Light is magical inside any home. It can make a space feel larger. And it can also make a room feel warm and welcoming.
But how do you maximize the natural light in your living room — and in other rooms throughout your home? Here’s a look at several things you can do to harness the outdoors and make your living room as light and bright as possible.
Choose Light Colours
Start by choosing lighter shades over darker colours in your living room. Tones like beige, cream, or pastel yellow are ideal for harnessing light in a way that’s soft and gentle on the eyes. Incorporate these tones into your rugs, sofas, chairs and other décor. A white ceiling reflects light, which helps maximize the daylight that finds its way into your living room.
Use Soft Perimeter Lighting
You may think that overhead lighting is best for a living room, but this can be overbearing. Additionally, when you use harsh overhead lighting, it can actually draw attention to any lack of natural daylight inside your home. (This is one reason why roof windows are so effective — more on this below.)
Soft perimeter lighting is actually the best way to create even light throughout the room, creating a more natural effect.
To create perimeter lighting, look for standing lamps that fit with the overall style and design of your living room. If you can find two or three lamps (depending on the size of your living room) that fit nicely into your existing design scheme, those lamps should help contribute to your natural light source, rather than compete with it.
Organize Your Furniture Accordingly
Consider your light source, and how it will affect the day to day experience.
To do this, you want to see your living room from the eye of a photographer. What areas should be backlit, and what should receive direct sunlight? Communal zones like the couch work well in direct sunlight, while that cozy armchair where you like to sit and read is best enjoyed when the light comes from behind. Make sure to also avoid putting TVs and other screens in direct line of the light source to reduce any glare. After all, natural light can be a blessing in some zones and a nuisance in others.
Install Roof Windows
The single best way to maximize daylight in your living room: install roof windows. Roof windows allow for daylight to come flooding into your living room, which opens up all sorts of design possibilities. They create unparalleled light source, and create the sensation of bringing the outdoors in.
Adding roof windows create a drastic difference in your entire home experience. Just see the difference...
Before installing roof windows
After installing roof windows
Invest in the Right Roof Window Blinds
If you are redesigning your living room around light, you want to be able to control the light source. That’s why window coverings are so important.
Roof windows blinds can limit light in the middle of the day when you want a soft lit afternoon nap, and they can be left open in the evening when you want the fading, indirect light.
Roller blinds, roman blinds, and awning blinds are ideal window coverings for living room roof windows because they are style and functional. These blinds naturally harness and soften light to create a comfortable atmosphere.
These blinds can also be adjusted so you can modulate the amount of natural light in your living room at any given time.
Shop Roof Window Blinds
Are you in the market for windows blinds or other window coverings to help maximize natural light? The Roof Window Store has the ultimate online collection of roller blinds, roman blinds, and awning blinds that match your living room design.
Explore our blinds selection here.
