Last updated on June 29th, 2023 at 05:02 am

We all have areas in our homes that lack natural lighting, which makes us desperate to brighten that room or corner. These areas are sometimes the most prominent corners of our home that cannot stay in the dark. And lacking ideas to uplift the light effect in a room naturally can be frustrating.

But there is no such thing that home decor ideas cannot fix. Below are some foolproof ideas to naturally brighten a dark room using home decoration tips. To know how to brighten a dark room naturally or through other tips, continue reading the tips below.

10 ways to naturally brighten a dark room

1. Add mirrors

Add mirrors in the living room

There is always a place in your room where natural or artificial light enters the dark corner of your home. To increase natural light in a dark room, you must place a mirror of adequate size in that area. It will help reflect and spread the natural light to the other corners of the room.

You can add LED lights on its back to ensure the mirror casts enough light to the room even when the sun goes down. Then, turn them on when it is dark outside so that the room has enough light even during the nighttime.

2. Have light-coloured flooring

Have light-coloured flooring for living room

The floor works as an excellent element to spread light across the room. A floor can make or break the interior design of the room. If you have a dark corner in your home, have light floors in that area. It will not only increase the natural lighting but will also help in making the room look more spacious.

A white, beige, or any pleasant light-colored color for the floor will work. If you add shiny white tiles in that room, it will work even more wonders as the shiny tiles will have their glare to spread natural light in a dark room. So, the room will turn into an illuminous zone when the light falls on the floor as the floor will work as a reflector and spread the light to all corners.

3. Say no to heavy and dark curtains

Say no to heavy and dark curtains for living room

If you do not live in a cold region with minimum temperature, there is no use in adding dark and heavy curtains to an already dark room in your home. One of the best answers to how to brighten a dark room naturally is by ditching the darkness and heaviness of the curtains and replacing it with light-coloured and light-weighted curtains instead.

They will bring a lot more natural light into the room and help control the temperature of that corner of your home.

While white is an ideal color option for a dark room, you can select any other light color for the curtains that match the room’s theme. Or, put white curtains with a light print over the windows to add attractive decor to the area while increasing its natural light.

4. Introduce bright and shimmery interiors

Introduce bright and shimmery interiors for living room

If you plan to buy something for the room, opt for a light, shimmery, or reflective decor piece. Since there is already an absence of light in that room, the decor item must have its own light or properties to reflect light to help decrease the darkness of the room.

In this case, buying metal candle stands, silver centerpieces, or white pots and vases can help a lot. They also work as the best home interior decoration ideas due to their unique look. You can also add pastel shade natural or artificial flowers to a dark corner to add color effect in that zone.

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5. Go with a neutral colour scheme

Go with a neutral colour scheme for living room

We always try to have a color scheme for every room of our house. If not a color theme, there is at least some basic idea about how your room should look like. So, remember that your room must balance light zones and dark areas so that it isn’t gloomy all the time.

Have light interiors with a touch of dark furniture to smartly break the monopoly of light interiors and balance out your interior decoration game. Think like an interior designer and decide where to put a dark counter and where light sofas, cushions, and other draperies are required.

6. Ditch overcrowding the room with furniture

Ditch overcrowding the room with furniture for living room

Space matters a lot to the room that doesn’t receive much light. If the room needs more natural light, overfilling it with heavy furniture, multiple artworks, wall hangings, and other items further reduces its luminosity.

Make sure your room has enough space for the light to travel, no matter how minimal natural light it receives. Don’t block the light from traveling to the different parts of the room by unnecessarily adding furniture or decor pieces. Let there be enough space for the entire room to illuminate with natural light.

7. Opt for the right light fixtures

Opt for the right light fixtures in the living room

Using light fixtures means adding light to multiple areas of the room where darkness needs to be eliminated. Light fixtures come in multiple shapes and sizes and can be used in various ways. You can use picture lights, spotlights, table lamps, or decor pieces installed with lights and keep them in the room’s dark corners.

You can also use light fixtures in incognito mode to fill the space with light. This can be done by adding small LED lights at the back of large furniture like beds and sofas. Ensure the light fixture technique you use to eliminate gloominess from the room is appropriately applied. Using too big or too small light fixtures will be counterproductive, and your effort will go in vain. So, research and plan properly before executing anything.

8. Put light-coloured reflective paint on your walls

Put light-coloured reflective paint on your walls of living room

Walls play a vital role in deciding whether the room will have enough lighting effect or it will dwell in the dark. And if you want your rooms to have sufficient light, then having light-colored paint on walls is a must.

If you want to avoid having everything in a light shade in a dark room, then paint one wall with bold color and the rest walls with light color. This will balance out the room’s simplicity while allowing room for natural light to prevail.

Also, instead of painting one of the walls with dark paint in the room, you can put stenciled art on it. Stenciled art is one of the best ways to exit blandness from any room and help the room look chic and decor friendly.

You can also check out the best PVC wall panel designs for your home if you want the walls of the darkroom to look more lively and creative. Just make sure to select the design and color, keeping the light theme in mind.

9. Don’t add dark shade furniture to that room

Don’t add dark shade furniture to the living room

Almost every piece of furniture comes in a big size and is usually heavy to lift. These properties give them to decide the vibe of the room. Hence, an already dark room should not have more dark elements to make it pitch-black.

If you cannot buy new furniture, switch it with the furniture from a room that has sufficient natural light. Remove some of the massive furniture from already dark areas and place them where light is available. Or you can also use light fixtures to ensure the dark furniture is not making the room more ill-lit.

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10. Add lights on walls and ceiling

Add lights on walls and ceiling of the living room

Physics plays a crucial role in creating illusions of things that are actually not present there. Just like a white ceiling makes the room look huge and spacious, adding lights on walls, ceiling, and floor does the same magic.

Maximize the amount of artificial light in your dark room and add the new lights systematically. Doing so will eliminate the need for more natural light, as artificial light at the right corners of the room will fulfill the need.

Add lights where you have hung your most important piece of art or the mirror for walls. While adding lights to the ceiling, ensure you install them at the corners and angles from where they cast maximum lighting effect for the entire ceiling and roof.

Last but not least, if you have any important piece of furniture that you want to highlight, add a spotlight over it to make it look more prominent and influential. Check out the best and trending home ceiling designs and then introduce this chance accordingly so that your home decor game stays up-to-date while fixing the ill-lit areas of your home.

Tips on how to brighten a dark room naturally:

  1. If you already have a mirror in your dark room, but it is not giving desired results, change its placement to an area where it can receive and reflect natural light. Or just put LED lights behind it and hang a lamp over the ceiling to maximize light around that area.
  2. Paint your ceiling with white color. It will make the room look much bigger and spread light across all areas of the dark room. Add LED lights on the ceiling that are specially designed to uplift the look of the ceiling and lighten up the entire roof with maximum light.
  3. Clean your windows regularly. Dirty windows block the natural light from entering the room and give the best effect fully. If you don’t want this to happen, clean the windows of the room that receives minimal light and ensure all the light that falls on its windows enters the room without any hindrance.
  4. No matter what style you pick to decorate the room, keep it minimalist and simple as much as possible. Doing so will increase the effect of natural light in the room and attract positivity, which is necessary for a gloomy room.
  5. Keep the room’s temperature under control, as hotter rooms feel more unwelcoming than cooler rooms. If you are adding too much natural light in a dark room to make it more light-friendly, ensure the light is not increasing the room’s temperature. Because if that happens, then no matter how much light the room finally has, it will feel very uncomfortable, and you will have to turn all those lights off. This will make all your efforts go in vain.

Bottom line:

Dark rooms are soothing but natural light is also crucial to survival, especially when you cannot think straight without absorbing some natural light in the morning. It is absolutely fine to have dark rooms in your home, and it is also a good idea to have natural light in a dark room by introducing adequate changes in it.

One can also have a blend of both elements by having proper interior designing of their house by professionals. Remember, a home should look like what the people in it want. So, change how your rooms look and give them the changes you always wanted.

Check out this space regularly for more details on home shifting, interior decoration ideas, and Vastu tips.

Anishka Luthra
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