Let there be light: the best ways to welcome the sun into your home

You’ve just bought your dream house. The garden is fabulous, the kitchen is epic, there’s a nursery for the children (and more if you ever have the urge to expand your brood), there’s a study for quiet time and an en suite to boot. But there’s one problem: very little natural light!

Whether the canny vendor left all the lights on when you viewed the property or you simply overlooked the lack of light into your home at purchase time, don’t worry that your castle is currently replete with its very own dungeons. We’ve got some handy hints and tips to help you inject a bit of natural light – and the illusion of more space – in your home.

 

White Paint

You’ve heard it so many times it has become cliché, but it’s still true! Old houses are generally dark because the previous incumbent preferred patterned carpets and covered the walls in their favourite shade of purple. Don’t make these mistakes. If a room is dark, the solution is a neutral palette. Save those richer colours to accentuate, as opposed to making them the focus here.

First paint the ceiling white; that’s the most important bit. Next go for neutral colours on the walls that will make the room seem less suffocating. Now add more interesting shades. Grab some patterned cushions or a throw or perhaps a quirky lampshade. Voila!

 

Pruning

If you’ve just moved in, the front and back gardens might not be top of your priorities. That said, if the garden is overgrown, it really could be sucking the light from the downstairs rooms. Cut trees or bushes down yourself, or hire a professional and you’ll soon see the difference. You may hesitate (‘it’s winter’, you say) but often this is the simplest solution to a dark and foreboding room.

 

Replace thumbnail windows and create a panoramic view

It goes without saying that light will come into your home through the windows and doors. And if you have poky little portholes in your ground-floor rooms you may think that there isn’t anything to be done.

Think a little bigger, however, and you could not only add light to your home but serious value too. French windows and sliding patio doors once helped to make the boundary between outside and inside; light and dark that little bit less defined, but now there’s a new kid on the glass block – bi-fold doors. View some fantastic looking bifold doors here

Maximising light, increasing the sense of space, and turning the ground floor and garden into one open-plan room, folding bi-fold doors are a fantastic solution for homeowners looking to lighten up a home and revolutionise their style of living.