The lighting in our home is really crucial. Sometimes we tend to choose the furnishings and the colours of our rooms according to the taste and style we prefer, forgetting to consider the structural elements of our homes.
The result is sometimes a dark room, or even an entire dark house, which forces us to look for solutions to bring a little extra light into our daily lives. A well-lit home is not only more functional, but allows you to reduce consumption due to the use of artificial lighting. Furthermore, natural sunlight can positively influence our mood, improving our day.
If you also have to deal with poorly lit rooms, follow our tips and find out how to lighten a dark room!
How to lighten a dark room using mirrors and metals
Reflective surfaces such as mirrors are very useful for lighting up a dark room.
Placing a mirror in front of a window can be a really good move and the larger it is, the more light it can project into the rest of the room.
If you cannot place a mirror right in front of the window, don’t worry: the surface of the mirror will always reflect the light in the room, even if it is placed in a different position.
Remember that larger mirrors can also be placed on the floor, like our Angelica mirror. Check out all our wall mirrors that are perfect for stylishly decorating all your rooms and bringing light into even the darkest of rooms.
Mirrors are not the only ones that can reflect light, but all polished metal or chrome surfaces can also help. Therefore, to furnish your room you might consider furniture with metal details, chairs with chrome metal legs, and other furnishings with surfaces that can reflect light.
Illuminating a dark room using mirrors or other reflective surfaces is really easy and does not require any particular effort in terms of money or work: all you have to do is choose the best place to position the mirror!
How to choose colours to lighten a dark room
The best colours for lighting up a dark room are definitely light ones.
However elegant they may be, warm or dark tones would make the room appear even darker and less bright. Dark colours, in fact, reflect light much less than light ones!
The ideal way to brighten up a dark room is to choose white for the walls and furniture, but many people have a certain resistance to a ‘total white’ look, fearing that it will give the room a too cold tone. However, there are different shades of white and those tending towards cream still manage to give rooms a warm and bright tone.
If, on the other hand, you prefer to add some colour to your rooms, go for neutral shades or mix your favourite colour with a good amount of white to create a pastel shade.
Choosing the right wall colour to brighten up a dark room is important, but equally crucial is the floor finish. A light, polished wooden parquet floor or tiles with a bright tone can really help the room feel brighter and more airy. Unfortunately, changing a floor is not an immediate operation that we can carry out straight away. We can find a partial solution to this limitation by choosing a light-coloured carpet to cover the floor or at least part of it.
What furnishings to choose for a dark room?
To illuminate a dark room by making the most of the furniture, we must consider 2 fundamental characteristics: the size of the furniture and its finish.
Choose low furniture to furnish your rooms, this way they will not occupy much vertical space, leaving the walls free to reflect light evenly in the room. You can also opt for furniture with glass details, which can both let light pass through their surface and reflect it into the surrounding space. Similarly, you can choose furniture with chrome components that reflect light.
Considering that light colours can reflect more light, our advice is to choose light finishes, possibly white. If the finish is glossy, your furniture will be even brighter!
Be careful though, white is perfect for our goal of lighting up a dark room, but if you put too much white colour in a room you risk having a really cold and aseptic environment as a result. To avoid this, but without abandoning this colour, you could choose a cream shade for the furniture.
Discover all our furniture in ashwood white, high glossy white, concrete white and concrete grey finishes, perfect for brightening up a dark room!
How to lighten a dark house room by room
Now that we have seen some tricks for lighting up a dark room with the use of mirrors and colours, let’s see how to light up a dark house by applying our tips room by room!
How to lighten a living room with little light
The living room is one of the most versatile rooms in the home and therefore requires multifunctional and varied lighting.
First of all, you will need to divide the spaces according to their function and to do this you can use a Iacopo dividing bookcase which, in the version with open compartments. will allow light to filter into your room, without creating shaded areas.
Depending on the function space has in your living room the lighting will have to be different. For example, the dining area should be well lit, while the TV corner should be slightly less lit to avoid having annoying reflections on the TV screen. Therefore, you can place a mirror in such a way that it reflects the light and directs it towards the dining area, making it brighter.
To brighten up your living room, you could opt for floating furniture that makes the room more airy and allows the walls to reflect the light. For example, you could use a floating TV stand hanging the TV directly to the wall, giving the room a “light” and modern look.
Always keep in mind the fundamental role colours play: choose a light and neutral palette for the walls of your living room and prefer furniture with glossy finishes that can reflect light. Also when it comes to curtains, prefer light colours and fabrics that are not too thick and let the light pass through.
How to lighten a dark bedroom
If you want to bring extra light into a dark bedroom, the secret lies once again in the use of colours that allow natural sunlight to reflect.
So for your blankets and sheets choose light colours. Do the same for the curtains on the windows, allowing light to filter through. As for walls, on the other hand, there is a tendency to prefer certain colours that help to relax, such as blue or green. If we do not want to use white, like in our case, we will have to dilute these colours with a generous dose of white to obtain a pastel colour.
As far as furniture is concerned, you could opt for wall bedside tables, such as the Riccardo floating bedside table in a light finish that reflects light such as ashwood white. Likewise for the bed frame, our advice is to choose a light and neutral colour, such as grey or beige, elegant colours that easily reflect light.
Remember, however, that the bedroom is a room that is mainly lived in during the dark hours and that you should therefore look for an adequate lighting system. For example, you could use indirect light from spotlights pointing towards the ceiling which illuminate the room effectively, but allow the eye to relax and help you fall asleep. Alternatively, you could use warm white LED lights placed behind the headboard to softly illuminate your bedroom.
How to lighten the bathroom
Illuminating a bathroom is not at all easy because in this room of the house it is essential to have a correct distribution of light, especially in the sink area.
It often happens that the bathroom is also a blind room without a window, making artificial light the only solution to illuminate this room.
So let us start with the main light, which affects the entire room and will be placed on the ceiling: you can choose recessed spotlights, a ceiling light or even a chandelier if you have a particularly high ceiling. The important thing is that the main light is able to evenly and brightly illuminate the whole room.
Now let’s focus on the lights to illuminate the mirror and washbasin. This area of the bathroom must illuminate our face evenly to ensure that we can see perfectly when applying make-up or shaving, but at the same time it must not be a blinding light. There are various solutions such as wall lights to be mounted on the sides of the mirror or spotlights above the mirror. You can also choose a backlit mirror that not only illuminates your face evenly but also creates a beautiful atmosphere in your bathroom.
If you can, choose a glossy wall covering for your bathroom walls to reflect light and maximise brightness in the room.
In addition to being a particularly important furnishing element in the bathroom, the mirror helps us once again to reflect the light in the room. Remember that the larger the reflective surface, the more brightness you will gain!
How to lighten a dark kitchen
If your kitchen has north-facing windows, it will probably not be exposed to direct sunlight most of the time.
So let’s take a look at some possible solutions for lighting a dark kitchen.
In the kitchen it is very important to have a well-lit worktop and a great solution is to place LED lights underneath the kitchen wall units to create a direct and focused light.
Instead, choose a ceiling light to provide the room with a general and uniform source of light: ceiling lights or spotlights are great solutions, but if you have a particularly high ceiling you can also use a chandelier.
Finally, remember that the colour and type of finish of the kitchen furniture also have their relevance. For example, a glossy white kitchen will give a brighter feel. Likewise, a white table and chairs will also reflect more light and make your kitchen brighter overall.
A very bright furnishing style is the Nordic style. Find out how you can furnish your home in Nordic style in our dedicated article!