Does your apartment not have many south-facing windows? Is your home situated too close to your neighbors’? Are there rooms in your home that don’t have any windows at all? Natural light is the best kind of lighting to make your home bright and inviting, but when you can’t get natural light in, you can resort to faking it instead.
Here are the best ways to have the illusion of natural light in your dim space:
Hang more mirrors
Homes with south-facing, high-quality vinyl windows can easily let natural light in, which can then bounce off mirrors and make the room even brighter. But for homes without south-facing windows or a minimal number of windows, you can help maximize the natural light that you do get by hanging more mirrors around the room. Not only will this make your home a little brighter during the day time, but it will also give the illusion of a bigger space.
Aside from actual mirrors, you can also buy furniture or decor that has mirrored surfaces, such as mirrored coffee tables and mirrored end tables.
Get an artificial skylight
Light doesn’t have to be real to make a room look better and more inviting. If you want more “natural” light in your room and having a real skylight is not feasible, then artificial is the way to go. Find an artificial skylight that fits the size and height of the room you want to brighten up. The best part about this is that the room doesn’t even have to be a single floor or on the top floor. Since the skylight is artificial, you can install it anywhere you want and get the illusion of having real natural light coming into the room.
Repaint your walls
Dark colors will make a room darker than it is, and light colors will do the opposite. Repaint your walls with light colors, such as white, eggshell, or light gray to reflect more light in your home. This is especially advisable in rooms where your eyes need more light, such as in the kitchen and in your home office.
Skip the dark decor
Similar to dark walls, dark-colored decor can also make a room darker than it really is. So if you’re trying to make a room brighter, swap the dark-colored furniture and decor for light-colored ones.
Replace your bulbs
When you don’t have much natural light to work with, you can still make it seem like a room gets a lot of it with artificial sources. To do so, opt for light bulbs that have a CCT (correlated color temperature) between 5000K and 6500K. Light bulbs in this range mimic natural light the best, giving your room very bright illumination without seeming too artificial.
Lay a light rug
Having light-colored rugs on your floors can help bounce more light around the room, which is especially important if your furnishings and decor are dark.
Install sheer curtains
Instead of heavy drapes or curtains, opt for sheer curtains to let as much natural light as possible throughout the day. If you’re worried about privacy or want to have the option to block out sunlight when needed, layer them with darker curtains so that you can cover your windows completely any time you want.
Get some indoor plants
Indoor plants have many benefits, including making a room look brighter than it really is. Get a few houseplants that are generally low-maintenance and can survive even with low levels of sunlight. Aside from brightening up your home, indoor plants can help keep the air clean, reduce your stress levels, and reduce noise levels, among many other benefits.
Install lights in dark spaces
When you have limited natural light coming into your windows (or no natural light at all), you can supplement the illumination that your overhead lighting provides by installing lights in dark spaces, such as underneath cabinets, in dark corners, and along stairs. Doing this is especially important if you have poor vision and can’t see that well in the dark.
Hang large art
Hang up large, bright, and light-colored wall art to add more fake natural light to a room. Framing them with reflective or light-colored frames will add even more brightness, especially if you hang the art against a dark-colored wall. Aside from wall art like paintings and photos, you can also hang tapestries, paint a mural, or build an accent wall.
When you have little to no natural light coming into your windows, you can fake natural light and still make your home brighter and more open. With these tips, you won’t have to build new windows all over your home to increase the “natural” light indoors.