There may be a room in your house that is rather dark and depressing, however there are ways to brighten a dark room to making it more attractive and a more inviting space. If the room does not have the option of adding a window or skylight, there are various other ways you can play around with colour and texture to brighten up the room.

White or neutral colours – from walls, floors, and ceilings; paint the floor and ceiling white or use white tiles. The lighter floor surface will reflect light around the space. The white ceiling will also create a feeling of height and space – making the room feel light and airy. The lighter walls will make the room feel bigger.

Use colour – choosing a bright rug will bring brightness to the room and will draw you in and create a distraction to the darkness. Bringing other hints of colour through décor, cushions and paintings will immediately modernize the room and bring it to life.

Choose light furniture – if the room is dark, it is best to use natural and neutral colour furniture. Stay away from dark woods and black and stick to lighter furniture that is not bulky.

Lighting – embrace the natural light as far as possible by ensuring that nothing is blocking the light from coming in. For example ensure trees are cut back, and ensure furniture is not in front of windows. Place a tall white lampshade in the room, and use hanging lights to bring light into the room. While it may be tempting to use bright white lightbulbs, this can often create harsh lighting and you may want to use warm lighting to still create ambience in the room – unless of course you require the bight light for working and reading.

Add mirrors – adding mirrors to a dark room will reflect the light and make the room feel brighter. If the space has a window, it is a good idea to hang the mirror directly opposite the window to reflect the light across the room.

Clean windows – while this may seem obvious, but simply cleaning your windows will have a major effect on how much sunlight streams into the room.