I always think a lovely light room is such a bonus, no-one likes to spend the day in a dark room without bright and welcoming daylight, so, if your bedroom or living room faces north it won't get sunlight and you will only get natural light with no warmth making the room feel colder - sometimes colder than it is outside. So, what should you do?
We know that people who employ interior designers are always amazed at what they can do with those dark dingy areas in houses, making the rooms, even the smallest in our homes the most inviting places to be, how we might ask, well one of the secrets they use is to introduce light, lots of light which brightens up and brings a warmth to your rooms.
Try to use the natural light
Even if the room you feel is the worst for light and maybe only has a small window - some daylight is bound to get in, remove anything that obstructs the window firstly so you can take advantage of the smallest bit of daylight, this could be things like plants, net curtains or heavy drapes, they should all be removed and use maybe a roller blind that can be up during the day or the voile curtains which should be set up either side of the window and therefore not covering the window at all just floating alongside to enhance the feeling of space and light, indeed by putting the voile to each side of the window just to the edge you will actually make the window look bigger than it actually is.
Making the most of natural light
Paint wise, always try to use light colours, magnolia, white or light pastel colours. Using dark colours certainly will not add any light to the room and make it look even darker than it actually is. Use light coloured furniture, not your dark wood, try using beech or even the trendy white wood, distressed furniture is very on trend and can really make a difference to a darkish room.
Daylight bulbs
Another answer to creating natural light is to buy some of your own sunshine in the way of daylight bulbs! These are designed to bring the same sort of brightness as natural daylight, they vary according to colour temperature and colour rendering and there is actually an index for this (CRI) very high tech. This type of light should have a rating of approximately 80% to get the best benefit from them with a colour temperature of 6000-65000k, they also come in variations such as LED, spiral bulbs, fluorescent tubes etc.
Jamie Johnson of FJP Investment added: Have you heard of the term "full spectrum light", this is a used for people who suffer with SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, which means they get depressed when they don't have enough sunlight or light around them. They are of course more expensive the normal daylight bulbs but worth it if you really need them.
What is the layered approach to lighting?
Quite simply, in any room, a single middle of the ceiling light bulb simply will not solve your problem of a dark room, so let's use the interior designer trick and use layered lighting.
Using a mix of ambient lighting (for illumination) and then desk lights or standard lamps will brighten and lighten the room, try using a bright white light bulb for the ceiling and then working your way down through the room at differing levels using softer lamps for your table and then your floor lamps. Uplighters are always great as well, if you have a plant in the corner of a room put a good bright fluorescent light behind it to illuminate what would have been a darkened comer, entwine fairy lights into your plants or decorations or behind pictures to ass that extra warmth to the room.
Lamp shades
Obviously the clearer and simpler your lamp shades are, the easier it is for the light to penetrate the room, most shades are used to diffuse the glare of bulbs - however, if you are trying to create the feeling of light and warmth into a room then you don't need that, you need as much light from that bulb to enter the room as possible.
Light up your cupboards
North facing rooms affect every area of that room which of course includes cupboards, cabinets making finding things even when the sun is shining outside difficult to lay your hands on what you are looking for - so lighten them up!
Get the LED lights that as soon as you partially open a cupboard light up, very easy to install as they are generally just strips that adhere to a surface, fit them to your cabinets, wardrobes or storage spaces that are perhaps in corners that het no light at all,
So, the moral of the story is, if you don't have natural light in your room - create it cheaply and safely and feel better about your living areas.
FJP Investment is a leading provider of UK and Overseas property investments. Opportunities include nursing home investments.
