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Details matter — here’s what you can do to add more lighting to your home and make it look brighter.
A lot of people’s houses are very dark. This isn’t usually because there aren’t windows; it is usually caused by poor interior design. People use thick curtains, have heavy objects in the way of natural light sources, and use dark wallpaper or paint.
If you want to make your house appear a lot brighter, then there are some very simple steps for you to take. Various studies have shown that houses that let in more natural light and that are brighter are better for mental health.
Here is what you can do to make your house brighter.
Table Lamps
Adding an assortment of table lamps to your home can be an effective way of both brightening it up and improving its design. In order to find lamps that suit your interior, browse an online lighting store and compare your furniture against the store’s offerings. You could also consider buying floor lamps.
When it comes to the actual lighting of said lamps, it is a good idea to use LED bulbs. At the moment, there is an energy crisis. Powering your home’s lamps with LED bulbs can be a very effective way of saving yourself money because LED bulbs use a lot less energy.
Less energy used means lower bills to be paid. LED bulbs are also significantly cheaper to buy than normal bulbs.
Color Temperature
If your home’s light fittings have dimmer switches, then you should carefully control each room’s color temperature. Color temperature is a term that refers to the color and intensity of a light bulb. Dimmer switches allow you to make bulbs lighter or darker.
Most people who own dimmer switches only use them for the latter. If you want your home to look brighter, you need to find the right temperature for you.
All you need to do is to adjust your dimmer switch until you find a color temperature that agrees with you. You can then go through your home and adjust the temperature of each fixture until they’re all the same.
Bright Furniture
Brightly colored furniture can be a highly effective way of brightening up a room. However, bright furniture can also look ridiculous if it’s not implemented correctly.
Make sure that the furniture you buy matches everything else in your home. If it does not, then take steps to replace everything so that things begin to match. A poorly designed and mismatched interior can be just as bad as an overly dark one.
A good way of buying bright furniture that’s not tacky or gaudy is to buy antiques, preferably from North Africa. Antique Moroccan furniture, for example, is charming yet sophisticated.
Hanging Mirrors
Mirrors can capture light, as well as open a room up. If you want to make your home look a lot bigger whilst simultaneously making it look brighter, then consider hanging up a bunch of mirrors.
Again, when buying mirrors, try to buy ones that suit your home’s theme. A good type of mirror that suits more or less all homes is the gilded mirror. Gilded mirrors suit modern and traditionally-themed houses.
The downside to gilded mirrors is that they can be expensive, especially if you are buying them antique. Buying imitation-gilded mirrors could be a good way to save money if you can’t stretch for the real thing.
Linen Curtains
Linen is a fabric that’s made from flax. It is thin, usually see-through, and very summery. However, it doesn’t have to be summer for you to make use of it. It is very common for designer curtains to be made out of linen.
If you want to make your home brighter, then linen curtains are a fantastic option, because they let in a lot of light. It is a good idea to buy white linen though, so natural light can shine through the curtains even when they’re closed.
New Wallpaper
Finally, consider putting up new wallpaper in your home. Putting up new wallpaper can be a highly effective way of making your home appear brighter. If you are going to buy wallpaper, then something floral will look best.
Alternatively, you could just paint your walls white or beige, because these two colors attract light and make even the darkest rooms look very bright. You can apply wallpaper and paint yourself, though when applying wallpaper make sure that you do so carefully, so that everything’s even, and so that you don’t waste any paper unnecessarily.
A dark home isn’t conducive to good mental health. As mentioned in the introduction, studies have shown that brighter homes are associated with better mental states.
If you want to feel happier (and have a brighter home) then all you need to do is to follow the steps outlined in this post, as well as open the window from time to time.
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