Getting a good amount of natural light into your home is so important. If you’ve got rooms that are particularly dark, they won’t feel very welcoming or homely and they can actually be quite unpleasant areas to be in. Often, these rooms don’t get used that much because they’re not very nice to spend time in so you’re wasting space in your home.

Trying to introduce more natural light is the easiest way to get around the problem of a dark room but that’s not always possible. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to get use out of that room. Just try one of these simple ways to brighten up a dark room.

Wall Art

Adding a burst of colour is the easiest way to brighten up a dark space, so you should consider putting some wall art around the house. If you can find canvases or posters with lots of bright, bold colours on them, they’ll make a big difference. It’s important that you’re not using anything that has dark shades in because that’s going to soak up more light. But if you use things that have a lot of light shades and whites in, they’ll reflect more light around the room and help to brighten the place up.

Flowers

Flowers are another simple way to bring a bit more colour into a room and make it a lot more welcoming. You can easily pick up some cheap flowers at most supermarkets, the only issue is, they only last a week or so, which means you’ll have to keep buying them. You’re better off with something like phalaenopsis orchids instead. As long as you care for them properly, they’ll last for months so you don’t need to worry about buying new ones all of the time. However, they do need fairly specific conditions so it’s important that you make sure that the room is suitable for them, otherwise, you’ll struggle to keep them alive for that long.

Rugs

If you’ve got bland colour on the walls and the floors, the room will feel very dark and cramped. Painting the walls and putting some new carpets down will make a difference but it’s going to cost you quite a bit of money and it’s a big job to take on. But you can get a similar effect without all of the work and expense by adding a nice rug instead. It’s a great way to freshen up the room and you can change it regularly to keep things looking more interesting.

Mirrors

When you only have a minimal amount of light, it’s important that you make the most of it and try to distribute it around the room as much as possible. A few well placed mirrors is the best way to do this. If you position a mirror opposite the light source in the room (usually the window) you’ll brighten the whole room up so much. As well as mirrors, you should also try to use accessories around the room with reflective materials to add to the effect.

Trees

Sometimes, you’re having trouble with the light in a room because you aren’t getting enough in in the first place. If you’ve got trees and large shrubs in the garden that are blocking the windows, it can cause you some big problems. Often, people don’t realise because the tree isn’t directly in front of the window. You should go out into the garden and look at the direction of the sunlight. If there are trees and shrubs blocking it, you need to trim them back to let more light in through the windows.

Matte Paint

Choosing the right colour paint on the walls is essential because if you’ve got dark shades, they will soak up all of the light. That’s why you always need to go for whites and very light pastel shades. However, it’s not just about the colour of paint that you choose, it’s about the type of paint and the finish that it gives as well. The biggest mistake that people make is using glossy paint. It seems as though it’s the best option because it has more of a reflective surface so it will help to distribute light. However, glossy paint directs light in very focused areas, so you’ll get a lot of glare. It’s actually better to use a matte paint because it will distribute the light more evenly around the room.

Dark rooms can be a real challenge to deal with but if you just use some of these simple tricks, you can solve the problem easily.