Is your house too dark? You can transform your home with these simple tips to allow more natural light in. This will elevate the colours and style of the home you’re living in as well as lift your mood. In this guide, we offer tips on how to improve your home’s natural lighting.
Table of Contents
Clean and Open Window Treatments
You should always wash windows regularly as dirty windows block light. It can be difficult if you lead a busy life but it’s always useful to create a regular cleaning routine, using glass cleaner to remove grime, smudges, and mineral deposits. Dust and dirt accumulate on curtains and blinds also causing light blockage, so to keep the place clean you should hoover the blinds and machine wash curtains to restore translucency. As the sun moves, optimized lighting angles shift. You could partially close adjustable blinds to dim intense midday light or redirect evening rays deeper into rooms. Additionally, if you have glass indoor doors, consider cleaning them regularly.
Dense, multilayered or dark curtains soak up natural light. Lightweight sheers or none at all maximize brightness streaming through the glass.
Replace Outdated Light Fixtures
It can be difficult to keep on top of all the lights and the maintenance surrounding it. However, it can make a big impact on the lighting in your home, for more options in the brightness level you should consider upgrading to dim lighting.
Sometimes an old overhead fixture or table lamp with dense, heavy shades can become a barrier to good natural lighting distribution. Swapping these outdated electric light sources out for new models that feature see-through or translucent lampshades can make a big difference. The ideal fixtures will shine light upwards and outwards to meet the sunlight flooding in from windows. Installing dimmers gives even more control over light levels, ensuring your rooms feel bright and vibrant during the daytime without excessive glare or shadows in corners.
Incorporate Reflective Accents
You should consider adding mirrors, metallics, and glass accents around the home as it could improve the overall brightness and look of your home. If you use accent pieces like glass vases, crystal decor items, metallic picture frames, and stainless steel/chrome fixtures it can have a subtle effect.
For safety, avoid placing expansive mirrors or reflective surfaces directly opposite windows as it can create a glaring effect. Using reflective decor is an easy way to stylishly maximize brightness from existing natural light. Metallic finishes, glass surfaces, and strategically placed mirrors will bounce light around, making spaces feel airier and sun-filled. Just take care to avoid glare if the sunlight directly hits the reflective surface at certain times of day. With the right accents, you can amplify your lighting without needing to overhaul an entire room.
Install New Strategic Windows
Sometimes a room just needs an additional window or two to create that wide-open, naturally bright space. Adding a window where there was none before, or expanding existing windows, are impactful ways to capture more free sunlight. Bay windows with their signature angled sides and projecting shape can bounce light effectively into a room. When mapping out potential new window areas, analyse the positioning in relation to furniture, trees/landscaping and existing window locations to ensure light can enter unobstructed from multiple angles at different times of the day.
