With winter finally behind us, it’s time to take advantage of the sunny days ahead. While spring does come with some showers, there are still plenty of ways to make your room appear sunny and bright. Don’t worry about calling in a pro to knock down walls or enlarge your windows. Instead, try these 6 easy ways to make your room brighter even on rainy days.
1. Colour Change
Increasing brightness is most commonly associated with lightening your wall colour. Neutrals are a great place to start, however, you are not limited to only light colours such as white and beige. Colours have different ranges of how much they absorb or reflect light. Blues, greens, and violets actually make the area look bigger from their shorter wavelengths allowing light to bounce off. An extra way to spice up your room is to add wallpaper to one, or all walls, which increases depth. A deeper looking room has more space to play with light bouncing around.
2. Light It Up
Adding various types of lighting can amp up the look completely. Starting with light bulbs, try changing your old bulbs for new LED lights. Not only do they adjust the colour in your room to have a white undertone but they are also more energy-efficient. Along with these new bulbs, try adding additional lighting fixtures. Whether that be on your walls with scones or lamps, adding more light fixtures will allow reflective light to bounce off your walls, creating a brighter and bigger space.
3. Open Spaces
Do you have big, heavy pieces of furniture crowding a room? Furniture rearrangement is an easy task that will transform your room’s appearance. By moving a couch, side table, or even a lamp, you can open up an immense amount of space. Try to move your furniture to the outside walls, still allowing passageways between the pieces. Your area will feel substantially brighter, giving you a sense of openness.
4. Clear View
Cleaning your windows is an essential part of creating a brighter home. The cleaner the window, the more light will beam through. For starters, make sure your curtains are pulled back, and not blocking the window. You want to ensure there is minimal view obstruction of the window to maximize brightness. A clear outside look with lots of natural light shining in not only brightens your area but also gives humans more energy and can boost your mood.
5. Mirror Mirror On Your Wall
Utilizing mirrors in the correct way can help boost the overall brightness in your home. Mirrors can create many illusions, such as elongating hallways and reflecting off one another to bounce light around your room. By placing roughly same sized mirrors on either side of a window, you can deceive the eye to believe the window has tripled in length or height! Add a mirror opposite to a window, or hanging mirrors on opposite walls facing each other to reflect the exterior light into your room.
6. Make it Pop
Do you love your deep coloured walls but still want a brighter appearance? Try adding light coloured fixtures around your room. Try spray painting the platform of your lamps, or staining the wood of your coffee table. Change your curtains to a lighter shade, or eliminate them altogether. For an already light coloured area, try counteracting with black accessories to enhance the bright colours. The contrast between light and dark will really make your room pop. Add a few dark or light (depending on your current state) throw pillows, blankets, lampshades, and artwork to accentuate your space.
While major home improvement projects are not safe to complete unless you are a trained and certified service professional, you can always try some DIY tasks. Changing colours, rearranging furniture or adding lighting to your room are small modifications with big rewards. These tips let you leave the gloomy days in the past and allow for spring days ahead to shine through.
