6 Ways to Make Your Home Feel Brighter Now

Some simple changes will make your home feel brighter immediately. Image: Tatum Brown

Spring is in full bloom! It’s a time of late sunsets and warm breezes, but you don’t need to step outside to soak up the season. Make your home feel brighter right now, and you can enjoy the freshness of the season indoors.

While “spring cleaning” is pretty standard, “spring redecorating” might sound like a whole different beast, but it can make all the difference in your home. Your redecorating doesn’t need to be major. With these six easy changes, you can make your home feel brighter and invite the spring season in.

Recessed lighting replicates natural lighting. Image: Echelon Custom Homes

1. Start with the basics: light sources

You’re ready to make your home feel brighter, and you can probably guess the best place to start. Lighting makes a world of difference. The more natural light you can bring into your home this spring, the better, but, where natural light falls short, think through how you fill in the gaps.

The higher a light is hung, the more it’s able to simulate natural light. Recessed lighting is a huge help in adding brightness. You don’t have to limit that light to your ceilings, either. Build recessed lighting into cabinets to add even more warmth.

Light curtains hung high on the wall maximizes natural light. Image: Parkyn Design

2. Minimize your window coverings

Window coverings can trap much of the light you want to bring into your home. On the contrary, light-colored, lightweight curtains hung high will make your windows feel open and airy.

If you normally have heavy or dark curtains hanging, consider swapping them out seasonally. This relatively easy change makes your home feel refreshed and ready for the warm months ahead.

Expand your living space to the outdoors. Image: Grandin Road

3. Explore outdoor living

Don’t limit yourself to the walls of your home. If you have outdoor space, use it. Setting out a few chairs where you can relax and enjoy the balmy spring evenings expands your living space to the outdoors, where you’ll find an abundance of brightness. You get extra points if you can set up your outdoor living area near an indoor one. Leaving the door open between the spaces connects the two, bringing that fresh feeling of the outdoors in.

Here are a handful of more ways you can help your home simulate the outdoors this spring.

Hanging mirrors reflect natural light, brightening the room. Image: Pegasus Builders

4. Hang mirrors to make your home feel brighter 

When you think about brightening your home, you think about adding light, right? Wouldn’t it be great if you could take the light you already have shining inside, and multiply it? There is: mirrors. Strategically place mirror art near windows and doors, where natural light is already abundant. The light will bounce off the mirror and into your home.

Adding legs to furniture brings airiness to a room. Image: Lisa Petrole

5. Elevate your furniture

Heavy, squat furniture doesn’t do you any favors when you’re trying to make your home feel airier. You don’t have to buy a whole new set of furniture, either. You can add new legs to couches and dressers, lifting them off the ground to add more breathing room around your furniture. Swap out clunky desk, coffee table, and dining table legs for something that can carry the weight of your furniture without adding visual weight to the room, like hairpin legs.

Plants add vibrancy to any room. Image: Kim Rodger Design

6. Decorate with plants

Spring is a season for new life. You want to make your home feel brighter to carry some of that newness of spring into your living spaces. What better way to do that than by actually bringing living things into your home? Decorating with plants adds vibrancy to any room. A simple orchid on the dining table or a small tree in the corner can be enough to make a room feel alive and energized.

Spring is here, bringing a perfect time to refresh and energize your home. Use these tips to make each room in your house feel bright and airy.

Have a favorite tip for bringing spring indoors? Leave a comment and let us know!

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Kacie Goff via Freshome.com - Interior Design & Architecture Magazine http://bit.ly/2GtwSKA