Use these 5 design tricks to brighten a dark room! Your rooms that don’t get much natural light will feel instantly bigger, brighter & lighter!
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5 Design Tricks To Brighten A Dark Room
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1. Remove Curtains With Dark, Heavy Fabrics
Curtains made from heavy dark fabrics will make your room feel drab and dark. Replace them with sheers! Sheer drapes will let natural light diffuse for the room and will visually lighten the space too! If you don’t like sheers add drapes made from light colored cotton or linen. Stay away from dark polyester or velvet drapery.
In my living room, shown above, I hung these beautiful white cotton curtains that are so bright and airy! They really make our living room light and beautiful! See them in our living room makeover!
This bright coastal living room uses beautiful sheers!
2. Hanging Curtains High And Wide Will Brighten A Dark Room
Adjusting your curtain rod so that it’s as high as possible and allows curtains to be pulled back from the window as much as possible is a great designer trick to make your spaces feel lighter and brighter!
3. Use LED Lightbulbs
Get rid of incandescent lightbulbs and use LED lightbulbs instead! I love these daylight light bulbs the best!
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4. Use All 3 Layers Of Lighting
Make sure you have 3 layers of lighting: Ambient lighting, task lighting and accent lighting.
- ambient lighting: use overhead fixtures like recessed pot lights, track lights, chandeliers, flush mount lights and pendants, plus floor and table lamps.
- task lighting: task lighting brightens your task areas like your reading spot, desk area, craft area ect. These lights area typically in the form of wall sconces and table lamps where you can move the light in the exact spot you need it in.
- accent lighting: provides a third layer of light and accents a piece of art or sculpture. These are usually in the form of wall mounted picture lights or pot lights where the bulb is directed onto the object.
5. Add A Mirror To Brighten A Dark Room
Adding a mirror to a room will instantly brighten it! Mirrors will bounce the light around the room and add sparkle and glimmer too! Placing a mirror across from a window to maximize a mirror’s effect! Add one large mirror or several mirrors in different shapes and sizes in a mirror gallery wall.
See my sparkly sunburst Mirror Gallery Wall in my foyer!
65 plus Gallery Wall Layout Ideas
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Bonus Tip: Add Metallic Finishes and Crystal
Using metallic finishes in your fixtures, accent tables, picture frames and decor will help to reflect natural light and lamp light!
Crystal is known for it’s beautiful sparkle and glimmer! We love our new crystal and brass kitchen pendants and dining table chandelier! The crystal accents on them really make our new kitchen so bright and light! Even on the gloomiest days our kitchen feels cheery!
I love using mercury glass candlesticks and brass and gold decor accents to brighten my rooms!
My living room coffee table is chrome and glass – which adds a bright, light look to this space.
Heather is a Designer and the owner of the Interior Design and Lifestyle website 
Love your blogs & am impressed with the decisions you made for your RV. I live in S Texas, with summer temps usually exceeding 100. I’d have painted my whole RV ALABASTER, except a) I hesitate to use a warm white with my relatively new faux weathered-wood gray vinyl planks throughout. I understand that a warm white will not harmonize with that cool gray floor. Also, I’m getting conflicting info about whether a white is warm or cool. For example, one expert insists that Alabaster undertones sit right in the middle of yellow on her colorwheel, while another says, no, the undertone is greige. a) I’m confused and need an arbiter; b) which apparently white paint has a slight gray undertone to harmonize with my gray floor? Should I limit my search among the “neutral” whites? I’d be grateful for your opinion.
Hello Jude – The right white for your room is dependant on more than your flooring! 🙂 I can’t tell you which whites you should be looking at without more info about your room…. I offer online paint color services if you’re looking for help to pick the perfect white for your space. You can see more info on that here: https://www.settingforfour.com/about/online-decorating-services/