Interior Design Tips On How To Make A Dark Room Feel Brighter

Living in a room where the windows are not large enough to allow sufficient sunlight can cause the room to be dark and gloomy. 

But then transforming this dark room into a brighter room can pose a challenge. However, there are easy ways to achieve a brighter room regardless of all the odds. 

So, whether it’s your home or office, you can transform it from a dark and gloomy room to a brighter room. 

Getting the right level of lighting can be difficult but it can also be fun. It is also important to every interior design style. Check out some amazing ways to brighten up any dark room below:

1. Place mirrors near light sources

If you don’t have a window, mirrors can be used in place of it. When mirrors are strategically placed in a room, they reflect all the light that’s coming into the room. 

To maximise the use of your mirror, place it near an existing light source. For instance, you could place it across a window or a doorway to a certain degree. Or you could place a table lamp or floor lamp beside the mirror so that the mirror can reflect the light into the room.

Mirrors do not only reflect light in the room, they also make the room appear to have more space.

2. Add different types of lighting

Though it may seem obvious, many people ignore the fact there’s not enough lighting in the room before they complain about it being dark. 

Overhead lights are not enough to brighten a room. The room can get brighter with additional light sources. Apart from the overhead lights, there should be at least three other sources of light in the room.

Check out some options to consider below:

• Table and floor lamps

After overhead lighting, lamps are the most considered form of lighting in the home. They are very versatile and their position can be changed regularly. Lamps also offer eye-level lighting which is more advantageous because it reduces facial shadows that tend to make people appear older.

• Perimeter lighting: 

Perimeter lighting means adding light to the room’s perimeter. This will ensure that the corners and walls of the room are brightened and don’t look dark and gloomy.

• Overhead lighting: 

For better lighting in the room, you can change your current overhead lights to something with more design and style. For instance, you could install a chandelier or semi-flush that hangs from the ceiling. Thickness allows light to touch all areas of the room instead of just pointing it in one direction.

• Hidden lighting: 

Not all lighting has to be placed in visible areas. You could hide them in between beams, cabinets or on the bookshelves. The illumination from these lights helps to brighten the room or add to the effect of the existing lights.

• Candles: 

Candles may look insignificant but when they are lit, they add to the illumination of the room. Not only do they also give the room a warm feel and an improved ambience.

3. Pick a lighter colour or transparent furniture 

Interior decors are important in the home but they also play a certain role in lighting up the room. Similar to how mirrors work, shiny decors can help reflect light in the room. 

Anything bling-like can reflect lights. Decors like glass table tops, shiny metals-coated vases or bookshelves, and crystal bowls are great ideas for shiny decors. If you want to go a bit extreme, you can paint your walls with a high gloss finish.

You cannot decorate your room with dark and grey colours and expect a brighter room. Even when light shines on it, it absorbs light and doesn’t reflect it into the room. So, focus on decors that reflect lights when buying interior decorations for a dark room.

4. Cover floors with large, bright area rugs

The flooring in the home is not easy to change like it’s easy to change painting on the walls or furniture. But if you have dark hardwood floors or vinyl, then you need to do something about it so that you can brighten your room.

You can brighten your room by using lightly coloured area rugs to brighten the floor. Coloured rugs do not ply brighten the floors, it also gives the room a soft and cosier feel.

There are different colour options to choose from for your rugs; you could opt for colours like white/ivory, yellow or some warmer colours. 

5. Embrace white walls

The type of paint you use determines the level of brightness in your room especially when you’re dealing with a dark room. The lighter the colour of your paint is, the more light they reflect. This means that if there’s light in the room, your room will look brighter.

Without thinking twice about it, the first colour that comes to mind is the colour white. White is the perfect solution to bring more light to a dark room. White reflects light into the room reaching every space and corner. Also, the colour white makes the room look bigger than it is.

Meanwhile, white is not the only colour that reflects light, you can add other brighter colours alongside white for a better and refreshing effect.

6. Deep clean your windows

Dirty windows also contribute to how dark a room gets. A room with stained windows limits the amount of light that passes through it. But once you clean your windows thoroughly, you will feel the freshness of the natural light that comes through them. 

Natural lights give a different kind of illumination and add a special type of beauty to a room. It also makes the room look bigger than it and enhances the room’s ambience.

So ensure to always deep clean your windows regularly. You could even employ cleaning services to do a perfect job.

7. Take advantage of natural light (Curtains and blinds)

To take advantage of natural light, you need to first remove everything that’s blocking the sunlight from coming through the window. On the other side of your window, you could trim the tree branches, bushes and other landscaping features so that sunlight can find its way in comfortably.

If you have awnings, you may have to shift them from the windows so that light can come in.

Also, do something about your curtains or blinds. If your curtains are blocking out the sunlight, then change them. Or you could position them in a way that allows natural sunlight to come in. If your blinds are blocking lights out more than they let light in, then change them. Consider the fabrics the blinds are made of. If you want more light to come in through the blinds, then an open weave fabric blind is your best choice.

More so, when strategically placed, blinds can reflect light into the room from a high angle.

For window treatment options, you can opt for either blackout curtains or light drapes. Either one you choose, just ensure that the colour is not dark; beige or light grey sounds like a better option. 

8. Pick minimalist, low-to-ground furniture

Moving into a new apartment can be exciting but you need to cut down on your excitement if it’s a dark room. Not everything you want can fit in, for example, large or oversized furniture. If you want to brighten your room, then you avoid bringing in oversized furniture because it will only cause them to be darker. 

Big furniture tends to cast more shadows in the room. So your furniture shouldn’t exceed a certain height which means no matter how enticing the furniture looks, if it’s going to exceed that height, do not bring it in. Excluding unavoidably tall bookshelves, other tall furniture shouldn’t be let in.

9. Don’t overdo it with wall art

For lovers of art, you need to reduce how much artwork you put in the room. For a dimly lit room, too much artwork isn’t helping the situation. The walls are supposed to be kept as bare as possible so that light can reflect and bounce off the walls.

As long as your room struggles with lighting, artworks will only reduce the light effect in your room. And what’s the beauty of art if there’s no light to view it?

This doesn’t mean that you can’t beautify your walls with artwork, instead, you can just reduce the number of artworks you want to hang on the walls.

10. Aim your lights at the walls or ceiling

Instead of focusing your light on a particular place, you can set it so that it reflects other parts of the room. You can set your light to shine on the walls or ceilings. And it’s even better if your walls or ceilings are made of bright colours. 

You can achieve this with a wall sconce or torchiere floor lamp. 

On a final note;

Brightening up a dark room may prove difficult but it’s also fun and it brings out your creativity. There are many other things you can try to brighten up your room apart from the ones listed in this article. 

It all depends on your creativity and your budget. But you don’t have to break the bank to implement change in a dark room.

And sometimes, you don’t have to go the extra mile to achieve a brighter room, just effect little changes like changing your beddings or curtains.

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