How to Brighten Dark Rooms: Simple Tips for Your Home

How to Brighten Dark Rooms: Simple Tips for Your Home

How to Brighten Dark Rooms: Design Tips & Tricks to Add Light

Shorter days and colder weather in the winter months often lead to an impact on mental wellbeing, leaving people experiencing a dip in mood or in some cases, seasonal affective disorder (SAD). 

While this feeling might only be temporary, there are steps you can take during this period to boost positivity, such as brightening dark rooms in the home.

From lighting and colour schemes to furniture placement, we spoke with mental wellbeing and interior design experts to uncover why brightening dark rooms in the home is important during the winter months and what you can do to achieve this.  

Light and wellbeing 

Psychotherapist Eloise Skinner told our team that daytime exposure to natural light or well-lit environments can positively impact mental health – this is thought to be due to the impact of the chemicals serotonin and dopamine. 

These chemicals can directly impact our mood and sense of wellbeing, making us feel positive and alert when we have appropriate exposure to light during waking hours. When it comes to exposure to artificial light, exposure at night can disrupt our circadian rhythms, possibly leading to mental health problems.

Five steps to brighten dark rooms in the home

With this in mind, we chatted to interior design expert Ryan McDonough at MyJobQuote to find out what simple solutions homeowners can take to brighten darker rooms: 

Furniture arrangement 

To create a brighter, more open space, homeowners should opt for shorter furniture like chairs, coffee tables, and small cabinets, which help maintain an airy feel and allow light to circulate. Avoid blocking windows or doors with large pieces; and use open shelving to let light pass through. 

Mirror and reflective surfaces 

Mirrors and other reflective surfaces can be used within your home to transform a room by making it brighter and more inviting by enhancing natural and artificial lighting. This affordable method will reflect and disperse light to intensify brightness. Mirrors should be placed carefully to achieve maximum effect, either behind a lamp or opposite a natural light source, such as a window. 

Pick the right curtains and blinds 

Choosing the right curtains or blinds can control natural light and improve comfort in your home. Venetian blinds are ideal for adjustable light control, while sheer curtains diffuse sunlight without blocking it completely. For winter, thick blackout curtains block light and trap heat, making them perfect for year-round use by keeping your home warmer in winter and cooler in summer. 

Focus on attention to detail 

Small details include positioning lamps and ambient lighting in corners of the room, adding plants to bring a more natural, open feel, and regularly cleaning windows to ensure the maximum natural light can pass through. Also, neutral paint colour schemes such as white and cream make a room appear bigger and less confined. 

Bi-folding doors 

The start of the year is always a busy time for us in terms of enquiries, and already we’re receiving many about window and door systems from homeowners looking to brighten their living spaces in preparation for spring and summer. 

The general consensus is that homeowners feel their homes are too confined, with windows and doors that don’t allow enough natural light to filter through. There’s definitley a growing desire for more people to feel more connected to the outdoors.  

Indoor-outdoor living, or “biophilic design,” integrates natural elements like light to connect people with nature. Pinterest data shows a 100%+ increase in interest for this trend so far this year

Although a more significant investment, glass doors or bi-folding doors are a good choice for maximising natural light; they allow sunlight to flood in when opened, making a room feel more spacious. 

Exterior bi-folding doors, commonly used in kitchens and dining areas, can also work in smaller rooms lacking natural light. To further enhance brightness, consider placing large windows facing south, as this direction receives the most sunlight throughout the day. 

Interior bi-folding doors are also a good option for homeowners who enjoy open-plan living areas, but still want to separate rooms. 

At Clearview, our advanced aluminium bi-folding door systems are a modern and functional alternative to patio or French doors, which only provide around a 40% opening. The aluminium materials we use are strong, light weight and versatile, making them ideal for use on bi-folding doors. 

The aluminium is also extremely durable, which is why we are able to offer a 10-year guarantee on all of our folding door systems. With over 100 colour choices as standard, we can manufacture and install an average aluminium bi-folding door system in under four weeks, which is great for those wanting to prepare their living space for spring and summer! 

To learn more about how bi-folding doors or other window systems can increase natural light in the home, get in touch with our friendly team

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