If you have a home or room that lacks natural light, you need not despair. Perhaps a renovation might be one way to let the light in, but you can also adopt some clever tricks used by interior designers to brighten up your room.
Transform any room in your home to a haven where you can enhance your mood and lower your stress levels with some decorating ideas easy to achieve with items that are easy to source or reproduce, including a touch of paint and such basics like a rug or FGM full length mirror.
High-Gloss Ceiling for glowing room
Glossy paint finishes are a perfect way to brighten up the walls of a room. However, in a small room, they could create unwanted glare. If the glossy color is added to the ceiling, it gives the room a surprising element of luxury and allows the light to reflect well from it.
Must have a full-length mirror to reflect light
Mirrors are the perfect tool to help make rooms look bigger, but they can cleverly increase the light reflection in a room. A full-length mirror can be placed close to a window. The reflection of the natural light will give the illusion of another window and make the room brighter.
A full-length mirror can also be positioned across from a window, it will reflect the outdoors and increase the light in the room.
Elegant light-color tiles for flooring
Any space that needs extra light will need to have light-color flooring, which also helps to give the room an elegant appearance. If you are replacing existing flooring, opt for a light-colored tile or a light wood stain.
Colorful rug
Rugs are a wonderful way to add character to every room and can be used in any room in need of some light. Area rugs can define a specific area within a room. Go for the largest and brightest color that matches the area you want to lighten it up.
Complementary daylight to brighten up a room
Complementary lights can supplement the lack of natural light in any room. These must be used cleverly though and scattered throughout the space. Each room in the home has its own lighting needs:
Foyer
If you have a dark foyer it needs some warm lighting to enhance its welcoming effect on you and your family.
Kitchen
In the absence of natural light give your kitchen pendant lights, especially above your workspaces to supplement it.
Living room
One of the best ways to add complementary light is with a floor lamp that aims its light upwards. This indirect light replaces daylight perfectly in the living room.
Bedroom
Both sides of a double bed and one side of a single bed should have a table lamp, especially in a bedroom that lacks natural light.
Bathroom
A bathroom with little natural light needs to have a bright light near the mirror, and you can also add softer lighting for those relaxing bath routines after a tiring day.
Use of dazzling painting
Artworks that are dark and huge are not suitable for rooms with low natural light. This is because they absorb the little light that comes into the space rather than to reflect it, what you really need. The fewer things that you have on your walls, the better. Choose paint in matte colors on the walls to reflect light evenly.
Use Glass tabletop
Anything that is shiny will reflect the small amount of light that enters and make the room appear even lighter. Even though you don’t want glare from your walls and you are avoiding glossy paint on them, you want a reflective surface that will allow the light to bounce off them pleasantly. A glass table and glass end tables are the perfect tools to help provide you with this effect. Other reflective surfaces to consider are:
- Metal doorknobs (gold, brass, or silver)
- Have glass panels fitted to an interior door
- Metal picture frames
- Candlesticks made from brass or other metals
- Opt for some acrylic furniture items if they march the rest of your décor
Open-up the ability for your windows to let in the light
If you are already struggling to get the light into your home, make sure that dirty windows aren’t inhibiting it further. Dust and dirt stop on windows minimizes the amount of light that reaches the interior of your home.
Any trees and bushes in the garden need to be trimmed regularly; otherwise, they will also prevent the precious light from reaching your space. Trees don’t really need to be overgrown to provide shade in the summer because the sun is too high for them to have an effect. When you need the sunlight to come in in the colder months, the foliage needs to be clear so it doesn’t block the precious rays from the sun.
Stay away from classical curtains and use other ways to provide privacy, yet let in the light.
