Make your dark room look bright

Rhea Purnita Paine Rhea Purnita Paine
Retrofit Casa Swiss Park Campinas, Designer de Interiores e Paisagista Iara Kílaris Designer de Interiores e Paisagista Iara Kílaris Modern kitchen
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Dark and dingy rooms make a small home look worse. While one can't make one's home more spacious, one can prevent the rooms in one's home from looking dark and gloomy. Too often a mish-mash of colours and bad lighting make a room look beaten down. If you are looking to brighten up your dark room, look no further. Here are 6 great tips to make even the smallest and darkest of rooms spacious and bright.

Limit accent colours

Another simple way to make a room look spacious and bright is to limit the accent colours in the room. Too often too many colours, or a mix of too many loud or dark colours ends up making a room look small and dark. A white background meaning walls, ceiling or floors with just a hint of colour here or there in terms of furniture or rugs or cushions, like in this room designed by Kreative House can create the right balance that will make your room look bright and lively instead of dark and gloomy.

Paint the ceiling and walls white

One of the simplest ways to make a room look more bright is to paint the ceiling and walls white. White makes even the most cramped space look more roomy. Be it the living room or bedroom, dining area or kitchen, a splash of white just makes any dark room look more airy and big. Add to this some white furniture, like the white counter tops and cabinets in this kitchen and even a tiny space can get a new lease of life.

Let in more natural light

Apart from colours, light plays a very important role in how one's room looks. The more well lit a room, the less dark and overbearing it looks. The best source of light is always natural light, thus a simple way to brighten up a dark room is to let in more natural light into it. Be it through big open French windows, a big rustic window, a un-curtained glass wall or a skylight, you can let in more natural light into your room in many ways.

Use brighter bulbs

If natural light does the trick during the day, then bright bulbs can enliven up any room at night. Big light fittings with bright bulbs like the one's here in this kitchen, immediately bathe a room in a lot of light and dispel away darkness. Brighter bulbs with a yellow undertone in particular help in brightening up rooms at night.

Replace overhead lights with soft perimeter lights

Instead of putting up a big bright light in the centre of the room, you can also opt for a series of smaller lights along the perimeter of the ceiling or a wall. Overhead lights focus the light primarily in one area, while soft perimeter lights brighten up the entire room as they are spread over a larger area. Be it a backlit double ceiling, soft spotlights on the ceiling or walls, or tiny lights on the floor, perimeter lights brighten up a dark room and make it look more interesting.

Use diffused lighting

Lastly if you want something more soothing for your eyes, try diffused lighting. Be it a plexiglass wall lit from behind or an intricate ceiling with glazed glass lighting like here, diffused light brings in a soft warm hue into any room and makes it look bright yet serene. Even lampshades with interesting textures like fabric or paper can bring in a touch of diffused light in a room. Too often bathrooms end up looking dark and dank because of bad lighting. Here are some bathroom lights that will make your home shine!

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