Don’t let the lights go out on your beautiful home this holiday season! As Daylight Savings Time inevitably comes to an end and the days get shorter, chances are you’ll feel the energy drain in your living space without a touch of man-made illumination. Because of this, it’s important to find ways to create more light in your home to maintain a bright and welcoming atmosphere all year long. After all, illumination – natural or electric – is critical to the overall style and vibe of your home.
If you know your home could use some lighting help but don’t know where to begin, the Star Furniture team is here to save the day and turn on the lights! Our trusted designers are eager to share their lighting tips with you. Here are 5 home decorating ideas to help you transition to shorter days without compromising the lightness and brightness that make your home look and feel fabulous.
Paint It Light
The color scheme that you choose to use within your home will set the tone for its overall ambiance. While you may love vibrant hues of orange or dark shades of gray, these color choices may not be the best in terms of creating living spaces that feel bright and airy, especially as the days become shorter. When it comes to brightening up any area of your home, the color of your walls, furniture, and upholstery matters. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to stick with lighter colors, particularly on the walls, in order to maximize the available natural and artificial light sources. This design technique is also useful when decorating rooms that are small or have limited natural light. Light colors can make spaces that feel dark or small give the illusion of being bigger and brighter than they are.
So which color choices work best? You can’t go wrong with soft neutrals, such as cream, gray, tan, or even white. Of course, for those of us who love to play with color, decorating exclusively with neutrals may sound like a nightmare. If this is the case for you, consider using a muted color, such as pastel green, blue, pink, or yellow. In addition, you can add pops of color in subtle ways through home accessories, such as accent pillows and wall hangings, without making the room feel dark. You can still make a bold statement while promoting the brightness you have in mind through the fall and winter months.
Mirrors Are Your Friend
Everyone wants to curate rooms that look like they were put together by a professional designer. When it comes to decorating like the experts, certain design tricks can have a big impact on the appearance of your living spaces while still being simple enough for individuals who are new to decorating to accomplish. One such technique is hanging mirrors with the intention of maximizing the available light within a room.
Mirrors can play a major role in helping your home look and feel its best, especially as daylight becomes scarce during the winter months. Decorating with mirrors may sound like a pretty straightforward process, but it actually requires some forethought and strategy. With so many sizes and styles of mirrors available, finding the perfect one to meet your specific budget and style needs will be a cinch. Knowing what to do with your mirror when you bring it home, however, is the tricky part. Here are some practical tips from the trusted Star Furniture design team to make the most of your light sources with mirrors:
- Position a mirror across from a window to allow any sunlight that flows in to bounce around the room.
- If the room doesn’t have a lot of windows or they’re on the small side, place a mirror near an artificial light source, such as a table lamp or wall sconce, without being directly in front of it.
- If possible, hang a mirror at an angle to distribute light into a dark area of the room, such as an empty corner.
- For rooms that are particularly dark and small, use an oversized mirror as the focal point of the space. This will help it feel bigger and brighter.
Choose “Barely There” Window Treatments
One of the most common decorating blunders that inexperienced home decorators make is choosing the wrong window treatments. While the right curtains can make a room feel polished and put together, the wrong ones can have the opposite effect. Worse still, the wrong window treatment can make your living space feel dark, gloomy, and closed in. The good news is that, in many cases, replacing your bulky curtain panels with ones that are “barely there” can make any area of your home instantly feel fresh, new, and, most importantly, bright. Keep these ideas in mind when looking for window dressings that will give your home a touch of privacy and style without obstructing the much-needed light:
- Stick with fabrics that are thin and flowy. Avoid ones that will make it difficult for light to penetrate, like black out curtains, unless, of course, it’s a bedroom where dark is desirable.
- If you want to take the natural light in a space to the next level, skip curtain panels altogether and choose simple window treatments, such as valances, that will give your windows a touch of style without making the room feel dark.
- Not a curtain person? No problem! Roman shades are a great alternative to curtains, providing privacy when you need them and being easy to pull up when you don’t.
- Heavy curtains have their place, like bedrooms or spaces where privacy is needed. Yet, we crave light after Daylight Savings Time passes! There’s a designer workaround. Be sure your drapery rods are 8-12 inches wider than the width of the window. This way, when the curtains are fully opened, they do not obscure the window, sunlight and views. There is ample “return” for curtain fabric on either side of the window.
Make Your Own Sunshine
You don’t have to have tons of oversized windows in your home to help your living spaces feel light, bright, and welcoming. With the right light fixtures, you can create your own sunshine all year long. For some homeowners, finding the ideal balance between a room that is overly bright and not bright enough can be tricky. The secret to achieving just the right amount of brightness in every area of your home comes down to knowing how you should layer your light sources. The Star Furniture experts are here to help make creating layers of illumination simple. Check out these easy tips to get started:
- Choose one ambient light source to create bright, overhead light when needed, such as a chandelier or ceiling fan.
- Sprinkle task lighting throughout the room to brighten up dark areas while making your daily tasks easier, such as table lamps on your bedside tables or a floor lamp next to the armchair in your living room.
- Use accent lights to highlight the focal points of the space, such as wall sconces directed at your artwork.
Get Your Shine On
Paint and mirrors aren’t the only features that can help maximize light in your home as the days get darker earlier. Believe it or not, the furniture and accessories you bring into your living spaces can also help you get your shine on. Along with your traditional wooden furniture and non-reflective accessories, be sure to incorporate glass and metallic pieces that will be more likely to distribute light from windows and lamps. Here are some reflective pieces from Star Furniture that our trusted designers love and we know you will too:
- This stunning Sienna Accent Table will add the perfect touch of brightness to your living room, bedroom, or home office.
- Enhance the style and illumination of your entryway or dining room with this Astaire 6 Door Cabinet with mirrored cabinets.
- Brimming with personality and shine, this Eloise Table Lamp will instantly make any area of your home look brighter and more sophisticated.
Star Furniture Can Help You Amp Up the Light in Your Home
A well-lit home is a happy home. Don’t wait until you’re sitting in the dark to think about the best ways to brighten up your living spaces this winter. Now’s the time to thoughtfully plan out how you’re going to achieve rooms that feel balanced, polished, and welcoming thanks to a few strategic lighting tips. By choosing a light color palette, using plenty of mirrors, incorporating “barely there” window treatments, layering your light sources, and finishing each room off with shiny accessories, you’ll be well on your way to designing a home that feels like sunshine, regardless of the season.
For everything you need to brighten things up in your home all year long, the knowledgeable designers at Star Furniture are here to help you every step of the way. You don’t have to tackle your home decorating projects alone. Stop by our showroom location or visit us online at any stage of your project and let us make your furniture shopping experience as smooth as possible. We look forward to helping you bring out the best of your home with our quality furnishings, including lamps and lighting solutions!
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