One of the criteria of an ideal living space is that it has adequate access to natural light. A sufficient amount of sunlight gives us comfort and brightens our mood instantly.
What should you do when your living room is shrouded in the dark due to the direction of the flat?
How can you introduce enough light into the living room? Deco-Man’s here to give you a few tips.
Shake up the colour scheme
The overall colour scheme of the living room should not be too boring or subdued.
Avoid using black, grey, navy and dark brown to decorate the living room, with the exception of a small amount of ornaments.
Be it the walls or the floor, use a soft and bright palette.
For the walls, use a colour scheme comprised of pure white, milky white, light beige and other fresher colours.
For the floor, use white tiles or wooden flooring. White tiles’ reflective quality is especially useful in dispersing light and brightening the whole room.
Furniture colouring
For dark living rooms, always avoid dark-coloured and large furniture. This is because furniture in dark tones absorb sunlight, and large furniture takes up space in the living room.
Furniture with these traits make the room feel claustrophobic and gloomy.
Tall and wide furniture in a dark colour is especially damaging to the living room’s sense of brightness.
When choosing furniture, opt for limpid, airy tones. White-coloured, wooden and metallic furniture has a translucent quality which increase the brightness of the living room.
Furniture with a short and narrow shape is the way to go.
It leave more space in the living room for you to move about, and lower the sense of crowdedness.
Other ways to bring the light in
Hanging lights and ceiling lights are good choices of lighting in the nighttime. For daytime, table lamps, floor lamps, wall lamps and downlights can help supplement an extra bit of light.
Lighting which emit dispersed light can add brightness to the living room in a gentle way.
Dispersed light is suitable for adding brightness to both large and small areas. At the same time, it lends the space an air of romance and harmony.
Renovation
The more direct, perhaps violent, way to let the light in is by renovation. When designing for the living room, remove walls that block out the source of light. Alternatively, you can replace the wall with translucent materials like gauze and glass.
