From the aesthetic to the mental benefits, natural light is a highly-desired element to have permeating your home. Natural lighting can improve moods, aid our sleep cycles, reduced eye strain, and promote better decision making. It can also make us more productive, as evidenced in a study discussed in Psychology Today. Unfortunately, many apartments and homes can still benefit from increased light from outside. If this sounds familiar, keep reading to learn Coccia Real Estate’s tips to increase the natural light in a room or throughout your home.
Turn Your Home’s Color Palette from Dark to Light Colors
Beyond creating larger windows in your home, one of the biggest changes that can be made to a room is its color scheme. Light is absorbed by darker colors, and reflected by lighter colors. So, the darker your room, the less light travelling through the space. Of course, this isn’t the best of news for those looking for a more gothic style of home, but we will highlight a few options below for those wanting a dark color theme.
Examine the Window Treatments
Window treatments and curtains add a sense of style and elegance to a room, often serving as one of the fine details that pull everything together. But they’re also the closest obstruction to windows. If you’re using heavy or dark curtains or treatments, light will be significantly harder to filter through than the use of sheer, light materials. Sheer curtains can still provide the same great style of your previous set, while window blinds or shutters are excellent options for providing flexibility.
Utilize Glass Throughout the Home
Any time you incorporate a door into a room, you’re cutting off another source of light. So, where possible, remove doors and incorporate glass. If there is a potential issue of privacy, instead incorporate another element of design into your home with glass that has etched designs. They’ll still allow light to travel from one room to the other, while also adding an aesthetic element. Glass tables and end tables will also aid in the amount of light a room is exposed to.
Reflect Natural Lighting Throughout the Room
Before the days of electricity, your lighting needs were either from flame, windows, or skylight. Since we’re looking for natural light that won’t potentially burn the house down or cost thousands of dollars to remodel the house, here’s the next best option: mirrors and reflective metals. Any object with high reflectivity is going to brighten up a room, no matter the color scheme. This includes clear acrylic furniture, brass fixtures, and gold or silver knobs and picture frames. Here are some tips specifically for taking advantage of reflective services:
- No matter the style, a large wall mirror is a perfect touch near the entryway.
- Choose thicker glass options for better appearance and durability.
- In dark rooms, add a large mirror at the end of the hallway to create the illusion of a longer hallway.
- Mirrors of the same size can be placed across the room from each other, increasing both light and depth.
- Use wood-framed mirrors of appropriate style to match the color scheme of the rest of the room. In darker colored rooms, dark woods are particularly effective.
Get Help Staging Your Home for a Sale in NJ
At Coccia Real Estate Group, every day we help sell homes in East Hanover, Hanover Township, Florham Park, Parsippany, and throughout northern New Jersey. If you are in need of an agent who can help expertly stage and sell your home, contact us today at (973) 887-2500.
