only two storeys and the roofscape is modest, roof lights are often the least contentious way to bring in real daylight. They also deliver light from directly overhead, which is far more effective at illuminating the middle of a deep plan than a vertical window at one end.

Practical points worth knowing before you brief anyone:

• On a roof slope facing a highway, permitted development normally allows roof lights provided they do not project more than 150mm from the roof plane. Rear slopes facing gardens are usually simpler.
• In a conservation area, and particularly on a listed building, you will need listed building consent or planning permission, and the choice of profile matters. Conservation officers generally prefer a flush-fitting, slim-framed conservation-style roof light over a bulky box unit.
• The opening needs a proper structural lintel or trimming, because you are cutting through rafters or purlins that carry the roof load.
• Position beats quantity. One well-placed roof light above a stairwell or a kitchen island will do more than four small ones scattered across a ceiling.

A roof lantern over a rear extension is the natural companion to this approach, especially where the original stable range has a single-storey outrigger at the back.

Borrow light internally with glazed screens

Where you cannot add openings to the outside, move light around inside instead. Internal glazing is the workhorse of mews conversions: steel-framed screens, glass doors, glazed panels above door heads, and fully glazed partitions between hall and living space.

The trick is to keep the visual language consistent with the building. Slim black steel frames suit a stable conversion beautifully, echoing the ironwork and simple joinery of the original structure. Consider:

• A glazed screen between the entrance hall and the main living room, so daylight from the front reaches the centre of the plan.
• Glass doors to a rear study or snug, rather than solid ones, so the back window serves two rooms.
• Glazed upper panels above solid doors, which let light travel while preserving acoustic separation.

Do remember that any glazing in a wall separating a kitchen from a staircase, or from an integral garage, may need to meet fire resistance requirements, and standard glass will not do. This is a conversation for your building control officer early on, not late.

Light wells and small courtyards

If your mews has any external space at the side or rear, even two metres square, a light well can transform the adjacent room. A small courtyard with a fully glazed wall onto the kitchen or living area acts as an outdoor room that happens to double as a daylight funnel. Pale render or stone on the courtyard walls bounces light back inside.

For basements and lower ground floors, a proper light well with a galvanised or stainless steel grille, generous depth and a drainage channel will make the difference between a usable room and a storage cupboard. Line the shaft with a light, hard-wearing finish and keep planting to a minimum, since foliage will eat the light you have just paid for.

Surfaces, floors and the multiplier effect

Once daylight is entering, small decisions determine how far it travels. Running the same pale floor finish through hall, living room and kitchen without dark thresholds or rugs creates a continuous reflective surface. Keep ceilings and the reveals around windows light in tone, and avoid heavy curtains that block the top of the glazing.

Mirrors positioned on a wall opposite a window genuinely double the apparent light, and a deep window reveal painted in the same colour as the wall reads as part of the room rather than a dark frame around it. Timber floorboards in a mid-tone oak, or a honed limestone, tend to perform better than very dark stains or high-gloss tiles that throw harsh reflections.

Sequencing, consent and living through it

Get the permissions settled before anyone picks up a tool. For a listed mews, listed building consent covers internal alterations as well as external ones, and consent for roof lights and glazed screens should be sought together as a single coherent scheme, which is far more likely to be approved than a series of piecemeal applications.

Appoint a structural engineer early to check what the existing walls and roof timbers can carry, and talk to your neighbours about the Party Wall etc. Act before work starts, since mews houses share more structure than most owners realise. Then sequence the work so that the messy structural openings happen first, followed by glazing, then finishes, then decoration.

Done well, the result is not a bright, generic interior but a stable building that finally reads as it should: generous in height, simple in form, and full of light falling from above exactly where you need it.