tips to brighten up a dark room

Genius ways to brighten a dark room

dining room brightened with sliding glass doors

dark living room brightened with a french door and colorful area rug

If y'all have a room in your house that doesn't have any windows, or the windows it has don't bring in a lot of light, and then you know how hard it can be to make a dark room experience brilliant, warm and inviting. Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can brighten a night room with a few pattern ideas and tricks.

tips to brighten up a dark room

Almost homes have a few dark corners, whether that is the basement, bath, or even the living room.

Information technology can be caused by due north-facing windows that don't get as much sun, or sometimes past depression ceilings that affect how bright a room looks.

Outside, overhangs such equally a deck or awnings can affect the light coming in through the windows. Even trees in a grand tin can block the lord's day's beams from reaching inside the domicile.

Or maybe yous accept a room with no windows at all (similar my mother's living room).

Regardless of the issue, there are plenty of design ideas that either bring more than light into the home or mimic its cogitating qualities.

Go on on reading to learn how to brighten a dark room, no matter the size or severity of the lighting problem.

1 | Add together unlike types of lighting

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Dining room buffet with wall sconces above it and candles on it

The start step to brightening a nighttime room is to focus on the lighting.

It may seem obvious, but most people don't add enough light sources to their dark room and and then wonder why it isn't vivid enough.

While overhead lights do their job to illuminate a room, calculation other calorie-free sources can brand a huge difference in a space..

Ideally, you want to have at least 3 sources of light in addition to whatsoever natural low-cal.

To ensure the whole room is lit properly, these should be ready up in a triangular blueprint, rather than all in one line.

Here are some options to consider:

  • Table and floor lamps: Lamps are the virtually versatile lighting source since they tin can be moved where y'all demand them. They also provide centre-level lighting that is the most flattering since information technology reduces facial shadows that tin can make people expect older.
  • Perimeter lighting: Adding lite sources around a room's perimeter will help ensure that the walls and corners are lit then they don't appear equally shadowy dark areas.
  • Overhead lighting: Switching out your current overhead lights can not only make the lighting improve but can make the design more stylish too. Aim for semi-flush, pendants, or chandeliers that hang farther from the ceiling, allowing light to move in all directions instead of just down.
  • Hidden lighting: Light sources that are hidden betwixt beams, under cabinets, or in bookshelves can exist an unexpected way to brighten a space. Employ these to highlight features in the room, all while calculation more than light.
  • Candles: Fifty-fifty burning a few candles throughout the room tin add together to the room's lighting., and they definitely create some ambiance.

two | Improve the light quality

a shiny lamp base with a white shade on a desk, perfect to brighten a dark room.

Beyond adding new lighting to an expanse, wait at what is already there and see if there'southward room for improvement.

For example, take a look at the wattage of the bulb. If the lighting fixture can handle a higher wattage, go alee and swap out the current bulb for a new ane.

Too, look at what types of bulbs you are using.

Some rooms await skilful with absurd white low-cal only warm light works all-time in a dark room. It will forestall the infinite from feeling cold and harsh.

For lampshades or covers, avoid amber or yellowish shades. It affects the quality of light and won't diffuse every bit well as pure white, frosted, or articulate drinking glass.

Finally, consider moving the position of the lamps in your room. Remember, you lot want to create a triangle with your sources of light. If the overhead fixture is adjustable, you lot can too play around with angling information technology to light up a room.

three | Hang mirrors

an intricate white mantle in front of a purple wall, with a large mirror sitting on top.

If yous don't accept a window, mirrors are the next best thing.

They replicate having an actress window, working to reflect all natural and artificial low-cal in the space.

Not merely practise they reflect light, only they also aid to make a room appear larger, creating the illusion of more space.

To double the light reflection of an existing window, hang a large mirror direct across from it. Or at a 90 degree bending to information technology if the window is close to a corner. You tin can also practise this with doorways to reflect any ambient light they provide.

4 | Swap out your doors

Sliding french glass providing more light to a dining room

If your room has interior doors in information technology, consider swapping them for a door that has windows.

French doors allow more than low-cal to pass in from neighboring rooms.

Better still, if your room has a door to the outside, brand sure information technology has some windows, too.

5| Add transom or internal windows

An internal window to a living room that has no outside windows

Transoms and internal windows are an underused blueprint feature in homes.

And while they are more of an involved projection than almost of these tips, they can be an excellent mode to get low-cal from side by side rooms into spaces without natural light.

Without this internal window in her living room, my female parent's infinite would exist really dark since it has no exterior windows at all. Notwithstanding, the kitchen in the next room over has lite to spare so this solution worked out actually well for this room.

Living rooms, hallway entrances, kitchens, bedrooms and even bathrooms tin can benefit from a transom or internal window. If placed high enough, it won't touch your privacy.

6 | Pick high gloss finishes

A light reflecting glass topped coffee table with a tray filled with vases on top.

Even your décor tin can help to lite upward a room.

Simply like mirrors, any blazon of shiny or coated decor can assist to keep a space dainty and bright. Every bit if I needed an alibi to add a piffling scrap of bling! Annihilation bling-like tends to reverberate the light of the room, while solid surfaces blot rather than reflect calorie-free.

Retrieve of drinking glass, shiny metal and anything with a glossy finish. Glass tabletops for coffee tables, metallic paintings, coated vases on bookshelves, and crystal bowls are all some great examples.

If you want to go all out, you tin can even paint your walls with a high gloss finish.

7 | Limit the amount of furniture

A blue and white living room with a sofa and two chairs that do not block the light from the window

Your furniture choices tin can also make a big impact on the overall brightness of a room's advent.

Get-go of all, recollect that less is more than when information technology comes to brightening a dark room. A crowded room will automatically wait darker and smaller.

And the article of furniture itself absorbs and blocks light, creating nighttime shadows in a room. Then endeavour not to have also many alpine dark pieces, especially close to windows where they blot the lite before it even enters the room.

Drinking glass-topped tables and other clear article of furniture pieces work well in these spaces since they allow the light pass right through.

A room that lets the calorie-free circulate through it will feel brighter.

viii | Cover night floors with area rugs

A small and dark living room with a large area rug brightening up the floor

Flooring is a more difficult affair to alter in a habitation compared to pigment color or furniture. Which is why expanse rugs are a good idea.

A large rug helps to make sure the room is light and bright from top to bottom, peculiarly if yous have night hardwood floors or vinyl.

The rug also makes the room feel cozier and adds texture.

ix | Employ the correct paint color

The right paint choice can make or suspension whatsoever room, but it is especially important when you're dealing with a nighttime one.

By definition, lighter colors reverberate more lite.

Which ways if y'all accept some light to reflect, your room volition look brighter. And so if you've applied our tips and increased the overall lite level in your room (specially natural calorie-free), a light paint color may work quite well.

However if your room still doesn't take much light available to exist reflected, those lite and airy pastels tin cease upward looking drab and dull.

In that case, opt for brighter colors that will bring life to the space. They will fill the room with energy and you won't notice how dark it is.

Getting minor test cans of paint and putting up large swatches on the wall is the best fashion to know for certain what works best for your room.

10 | Install a skylight

Attic bedroom with a large skylight

Okay, I know this is a pretty big project and not every budget can accommodate it.

But if you have a dark room with a roof immediately above information technology, installing a skylight is a great way to let in a lot of natural low-cal. Which can instantly transform a night room into a bright and airy one.

There are fifty-fifty bogus skylights (and windows) coming out now that merits to mimic the look of sunlight without requiring a roof opening. Notwithstanding, when I looked up the cost of them, they were a lot more a real skylight would be. But if yous're curious, you tin can read nigh them Here.

11 | Take advantage of natural light

Hallway with french doors providing natural light

Of class, if your room does happen to accept some windows, yous'll want to make sure you're maximizing the corporeality of natural light that comes in through them.

Remove outdoor elements that are blocking the windows

First, take a look at what is on the other side of the window.

Then, trim back any tree branches, bushes, or other landscaping features that block light.

If yous have awnings, y'all might want to consider removing them. Or getting the retractable kind then they're simply blocking the light when you lot're outside.

You lot'll be amazed at how much of a divergence this makes!

Proceed the windows clean

Side by side, give your windows a deep clean.

We often forget to wash them regularly, just stained or dirty windows do limit visibility and light.

Clean both sides to get the full effect.

Set up your defunction

Lastly, change out whatever curtains that are blocking the lite coming in.

Or hang them high enough and wide enough that when they're open up the whole window is exposed.

Besides, move any piece of furniture that blocks light or makes it more than difficult to open the drape. The more accessible the lighting is, the better.

While information technology may not be for everyone, yous could avoid having any window treatments at all. Even open blinds nonetheless cake calorie-free. Instead, having open up windows will permit every bit much natural light in as possible.

Well, that'southward it for our ways to make a dark room expect brighter. Hopefully, you've found a few that will brighten upwardly your night space.

Other decorating tips you might similar

  • How to decorate with mirrors
  • Interior decorating principles you'll actually want to follow
  • Common living room layout mistakes (and how to set up them)
  • Space saving design ideas for small bedrooms

Accept comments or questions on how to burnish a night room? Tell us in the section below.


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Genius ways to brighten a dark room