As we enter the dark of the year and the hours of sunlight begin to dwindle, it’s more important than ever to maximize the natural light in our homes. The choice to savor each precious moment of daylight and brighten your home can be simply made by switching out your old window treatments or repainting your walls. There are many easy ways to increase your natural light exposure without completely remodeling your home’s layout.
Add mirrors
One quick way to bring in more light is by adding mirrors throughout your rooms and decorating with shiny objects. The added reflection will catch the light and create an illusion of more space. Decorative wall mirrors are trending right now and are extremely versatile as they can be easily integrated into almost any room of the house. Metallic light fixtures and faucets are also a clean way to introduce reflective surfaces in the kitchen and the bathroom.
Choose the right color palette
Cooler colors can help walls recede, allowing for more light to fill up the space. Try your hand at a pale blue or soft gray for the dominant color scheme and then slowly add a pop of color like a pale yellow, a bright orange or a powder blue as accents. Tie in these brighter tones by updating furniture and accessories throughout your home, such as pillows, area rugs and throws.
Install large windows or skylights
A bit more ambitious route to brighten your home is by adding more windows. Try a stack ransom or a radius window design in your darker rooms or consider extending existing windows into floor-to-ceiling glass panels. Advances in window manufacturing allow for more exposed glass and less trim with large picture and bay windows. Perhaps it’s just a matter of replacing your old door to the deck with a sliding glass door –this will let more sunlight trickle in. Skylights are also a great way to bring in natural light and make for eye-catching installations in bathrooms, family rooms and top-floor bedrooms. Skylights come in unique shapes and sizes and provide an excellent light source, not just during the daytime but under the stars and the moon, too.
Lighter window treatments
If you don’t have time for window remodeling, updating your window treatments is the next best thing. Switching out your old heavy drapes for honeycombed blinds and airy sheers can make a world of difference when it comes to natural lighting. Pick out some sheer single-panel draperies in a lighter shade for your living room so you can easily pull them back to enjoy the view. Install blinds in the bedroom which allow you to adjust the amount of light you want to let in with a simple wand.
How have you updated your home décor to inspire more light during the dark of the year?
