5 Ways To Brighten up a Dark Room for the Holidays
Christmas and Thanksgiving are practically upon us. Festive spirit fills the air. Yet, you still have this one room where everyone gathers and it is always so dark. Lamps, ceiling fixtures, etc., don’t quite lighten up this room. It can be a little mood-altering in a negative way. If you don’t like having everyone gather in a dark room for one of the best holidays of the year, there are five ways you can brighten this room before the holiday even arrives.
Paint the Ceiling White
It seems odd to just paint the ceiling, but this optical illusion is really amazing. What happens is that the white of the ceiling makes the room look larger, even though it isn’t, and the white of the ceiling reflects light downward too! If you opt for a high gloss white paint, it will be even brighter because the glossiness of the paint will cause light to bounce down all around from the ceiling.
Painting the ceiling takes only a day, too. It is a quick and simple solution to lighten a dark room. It costs the least out of all of the possible options for brightening a dark room, especially when the color that is already present on the walls and ceiling is so very dark.
Repaint Dark Walls a Lighter Color
Some trends for interior colors just need to be left on the home improvement shelves. One such trend is the painting of interior walls a dark color. It makes the room darker, moodier, and just less pleasant to inhabit. Sure, it can make a room look very striking, but in the dead of winter when so little natural light comes through a window, this dark color is hardly worth investing in to get that “good housekeeping” look.
Instead, opt for a lighter color on the walls. No, you don’t have to go pastel, but a lighter shade helps immensely. If you still love burgundy or gray as a color option, choose a tint much lighter than the one that excites you. The walls won’t be quite as dark or foreboding and you still get a color close to the one you want. If you are willing to throw in the towel on a dark color completely, select a light paint color from the same color family (reds, blues, greens, etc.) and repaint your walls with that.
It is highly recommended by interior designers and decorators to consider much lighter colors for interior walls when there is almost no natural light in the room. If you have just a tiny window or two providing natural light in the room in question, a very light color on the wall really makes the room brighter visually despite the lack of natural light.
Limit Dark Colors to One Wall or for the Purpose of Accents
Ask any interior house painter what he or she recommends that you use dark colors for, and that interior house painter will tell you to use the dark colors as an accent or for a single wall only. Painting a single wall the dark color you love allows you to still have that dark color but without creating a heavy dark room. A painting contractor usually paints one short wall where you plan to hang art or family photos with a dark color to draw attention to what you have on the wall. Another approach is to paint just the wall behind the main piece of furniture in the room with the dark color to draw attention to that piece of furniture.
Another way to use that dark color you find so exciting is to use it as a decorative touch. Stenciling or sponging a dark color over smaller areas of the walls in the room puts that dark color on display without making the room too dark. A lot of people love apple red, but it tends to be overwhelming in a kitchen. Ergo, painting red fruits or other red objects on the wall with another softer color behind the red objects lets you have that red color without it being too much.
As One Does to the Ceiling, Also to the Floor
If you really want to brighten a room and make the space look really huge, paint the ceiling white and change the flooring to something lighter. There’s a good chance you don’t want to go with white carpeting or white wood flooring because of high foot traffic, but you can still lighten the flooring options. Instead of a dark wood floor or a dark carpet, choose a medium, middle-of-the-road color of carpet or light-colored hardwood.
Pine, oak and maple are all good choices because the natural look of these woods is much paler than cherry, walnut or hickory. If you’re swapping carpet colors, opt for neutrals that aren’t quite so dark. Carpet colors such as beige, taupe, tan, or gray with a hint of color, like country blue-gray or heathered lilac (if that’s your thing) are good options. Carpet comes in a wide variety of colors, allowing you to choose something that brightens the room without concern for dirt build-up. (If you aren’t sure, ask a decorator from Lincoln Park Chicago for a little help.)
If you don’t want to overhaul your carpeting or current floor and you are looking for a less expensive option, find a floor rug that fits the space well. Make sure the rug is a brighter or lighter color to pull the eye to the center of the room and make the rest of the room look larger by comparison. Unless your furniture is rather simply and modestly colored, avoid any really busy patterns and loud colors in your floor rug choices.
The Use of Reflective Subway Tiles
Reflective subway tiles doesn’t sound too classy but they actually can be a lot classier than you think. The tiles are in roll form, made to install over a wall or section of wall with a little plaster. They can be mirrors or mirrored tiles or they can be porcelain tiles coated in a highly reflective glaze. The best part is that the porcelain ones offer additional color options to give a wall a little pop of color.
The result of having a painting contractor install these reflective tiles is that every bit of light that bounces off the tiles bounces back into the room. If you choose mirror or mirrored tiles, that light reflected back is even brighter. In the midst of holiday lights decorating a room, it can give the room a very merry and festive appearance several times over.
Don’t Forget the Mirrors!
Everybody wants to check themselves out in a mirror to make sure they are looking their best at a holiday gathering. By installing a mirror here and there in the room you are accomplishing two things. One, the light in the room is multiplied (just like the reflective subway tiles mentioned above!) and two, everyone has a place to go to make sure they are still clean and neat for those holiday snapshots and photo memories.
Ready to Get Started? With Thanksgiving only five weeks away and Christmas eight weeks away, you should get started on this project as soon as possible. You can hire a home painter in the Chicago area and get started as soon as tomorrow when you get an interior house painter quote today. Let our experts at Fine Painting assist you with all of your home painting and decorating needs. Contact us today to see what your family gathering room could look like in just a few short days.