An abundance of natural light is one of the best ways to make an apartment feel inviting and expensive. Not every apartment has that luxury, however, so how do you make your apartment feel bright and warm with little or no natural light? Read on below for five great ways to fake natural light in a dark apartment.
Make existing windows into focal points
There’s a lot you can do to give the illusion of natural light in your apartment, but nothing can ever completely replace real natural light. If you have any source of natural light in your apartment, even a small one, try to turn that into a focal point of the space. If you use furniture and decorations the right way, you can draw the viewer’s eyes toward your existing windows and help the room feel lighter.
If you’re moving into a dark apartment, an easy starting point is to choose not to place any furniture in front of your windows. Add a set of curtains with a bold pattern or color or consider painting the window frame a different color if you’re allowed to. Finally, add a small plant or interesting decorative piece to the window.
Use multiple mirrors
It’s no secret that mirrors are one of the best ways to give the illusion of more natural light in your apartment, but this benefit can be compounded even more if you use multiple mirrors in the same room. This lets light reflect at more angles across the room, which helps your existing light fill the space better.
Use glossy surfaces to better reflect light
Similar to using mirrors, choosing glossy finishes for paint, furniture, and decorations can bounce light around your apartment and make the space feel better-lit than it might actually be. When using metal finishes, choose metals like stainless steel or brass as opposed to less shiny metals like copper or steel. As for wood pieces, choose pieces with a glossy varnish when possible.
Cool-toned lighting that fills the space
While warm-toned lighting is popular, the best lighting to create a natural feel in your apartment is cooler bulbs. These fill the space with light better and help create more of a daytime feel, which can be great for helping energize and keep you awake during the day.
Some color-changing light bulbs can switch from cool white to warm white to give you some additional flexibility. This will let you fill your apartment with cool, natural-feeling light during the day but soften it to warm light for when you just want to relax.
Nature scenes
Filling your apartment with nature imagery is another great way to bring the outdoors inside and make things feel more organic. There are many ways to do this, but the best will always be to have real plants in your apartment if possible. Not only do plants give a more natural feeling to your existing light, but certain ones can also improve the air quality in your apartment.
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