As much as a dark room can offer a sense of intimacy and elegance, it can easily become too gloomy and depressing. There are ideas to brighten a dark room that don’t involve breaking walls or breaking the bank, and I’m going to share them with you in this article.
But first, let’s figure out what our goal is before we get started. The goal is to maintain the positive attributes of a dark room while improving visibility and lighting. If you combine a few of these ideas, you’ll make a noticeable improvement to the brightness level.
When I lived in a small apartment that was in line with another large building, certain rooms were devoid of natural lighting and adequate air flow. The artificial white light glowing from the ceiling, coupled with a lack of floor space, made me feel like my living room was an office cubicle. I yearned for the warm glow of a setting sun in my little, dark, and dingy apartment.
I had to use decorative ideas and certain appliances to change the mood and temperature of the room because I was not permitted to make structural changes.
Thankfully, I succeeded at improving the room over time with some of the ideas below, which is why I wanted to share them with you.
I really hope you like these ideas!
25 Beautiful Suggestions On How To Brighten A Dark Room
1. Use sheer curtains
Translucent curtains are not only cheaper than lined curtains, but they’re also perfect for rooms that need more light and air to penetrate through the material. I highly recommend sheer curtains for this exact reason. They’re light, airy, and perfect for a dark room.
2. Use light colors on the walls
Certain colors and types of paint affect the brightness of a room. Paints with a sheen finish offer a reflective and shiny property to the walls. Furthermore, light and neutral colors reflect sunlight or artificial lighting to create a warm and bright hue in a dark room.
Here’s a list of paint colors for a dark room:
- White
- Light cream
- Tan
- Baby blue
- Lime
- Soft pink
- Light yellow or mustard yellow
- Lilac
3. Install glossy flooring
The first thing you need to know is that shiny floors will reflect light off of them and brighten a dark room. The second thing is that light-colored floors will also amplify brightness. Opt for porcelain or ceramic tiles that are white, cream, or light gray. Wood floors like bamboo or light oak that are polished will also brighten a dark room.
4. Use mirrors
By strategically placing mirrors in a room, especially opposite windows, you can reflect natural light into darker corners of the room to brighten it up. It’s important to remember that light isn’t just reflected from a mirror but amplified.
5. Add indoor plants
Dark rooms can benefit from both added light and color. A great way to add some quirkiness and energy to a room is through the use of colorful plants. They add depth, color, and freshness to an otherwise boring, dark, or stale room.
Here’s a list of the best indoor plants:
- Sansevieria
- Succulents
- Swiss cheese plant
- Peace lily
- Ceropegia
6. LED strip lighting
Artificial lighting is a great solution for a dark room, but there are ways of doing it that drastically improve the aesthetic appeal of your home. Install LED strip lighting in key areas to highlight certain features or zones in a room.
Here’s a list of places to use LED strip lighting:
- Under shelves
- Around cabinets
- Around the TV or entertainment unit
- Along the ceiling
- Along the border of your room
7. Install blinds
Rather than curtains that always inhibit the intensity of sunlight that enters a room, opt for light-filtering blinds that can be adjusted to let in the right amount of natural light. While you’re at it, choose a light color blind to accentuate a bright environment.
8. Use solar tubes
This is a cost-effective way to direct sunlight into your home without having to install more windows or a glass ceiling. Not only would this brighten a dark room, but it may also reduce your electricity bill since you can rely on natural light during the day.
9. Install a skylight
If you have the money, I would recommend the installation of a skylight in a dark room. It makes the room appear more spacious and brighter while offering a focal point that is attractive and high-end.
10. Declutter
You’d be surprised at how clutter can make a room appear darker than it is. Items that block the flow of air and light will always create a cramped, depressing, and stuffy room. Get rid of non-essential items, reorganize your furniture, and remove obstructions from windows and doors. You’ll never regret investing some time and energy to declutter your home.
11. Buy light-colored furniture
To offset the darkness of a room, it is always advisable to invest in light-colored furniture. It’s a simple way to add brightness, warmth, and calmness to a space.
12. Install accent lighting
I touched on this earlier, but accent lighting serves as an aesthetic feature to alter the mood and appearance of a room. Accent lighting in the form of table lamps, LED strip lighting, wall sconces, and floor lamps all brighten up a room with a variety of colors that suit your needs.
13. Paint the ceiling a light color
Ceiling colors that are paired with light-colored walls will bleed into each other and give the illusion of more space and brightness. Choose light, neutral, and simple colors like white, light cream, and light gray.
14. Hang fairy lights
Additional artificial lighting will always be an easy, convenient, and effective way to add more brightness to a room. But it doesn’t have to be in the form of a boring light bulb or lamp. You could decorate a wall, a metal bed frame, or the blinds with fairy lights for a charming display of lights.
15. Install light-reflective wallpaper
If you’re on the market for wallpaper, there are a few styles with reflective properties integrated into the design that could brighten a dark room. Choose a simple design that fits the style of the room, and choose a color that is quirky, bright, light, and uplifting.
16. Buy stainless steel appliances
As the name suggests, these appliances are made from stainless steel, which means they have a reflective property. Fridges, microwaves, stoves, kittles, and toasters that are made from stainless steel will undoubtedly make the kitchen appear brighter than matte-finished appliances.
17. Install transom windows
You can install a window on the beam that separates the door from the wall. Doing so allows additional light to enter and flow between rooms. Check out this tutorial on how to install a transom window.
18. Replace doors
Rather than solid wood doors, you could swap them out for glass sliding doors, bi-fold doors, or french doors with glass panels to allow more light to enter the room.
19. Install a reflective backsplash
Backsplashes may be used to protect walls from damage from moisture and heat, but they serve an aesthetic function as well. If you use glossy, shiny, and light-colored tiles for the backsplash, you can add another element to the room that reflects light and brightens the space.
20. Accessorize with glass
Since glass has the propensity to allow light to flow through it while amplifying the light in certain conditions, it would make sense to brighten a room by using glass accessories in the form of glass tables, cabinet doors, vases, clocks, and ornaments.
21. Use brighter light bulbs
There is a metric on all light bulbs that indicates the level of brightness, and this level is called lumens. The higher the lumens, the brighter the bulb. Switch over to light bulbs with higher lumens and choose white or warm white for the best colors.
22. Mirror-tiled accents
Wherever you plan to use tiles on the wall, consider using mirror tiles for their light-reflecting and amplifying properties. If you can install them where direct sunlight hits, it should help to brighten darker parts of the room.
23. Install clerestory windows
This is a row of windows that are above eye level, with the sole purpose of enhancing the flow of light into a home.
24. Install glass room dividers
Rather than plastic or wood dividers, you could allow light to flow through different rooms with the use of glass room dividers.
25. Use smart lighting control
Rather than singular lighting in a home, why not opt for smart lighting systems that offer a variety of color temperatures and brightness levels to suit the different times of day?
Final Thoughts
That brings us to the end of this article on 25 ideas to brighten a dark room. If you can utilize just a handful of these ideas, you should be able to significantly improve the brightness in a dark room.
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