When we bought our little beach cottage 6 years ago it felt tiny and dark. The choice of wall colors definitely did not help but the ceilings are low and the room sizes are small. So we quickly went to work painting all of the rooms to make them feel brighter and more open. Since then we have made a number of home improvements that have helped make our home feel more like us. Some of those updates, including our reclaimed wood wall made a major visual impact but also left that side of our living room feeling dark. After some time we added an electric fireplace and built-ins on that wall which took away some floor space but it gave us much needed storage in the living room and helped brighten up that side of the room some more.
After the completion of those projects we left our living room as is until last year when we moved our living room furniture around to open up the floor space making more room for Mason to play. I love the new layout so much more. It’s opened up our room making it feel bigger. Updating our window coverings was a much needed upgrade and one I had been wanting to do since we moved in. It has helped bring natural light into the room while still maintaining privacy. All these updates have helped to create a space we feel cozy in and love. But the wall with our tv, no matter how much I enjoy the reclaimed wood and fireplace, still felt so dark.
So I have been looking for more ways to brighten our dark room without having to repaint our walls or remove our reclaimed wood wall. And these are the solutions I have come up with.
How to Brighten a Dark Room:
1. Layer in light decor on built-ins.
2. Add a large light colored area rug.
3. Place large mirror/s to reflect light.
4. Install wall sconces to add light on the dark areas of the room. Or if you can add overhead recessed can lights.
5. Install light filtering window shades.
6. Pick minimalist furniture.
I still need to find the right wall sconces or get Justin to install recessed can lights and I am looking for a new bistro dining table set that’s more minimal and less heavy looking. Now that Mason is 4 years old and listens better when we tell him what he can and cannot do, I am contemplating getting a glass top table so that it somewhat disappears in the space making our room feel that much bigger. Same goes with our coffee table. We have a dark wood coffee table that’s functional and has storage but a marble, light wood, or white coffee table would be so much better and would definitely help reflect light and brighten the room.
Shop living room decor:
As always, thank you so much for stopping by the blog today! I hope you found these tips to be helpful.
