Natural light in your home comes with tons of benefits! Unlike artificial light, sunlight emits every color of the rainbow, and illuminates your home with the full spectrum of colors. This adds richness to the existing colors in your home, and welcomes the natural glow of the outdoors into your interior spaces.
Healthy doses of natural light also increase the serotonin levels in your body, and can improve your mood and help your body regulate its biological sleep clock. Best of all? It’s completely free!
Here are 5 of our favorite ways to increase the amount of natural light in your home through smart design choices:
1. Choose Light, Bright Colors and Materials
One of the easiest ways to brighten up a room with natural light is by choosing light paint colors and materials. Light colors reflect natural sunlight much better than dark ones.
Painting your walls with fresh colors like white, cream, lemon yellow, or sky blue can help distribute the light that comes in through windows throughout the room.
Opting for other light materials also helps brighten up a space, even if you don’t have a great deal of windows. Light colored tiles, countertops, and floors can also help distribute light throughout a room.
2. Use Mirrors
Mirrors are one of the best ways to reflect natural light into corners of a room that would otherwise be in shadow. The more mirrors you have, and the larger they are, the more natural light will bounce from wall to wall.
It’s important to be strategic about where you place the mirrors in your space, though. Placing mirrors near sources of natural light, such as glass doors and windows, helps capture and reflect this light throughout the room. Another good idea is to hang mirrors on opposing walls to maximize the amount of natural light that gets dispersed.
If you don’t want to cover large sections of wall with mirrors, here are a few subtle ways to incorporate them into other elements of your space:
- Consider buying furniture with mirrored or glass panels.
- Hang a mosaic art piece with pieces of mirror incorporated.
- Use reflective metals, like copper, brass, or bronze that have a slight mirrored effect.
3. Opt for Glass Tiles
Like mirrors, glass reflects light and distributes it throughout a space. Glass tiles in a bathroom shower or as a kitchen backsplash can reflect close to 100% of the natural light that reaches them and can go a long way in illuminating an otherwise dimly lit room.
Even glass tiles in darker colors, like deep blues or browns, can pick up natural light and brighten up your space. They also look sophisticated and sleek, and never seem to go out of style.
If you’re not ready to go all in with glass tile, high-gloss ceramic tiles are another great option. Glossy subway tiles are great for reflecting natural light throughout a space, and they are an affordable and stylish option, especially in kitchens.
4. Add a Skylight
While windows are great, there are times when you want to close your curtains or blinds for privacy, which limits the amount of natural light coming into your home. If you have trees outdoors, they may also block some of the sunlight that would otherwise reach your windows. Skylights are a great alternative, especially for bathrooms with few or no windows.
Skylights can distribute natural light throughout an entire room for a good portion of the day, and since they allow for more privacy than a regular window (and don’t require a curtain or shade), you can even put one directly over a shower or bathtub!
Although installing a skylight may initially seem like a pricey solution, they can actually help naturally heat your space. The combination of having to use less artificial lighting and less heating could save you money on electricity in the long run.
5. Choose the Right Window Coverings
Ditching dark, heavy curtains (like those made out of velvet, polyester, or thermal fabrics) and instead opting for light-colored linen, cotton, or lace coverings can help the natural light outside filter into your home more easily, even if your curtains are closed.
The goal is to maximize your control over how much light you let in at any given time, as well as how much privacy you have. A great option is to install an effective sunshade that you can easily lower or raise to any height on your window, and pair the shade with light, flowy curtains that allow natural light to filter through.
Are you planning a remodel? Looking for ways to increase natural light in your space?
We can help! At L. Evans Design Group, we understand how to incorporate the outdoors into an indoor space and increase the amount of natural light in your home through smart design solutions. From design concept to project completion, we are focused on achieving your goals, providing realistic scheduling, and working up a personalized budget. Let us help you make your dream home a reality!
Ready to get started? Have questions? Give us a call at (971) 404-1241 or contact us online to set up a project consultation.
