How to Lighten Up Your Space
I am all about creating light and happy spaces for people to live and create memories in. The new year is a great time to review your home and see what needs a little lightening up.
I don’t know about you, but by the end of the holiday season, I am always a little bit antsy to have a reorganized house. Don’t get me wrong I love Christmas and the decor I have collected over the years brings me immense joy, but once the new year rolls around I am ready for a clean start. I always get a little giddy to tuck the decor back into its boxes and put my house back in order.
I like to look at the new year as a chance for a bit of pre-spring cleaning. And often while I'm returning my house to normal I like to look for little ways I can make it a little better. One of the easiest ways I have found to keep the joy of the holidays around even after the decor is gone is by lightening things up a bit. Today I am going to talk about five easy ways you can lighten up your space.
Option 1: Put up a mirror
I love adding mirrors to spaces for so many reasons! Not only do they help give the illusion of more space, but they also make the most of the light you already have. Placing a mirror near to or opposite a light source will help the light be amplified. Mirrors do a great job of spreading light in any space of your house, from an entryway to a hallway. A beautiful circular mirror, like the one featured here, provides a lovely focal point and brightens up an otherwise standard walkway.
Option 2: Ambient Lighting
If an area of your home is lacking brightness, take a look at your light sources. A dim room may be in need of a new lighting fixture to help it really shine (pun fully intended). I personally love statement fixtures that direct light around the room, like shown in this entryway. This piece is not only visually stunning, it sends light in multiple directions and completely livens up the space. Other sources of ambient lighting include wall sconces, floor lamps, or recessed fixtures. I love to use a combination of dimmable ambient light sources when designing a space to make sure all areas of a room and light and bright when you want and can be dimmed when you’re ready to start winding down for the night.
Option 3: Choose Lighter Colored Furniture
I love a bold statement piece of furniture but in order to keep a room from seeming too dark, you need to balance that piece with some lighter furniture. In this particular room, we chose to go with a stunning large black ottoman. I love how striking it is but I really wanted to keep the black from overwhelming the rest of the room. By picking grey chairs and a tan leather couch, I was able to balance the ottoman and leave an overall impression of brightness throughout the room. Consider bringing in a lighter side chair, ottoman, or loveseat if you have a room in your home full of dark furniture. You’ll be amazed at how much brighter that room will seem with just one or two light counterparts.
Option 4: Cover Darker floors with large (and light) area rugs
As you can see, I also opted for a large light grey area rug to sit underneath this beautiful black statement ottoman. I love this rug because it adds additional light to the room without taking anything away from the furniture. Bright area rugs can really do wonders to make a room seem more airy and bright than it might actually be. If you want your area rug to complement the existing decor in your room, I would recommend finding something light-colored with a small pattern. The subtle striping of this grey rug works wonderfully to brighten the space without becoming a focal point. However, if you are looking for your rug to be the center of your room, opt for a large pattern with softer colors like creams or greys.
Option 5: Paint walls white
It might seem obvious, but if there is an area of your home that needs some extra brightness, consider painting the wall white. The world of white paint is surprisingly vast and you’ll certainly hear a lot of differing opinions from designers on their favorite brand and finish of white paint. But that could be an entire blog post on its own so I’ll leave you with this: pure white paint is never a bad way to go. If you’re looking to get the most brightness out of a space that you can, choose white paint without undertones of blues or yellow. Pure white paint looks so crisp and timeless and is a really elegant neutral background for your furnishings and decor.
Lightening up your space doesn’t have to be a big undertaking. If you’re ready to take the plunge and repaint or refurnish your room, that’s great! But if you’re looking for a simpler and quicker fix, consider adding a lamp, rug, or mirror. I love the start of a new year and I love looking for ways to lighten up my home as the new year begins. I hope this post will inspire you! How are you going to lighten your home this year?
|With love, Liz
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