Seattle and our surrounding environs average 201 cloudy days per year, but you know that – you live here. What we know are a few tricks brighten your home, whether you’re staging it to sell, or just looking to make it look more like it does on the other 164.
Lighten up your color palette. Dark colors absorb light, while lighter, brighter colors reflect it. If you’re not ready to repaint your walls white or light neutral color, furniture and drapes in light fabrics, bright printed throws or pillows in yellows or blues, and a few houseplants can have the same effect.
Skylights of almost any shape or size are light-drawing magnets. If they’re not an option for you, easier-to-install solar tubes (reflective pipes extending from the roof to the ceiling) are an ingenious way to suck as much natural light as possible into the rooms you use most.
Update your incandescent bulbs to warm, white LEDs. They mimic natural light, save electricity and come in a large variety of interesting shapes and sizes. Rooms without overhead lighting should have at least three points of light from floor or table lamps.
Adding windows is an obvious, if not always realistic solution; but clean panes and light, single- panel draperies make a big difference, as can trimming trees and shrubs that cover windows.
Add mirrors and high-gloss surfaces to reflect and increase natural and artificial light. Try wood floors, metallic cabinetry, and highly polished ceramic or recycled glass tiles.
Tip: Keep those light curtains closed on cloudy days to diffuse natural light and add a glow to create the illusion of better weather – and the very real possibility of a better mood.
