Top 5 Tips to Use Natural Light to Enhance your Home
Having lots of natural light in your home can really help to boost your mood, making us feel happier, more energised and more positive. But how you can bring more light into your home?
Firstly start by thinking about each room individually, and establish which rooms aren't giving you enough light and which you want to try and improve. Are there any obvious reasons why the room is dark, eg lots of dark furniture or a dark wall colour?
Follow our top 5 tips below on introducing more natural light into your home:
The Mirror Effect
This is the most obvious one when it comes to adding more light into your home; the more shiny surfaces you can introduce into a room, then the lighter and brighter they will appear. A large mirror is a great first choice, but small details such as shiny door handles, chandeliers, shiny photo frames etc will all contribute.
Place mirrors at the end of dark hallways or opposite windows to create the illusion of more light.
Top tip: For especially dark rooms, two similar sized mirrors placed opposite one another will really help to bounce the light around, making the room feel larger and more airy.
Unclog your Windows
If you have heavy or dark fabrics swamping your window area, then removing these is a quick win to let more natural light into your room. You don't need to leave your window bare; instead light fabrics or sheer weight fabrics will let light through but still give you the privacy that you want.
Top tip: If your window is on the small side, then set your curtail rail high above and extend it past the width of the window, so that the curtains sit further away from the actual window panes when open and not in use.
Be Transparent
Having glazed or partially glazed internal doors is a great way of letting light flow from one room to another. If you're concerned about privacy then you can use frosted or slightly tinted glass.
Top tip: You don't have to stop at doors, glass tables or clear acrylic chairs stop the light from getting blocked by furniture and help give the illusion of more light in a room.
Ditch the Dark Decor
Steer clear of dark colours on the walls, instead opt for feature walls and bright and airy colour schemes in each room. Don't allow large pieces of furniture to stand in front of windows and block the light from entering. Keep ceilings freshly painted white; it's amazing how much a bright white ceiling can lift an otherwise dark room.
Top tip: Don't forget the floor! A polished glossy wooden floor can help bounce light back into a room, or you can lift a dark room by choosing a light and bright floor covering.
Keep it Clean
When up against dark spaces, particularly in apartments where you might not have a southern facing aspect, the most important thing is to keep all fixtures, bulbs and even windows clean to ensure that the light you do have in your home is working as best as it can for you.
Top Tip: You can invest in bulbs which simulate daylight to help brighten up kitchens and bathrooms, particularly when they might be internal rooms.
Sometimes the solution to a dark room is simple; hang a large mirror to bounce the light, or lighten the wall or flooring to bounce back some natural light from the windows. But sometimes there isn't a lot you can do to increase the amount of sunlight coming into your home without investing in a major remodel, but a few careful tweaks can certainly help you use the light you do get to your best advantage.
About the author
This post was written by Matt Wilson on behalf of Walton Flooring Centre, a family run carpet and laminate flooring company based in Merseyside.
