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How to Brighten a Dark Room

September 14, 2021
6 min read
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Everyone wants to know how to make a dark room brighter. A dark room can affect your mood and how people react to your home. In general, having brighter rooms and a brighter house is a mood lift. It can also encourage you to be more productive and feel more motivated.

Brightening a dark room does not have to be expensive or even time-consuming. There are a few simple tips you can follow to brighten up your living space. If you are looking for a total home change, there are also some remodelling tips you can follow to make your house brighter and more inviting.

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How to brighten up a dark room

Follow any one of these recommendations to make your room instantly brighter or try more than one and see how drastically different your room looks when you’re done.

Paint the ceiling

Having a painted ceiling will draw the eye upward and make your room feel taller and larger. The illusion of a larger room will make your house feel brighter; however, the colour of the room and the ceiling matter.

To make your ceiling appear higher, paint it a bright or light colour. Think light yellow, baby blue, or mint green. Darker colours will make the room feel smaller and darker. Stay away from navy blue, red, or forest green.

Change up the flooring

This will be a renovation rather than a simple paint change, but well worth the effort. Light flooring, like light wood or bright tile, will make the room brighter. Lighter-coloured flooring is also better at hiding scratches, so it could be a good choice if you have small children or pets.

If you plan to use rugs, make sure they are light-coloured as well.

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Use a colourful rug

While light-coloured rugs are a good option if your home is minimalist, a bright-coloured rug can be a pop of colour that ties together different colours throughout your space.

Change the countertops

Your countertops will make a huge difference in how your kitchen or bathroom feels. Having light-coloured countertops will make either room feel cleaner and larger.

At Caesarstone, we’ve made a collection specifically designed to bring the brightness of the earth inside. The Whitelight Collection is a series of light-coloured neutrals, offering feelings of wellness and serenity. Each hue is designed to make your kitchen and home feel brighter and welcoming.

Use more mirrors

Mirrors will take the natural light in your house and bounce it off the walls and surfaces. Using a mirror will also draw in light from all the windows. Designers suggest hanging the mirror across from the largest window in your home.

This will ensure that the maximum amount of light is reflected. You can also hang the mirror in a dark area of the home, such as a hallway or staircase, to make the space feel more open and brighter.

Use thin curtains

Heavy curtains will make any room feel dark. Sometimes they are necessary depending on your work schedule or sleep habits, but most of the time, light-coloured curtains work better.

Thin curtains will also allow in a small amount of sunlight even when they are closed. If you are concerned about privacy, you can choose a thick light-coloured option that will still make the room feel brighter.

Think of light earth-coloured tones such as yellow, blue, light pink, white, or tan.

Use artwork and paintings

The décor you have hanging on your walls makes a huge difference. Dark paintings will naturally make the room feel smaller and darker, while light paintings will make the room feel brighter. Less is more than it comes to wall hangings in a dark space.

If you cover the wall with paintings or pictures, there is less space for light to reflect. Select a few simple pieces and make sure they feature light hues.

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Choose paint colours wisely

We already mentioned painting the ceiling, but what about the rest of the walls? Neutral colour schemes will always bring in the most light. Painting your walls white is the simplest option that will bring in a large amount of light.

Painting the ceiling a shade lighter will also make the room feel brighter and draw in more light. Neutral colours are also easier to decorate around as they go with everything.

Use a chandelier

Bright-coloured rooms almost always have a chandelier or a large fixture hanging from the ceiling. The crystals in the chandelier do a great job of reflecting light throughout the space. Most people choose to hang the chandelier in the middle of the room, but sometimes it can reflect more light if hung by the windows.

If your house has oversized windows, you can hang the chandelier in a central location to reflect the maximum amount of light.

Add metal

When choosing accessories for the room, try to always pick things that will reflect light. In general, metallic accessories will carry light throughout a room.

Silver and gold are very trendy and do a fantastic job of reflecting light. Incorporating metallic items into your design will make your home feel modern and luxurious.

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Try not to use glossy items

Many people assume glossy surfaces or paint will attract more light. However, it usually has the opposite effect. Glossy surfaces repel light in most cases.

Matte surfaces do a better job of reflecting light without creating a glare. A soft matte paint is the better choice if you want your walls to bounce light back into the room.

Keep everything clean

Lighter and brighter rooms also feel cleaner. Keeping things tidy and uncluttered will further this effect. More sunshine can reflect through the windows if they are clean as well.

Try to keep all the surfaces light will bounce from very clean. Cleaning may seem obvious, but it can make a more significant difference than most people can imagine.

Final Thoughts

Making a dark room brighter is much easier than most people think. Remodeling and renovations are not necessary, but they can change the room more drastically than a paint job or a change of furniture.

The best way to make the kitchen brighter is to invest in some bright and durable quartz countertops. For the living room or bedrooms, changing the paint colour to a light neutral or painting the ceiling can change how the entire home feels.

For the whole house, the easiest way to brighten every room is to get sheer curtains and hang things on the wall that can reflect light. This includes mirrors and metallic items.