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How to Brighten Up a Dark Room

Decorating

 Do you have a room in your home that doesn’t get a lot of natural light?   These rooms are already “light challenged”, but there are ways you can make these spaces appear lighter and brighter.  So, here are my tips to Brighten Up a Dark Room!   

 

paint the walls and trim

 
Summer Living Room 2015 - Ikea Ektorp Sofa

The most obvious way to brighten up a room is with paint!  Choose a light paint color for your walls!  It’s amazing how much brighter your space will look with a lighter shade on the walls and finish it off with bright white trim!  Most of the walls in my home are painted with Revere Pewter from Benjamin Moore.   It’s a greige shade – looking gray in some lighting and more beige in other lighting.  Below is a photo of this same color in my kitchen where it can look a little more beige.  I’m not a fan of grays that lean to a blue or green tone, and that’s why I love this neutral shade.  

Regardless of the color you choose for your walls, make sure it’s light and bright if your room doesn’t get a lot of natural light.  Test the paint color in multiple areas in each room, because paint can have a different look based on how much light that room gets.   Also, look at the paint swatches at different times of day.  For the white trim in my home, I use Benjamin Moore Simply White.  It’s a soft, warm white.  
 

Light Colored Furniture

 
The next tip to brighten up a dark room  is with your furniture.  Choose lighter shades of upholstered furniture.  When I began my blog, I had a dark green sofa.  It was a good quality sofa and I liked the green color, but I really wanted to brighten up my living room.  So, I sold that sofa and purchased an affordable option, the Ikea Ektorp sofa with a white slipcover.  Here’s a look at this space with the darker sofa. 
 
 
And, here’s the same space with the white slipcovered sofa from Ikea.
 

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I just love how it brightens up the room!  Even my husband, the skeptic, couldn’t stop saying how nice it looked and he even said “you were right” more than once!  

 

Keep Accessories Light & Bright

 

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Choose light and bright textiles for your space.  Airy white curtains, artwork with white space, and light colored fabrics for your pillows make such an impact in a room!   
 
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Paint a Piece of Furniture White

It’s also okay to paint a piece of furniture white, or a lighter shade.  In my living room, I painted the dark wood faux mantel in Simply White!   I didn’t want to paint my vintage library table or other wood pieces in my living room, so painting the mantel was an easy choice.  
 
 
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Add Flowers and Plants to Brighten a Space

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Whether real or faux, adding plants to a space can really brighten up a space!  If you’re going to go with faux, make sure you get one that’s as realistic as possible!  I chose to get a faux fiddle leaf fig after killing many real ones!  It just became too costly to keep buying real plants that only lasted six months!  So, in that case, a realistic faux gives me the look I want for the long haul!

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I hope these tips to brighten up a dark room helps you as you decorate your own home!
 
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. blankPamela Gordon says

    I love your new sofa and it really does brighten up your room. The new pillows are pretty and perfect! How I wish I'd bought a white sofa when we replaced ours a few years ago. Oh well, I have to live with it forever now. 🙂

    Reply

  4. blankchateau chic says

    Your new sofa changes the whole look of your living room…just lovely! The pillows you made are beautiful…love the linen. You must feel like you have a new room. And don't you just love it when you're right!! :-))
    Mary Alice

    Reply

  5. blankAnonymous says

    I have the same couch and I truly love it. I did find that I had to put other pillows under the bottom pillows. Also you are not supposed to put the slipcovers in the dryer so I had to iron them to get the wrinkles out. My kids are grown but I have 2 dogs and 2 cats so I have a white matelasse cover over it. It is easily removed when company comes. I would buy another one in a nanosecond.

    Reply

  6. blankAnonymous says

    Doreen, I have to admit, as much as I liked the color of your old sofa, this sofa does add a lift to your room and allows you more freedom to add some great pillows–which you did!
    Linda

    Reply

  11. blankNellie's Cozy place says

    What a beautiful and delightful room. It looks beautiful, and I love your sign over the sofa
    It looks so regal there. Also love your pretty botanical prints and really just the whole room.
    Lovely……….
    I had thought of purchasing one of their sofas too, but I found they had feather pillows and I am allergic to feathers, so was bummed about that………….cause I think it is a very classy looking sofa. So glad it has worked out well for you.

    Blessings, Nellie

    Reply

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