How To Brighten Dark Rooms

How To Brighten Dark Rooms

Adding light to dark rooms is one of the quickest and cheapest ways to alter a space. But, if you’re not blessed with floor to ceiling windows. Or have masses of daylight pouring into your home, this post will give the tools showing how to brighten a dark room, in three simple ways.

Mr D and I have lived in various houses over the years — some rented but mostly bought.

Buying a house is sometimes fraught with worry. Although, despite all that, for me, it’s one of my favourite things ever.

Getting that phone call to say you’ve exchanged, followed by another to say the money’s in and you’ve completed. Then the house is yours, which is SO exciting.

Picking up the key, turning it in the lock for the first time, and then walking into the building that you will call home is one of the best feelings in the world.

I can’t quite put my finger on that magical element that makes us want to buy a property.

Sometimes — when everything looks good on paper — you walk through the door and it just doesn’t feel quite right.

Although I’m pretty sure that ‘light’ plays a major factor in why we’ve fallen for most of the houses we’ve bought over the years.

How To Make a Dark Room Brighter?

Ever wondered how to make a dark room brighter? Some properties are filled with natural daylight, whereas others seem to be dark and gloomy, even on the brightest of days.

The cottage we live in now has fairly decent light; considering the windows aren’t huge and the ceilings are fairly low.

I remember so clearly, the first day we ever walked inside. It was pouring down outside. A grey, wet miserable day in March.

Yet the light in the little cottage — that was to become our home — was lovely. For such a dull day outside, the cottage felt bright and welcoming.

But what to do if the house you live in doesn’t get its fair share of daylight?

Don’t despair — I’ve got a few tricks for adding light to dark rooms :)

How To Light a Room Without Natural Light?

Spaces that aren’t blessed with natural daylight don’t have to be dark and oppressive.

Whether you have a converted basement or cellar, or a windowless box room or bathroom, there are endless solutions to brighten dark rooms.

First off, you can celebrate the lack of light. Use it to your advantage, colour-drench the space and instead of working against the darkness, work with it as we did with our downstairs toilet.

This tiny, windowless room has no natural light of its own. But we worked with this, painted the panelling and walls the same colour dark green, and added interest with the patterned tile floor and William Morris floral wallpaper.

The spots in the ceiling add light without being too glaring. And this, in turn, bounces off the vintage mirror and the gold-toned brassware.

But if you’re not ready to move over to the dark side, here are three foolproof tips to brighten dark rooms.

How to Brighten up a Dark Room Without Painting

Lighting

Firstly, invest in decent lighting! It might sound obvious, but lighting your rooms properly will make a world of difference. Specialist lighting companies have everything you need for perfect lighting in the home.

There are three key things to think about:

GENERAL LIGHTING

The main lighting in your room.
Pendant, wall, side-lamps; use sufficient general lighting to make sure the room is well lit enough for you to do day-to-day (and night) tasks with ease.

TASK LIGHTING

Great for shedding a bit of extra light on activities;
reading, cooking and crafts etc. Desk lamps and spotlights are perfect for this.

ACCENT LIGHTING

Basically a light source which is specifically trained on something you want to draw attention to. Paintings, plants or sculptures can all benefit from a little bit of accent lighting. Plus it has the added benefits of making a room look larger, if it’s done well.

The beautiful glass light fittings in my friend’s Brighton Town House (above) have been carefully planned to give light even when they’re off!

They catch the light wonderfully and add another dimension to the room.

Mirrors

I’m a HUGE fan of mirrors. These light catchers are the simplest way not only to increase light but also to give an illusion of space.

Place just one opposite a window and watch how the light bounces round the room but adding a whole collection will really maximise the light, in even the smallest, darkest space.

The same can be said with glass-fronted pictures, plus metal and glass accessories. Get that light twinkling on lots of different surfaces in your room and see how much lighter and brighter it feels.

How Do you Lighten a Room with Poor Lighting?

Light Reflective Paint

It goes without saying that fifty shades of white can often make a room feel brighter. A carefully chosen colour can give the illusion of space. But did you know that you can actually buy paint that is specially formulated to bounce even more light around a room?

Dulux Light and Space has a patented formulation with light-reflective particles that reflect light back into a room. Perfect for opening up small, dark areas.

When I have time, I’ll give our guest bedroom a lick of the white Light and Space paint. I wallpapered the ceiling in there and it’s given the room a new fresh look. But — as there is just one small window — it could do with a little more help to make it feel light and airy.

There we have it! Three easy ways to brighten up a dark room and ensure your home is as light and bright as possible.

So even if your cottage in the country isn’t bathed in natural daylight or your flat is less ‘pied-à-terre’ and more ‘gloomy cave’, there are always things we can do to shed a little more light on the situation.