Although we don’t have control over how much natural light we receive in our home, we can still carry out a few tips and tricks to maximise the sunlight and ensure we’re getting enough of it! Many small homes suffer from reduced natural light, especially when windows are small which doesn’t leave a lot of room for it to spread its light magic. It was found in a survey that over 50% of people chose natural light as a must have feature in their home!
It’s no surprise that natural light can make our homes feel lighter, brighter and more spacious – if you’re in need of a little help to increase light in your home, carry on reading!
Let the light in!
We thought we’d start with the most obvious tip and funnily enough, it’s the most avoided one! It’s important to avoid blocking windows with heavy blinds or curtains that do more harm than good. When light is able to bounce around a room, it gives the impression of more space, so if you’re in a small apartment or house, it helps out A LOT. So you should ask yourself whether you need larger windows or more suitable window treatments to allow more natural light into your home.
With many modern renovations and developments now, skylights and canopies have become quite popular because of their impact when it comes to natural light and enhancing a property. It’s often questioned whether or not they have a space in today’s market, but we think that’s an in depth discussion for another time. They certainly do add a bit of fancy-ness to a property though!
Use the right colours
Painting rooms throughout your house a dark colour is not going to help you achieve a light, spacious look and feel. Colours have a major impact on rooms, and white will reflect natural light the best. It’s always wise to stick to neutral colours so that when light does come bursting through doors and windows, it is able to spread.
If you don’t really have any experience with decorating, you can check out our different types of wallpapering tools to help guide you through the process, it’d be like we’re right there with you! (In spirit, anyway).
Work with mirrors
We all like a good mirror and this is probably one of the oldest tricks in the book when it comes to utilising natural light within a home. It’s most commonly used in homes which are deprived of natural light so you have to use what light you have and reflect it as far and wide as you possibly can. If you place a mirror adjacent, it will mimic the window and therefore make it seem like you have more windows in the wall! Pretty clever and cool, right?
When we say work with mirrors, we mean only a few – don’t go overboard with 10 different style mirrors across one wall, that’d be a bit too much!
Keep fixtures clean
Clean fixtures all throughout the home on a regular basis, especially windows. Windows covered in dirt and grime will block sunlight which is the opposite of what you are aiming for. Lighting fixtures should also be cleaned regularly, such as lamps and bulbs as this still has an impact on the light around the home.
Swap out dark old furniture
If your walls and ceilings are supporting a light and bright colour scheme, but you still have dark furniture as part of your design, it completely defeats the purpose of wanting to maximise light into your home. Dark furniture and accessories have the ability to block light from doors and windows.
Let’s provide you with an example – let’s say you have a large living room and a dark, walnut dining table in the centre, you only have 1 average sized window in the particular room. Once light glistens through the window and hits the walnut dining table, it will not reflect to any other areas in the room and especially not into another room via doors or other windows. Swapping dark furniture for lighter shades can significantly change the way light works around your home.
Improve your home for less
There are many other things you can do throughout your home to improve it, step by step. Now you’ve mastered the art of natural light in the home, what do you think is next? Are you looking for cost effective options to develop your interior? Or are you thinking of completely renovating a room to a different style and design?