How to make your home look brighter and bigger

Autumn is here and soon the nights and even days will start to get darker and greyer, making our homes feel grim and unwelcoming. Natural light is one of the few things that your home can’t have too much of, especially when you are looking to sell. Light can make any space feel bigger and give a property a warm feeling and a sense of home. There are many things you can do to bring more light into your home without having to undertake a major renovation. We have some great and handy tips for sellers on how to make your home look brighter and, as a result, bigger.

Clever use of mirrors and reflections

Mirrors bounce light around a room and if you place a mirror across from a window, angled right, the natural light will be reflected into the darkest areas of the room.  Mirrors are wonderful for making a room look brighter and more spacious, but so are other shiny and reflective surfaces. In your living room or even bedroom, think about adding some metallic or mirrored furniture or accents to help reflect light around the room.

Stainless steel appliances in your kitchen combined with sleek white cabinets will make your kitchen look brighter.  In your kitchen and bathroom, you could also look at using glass tiles or backsplashes.  In the right conditions, glass tiles will reflect close to 100 percent of the light that hits them.  Instead of glass, you could also look at highly glossy ceramic tiles as these have nearly the same reflective effect.  When it comes to light reflection, the superior choice of tile is the subway tile but you can’t beat metallic backsplash tiles for maximum reflection.

Your choice of window dressing

We use curtains and blinds to block out the light but also for privacy, and even when opening your curtains before a viewing there are some rooms that just won’t be able to carry dark velvet drapes without the light being sucked away.  Think about swapping your window dressing for lighter shades and make sure that all blinds are fully open before viewings begin.

The best paint

Your choice of paint can transform any room, making it look cleaner, more relaxing, cosier and, of course, brighter.  It will be of no surprise that neutral shades such as whites and pastels will make a room look brighter, but whilst you’re deciding which colour to choose, leave testing splotches on your wall for over 24 hours, this way you will be able to see which looks the best in the differing light throughout the day.

The paint shade you choose for your interior walls is one way to reflect natural light back into your rooms.  Nothing is brighter than a white stain, which will also make your home look clean and fresh.  If you’re not a fan of white, look at the varying shades of off-white to see if that works better for you. But remember, this is the home you are leaving, so the colour should be chosen to enhance your home’s features and attract potential buyers – you can have fun with colour when you are settled in your new home.

Don’t forget your ceiling when you’re decorating. The reason most ceilings are white is that white reflects light, yet ceilings can often go unnoticed. Choose a matte finish for your ceilings, as this reduces the glare – plus, they don’t need the washability of gloss paints because they won’t get touched as much or filled with children’s wonderful and unexpected artwork!

Furniture

Sometimes it can be hard getting light into a dark room without adding a new window – you don’t have to go to such an expense, instead play with the light you already have. Angle your furniture towards the light so that it reflects off it, especially if it is pale in colour.  You may not be able to get more sunlight into your room but a large light coloured rug will help brighten it up, especially if you have darker floors.

Clutter also has a way of draining light from a room and making it feel claustrophobic and unwelcoming.  By decluttering, organising, and minimising the amount of furniture you have in a space, it will feel larger and brighter as a result.

Importance of light

Never forget the importance of light when selling your home, you don’t need to knock down walls to make a difference. If you want to understand the difference we can make to your selling experience, give our team a call today!