How to make a dark bathroom look brighter
Home Decor Ideas: How to brighten up a dark bathroom
The overall ambience of any bathroom should be warm and inviting because this is one place where we get some private time. However, some bathrooms have access to limited natural light or are without windows. For such cases, we've come up with some tips that can effectively be used to brighten up the look of a dark bathroom.
Without making major structural changes, you can open up your bathroom to light. Photo credit: KatarzynaBialasiewicz/ Getty Images
Use Neutral Coloured Tiles
If the bathroom is under renovation and you have the option of changing the wall and floor tiles, then opt for neutral coloured base tiles and patterned tiles. The preferred colours are ivory, beige and white; consider bright coloured highlighter tiles to bring in a vibrant vibe. Complete the look with neutral coloured wall paint on the balance wall area and use white paint for the ceiling because it reflects a lot of light and looks bright.
Incorporate Layered Lighting
Extra lighting will be required within a dark bathroom because of the absence of any natural light. Therefore, consider a layered lighting scheme which combines ambient, task and accent lighting. The ambient lighting should include at least two ceiling mounted lights or pendant lights on the ceiling. For the task lighting, incorporate a mirror light above the mirror or preferably flank both sides of the mirror with bracket lights at eye level to prevent the formation of any shadows. Highlight the niches or any other design feature within the bathroom with accent lights. Introduce LED strip lights within the shelves, below a floating vanity or behind a mirror to create a floating effect.
Introduce Reflective Surfaces
Reflective and shimmering metallic surfaces are a great way to bounce light around the bathroom and give the space a brighter look. Introduce brass or chrome finish sanitary fixtures, light fixtures and mirror frames.
You can also consider gloss finish wall tiles which bounce light, add extra brightness and visually expand the bathroom space. Avoid using gloss finish tiles on the flooring as these tiles make the bathroom slippery.
Add Mirrors
A large expanse of mirror over the sink not only creates the illusion of a larger space but also adds instant brightness by reflecting the light source all across the bathroom. You can also incorporate a full-length mirror if space permits. Make sure two mirrors do not face each other because they create an infinite effect by forming multiple reflections in each mirror.
Install a Glass Shower Enclosure
Make the bathroom feel spacious by creating a framed or frameless glass shower enclosure in frosted, textured or clear glass. Glass shower enclosures add brightness to the shower area because they allow light to pass through. Also, make it a point to ventilate these bathrooms with an exhaust fan to expel foul odours and moisture.
How to Brighten a Bathroom - 7 Pro Tips
A Brighter Bath
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We spend a good chunk of time in our bathroom each day.
It’s an intimate space where we should feel at ease and at peace. Whether your bathroom is dark and dingy, or cramped and disorganized, there are simple ways to add light and space without hauling out the hammer or hiring a contractor. These seven affordable tips are tested by experts, and will provide inspiration for bathroom updates big and small.
istockphoto.com
A New Hue
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A fresh coat of paint (or two) can revive a dingy bathroom in record time. The only question is: what shade to go with? Typically, lighter hues bring a sense of light and airiness to enclosed spaces like bathrooms, especially if windows are small or non-existent. But don’t feel confined to white or off-white paint. Complement these bright neutrals with a bold contrast color, including black, pink, yellow, gray, and blue-green. For inspiration, we’ve turned to Sherwin-Williams. Their color experts paired simple white tile with Cascade, a dark teal paint, for an airy-yet-grounded wash room space.
Related: 10 Bathroom Improvements That Only Took Paint
sherwin-williams.com
Bring the Indoors In
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Orchids, succulents, cacti, air plants… there are many hardy varieties that will thrive in your bathroom. Plants can also keep bathrooms smelling fresh, thanks to their natural air-purifying powers. Choose plants best suited to your bathroom’s atmospheric conditions. Staghorn ferns are known to enjoy humid environments, as well as moderate light. Peace lilies can bloom several times a year, even in low-light conditions. Whatever plant you choose, learn about its care regime and cultivate your very own micro-garden in your bathroom.
Related: The 10 Best Plants for Your Bathroom
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Trick of the Eye
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Reflective surfaces play with light, tricking the eye into seeing more space than is really there.
Mirrors are one way of adding dimensionality and spaciousness to your bathroom. A frameless mirror is a good choice, as it blends into the surrounding walls, offering a sleek and neutral accessory you can pair with almost any color and décor style. In addition to mirrors, metallic finishes (on lighting, waste baskets, toilet brushes, and more) add subtle sheen and maximize light.
Related: 21 Clever Tricks to Make Your Home Look Bigger and Brighter
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Rethink Tile
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From floors and backsplashes to shower stalls, tile often is often the surface of choice in bathrooms. Porcelain is a subcategory of ceramic tile that has a greater ability to repel water, making it ideal for high-moisture surfaces, including showers and bathtub areas. But beyond classic porcelain, there are myriad tile options for brightening your bathroom and delivering luxury and durability—plus beauty. Vinyl tiles are another cost-effective choice, with many colors and textures available for bathroom floors and other surfaces.
Having trouble deciding which bathroom floor tile may be best? Compare the benefits of glass, linoleum, cork, stone, and more. Bottom line: lighter colors, clean grout lines, and water-repelling properties make tile of all kinds a solid choice for brightening your bathing space.
Related: 10 Shower Tile Ideas that Make a Splash
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No Window, No Problem
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Many interior bathrooms lack windows to provide adequate natural light. Fortunately, new innovations offer a range of affordable, eco-friendly, and natural-looking lights for even the darkest of bathrooms. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of lighting options, so we’ve got answers for the best bathroom lighting on the market today. Use a layered approach and incorporate ambient, task, and accent lights. For example, pair recessed lighting with wall sconces, and add candles for luxury and warmth. For an energy-efficient glow, choose LED or CFL bulbs that say “white,” “cool white,” or “daylight” on the label.
Related: Solved! The Best Bathroom Lighting
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Clean, Tidy, Organized
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There are three simple steps to add space to your bathroom: clean, tidy, organize. Even cramped bathrooms can magically appear larger and brighter thanks to a little elbow grease and the right storage options. Did you know a bathroom can smell brighter too? Essential oils of grapefruit, lavender, lemon, and peppermint can be found in soaps and natural cleaning and beauty products, adding a sparkly aroma to the air. Create visual clarity by clearing off countertops and stashing unsightly stuff (toilet paper, medicines) in jars, drawers, or a DIY vanity. If you don’t have enough built-in storage, use your imagination and make the most of space behind the door, above the toilet, and inside the shower/bath area. A shallow medicine cabinet can easily be replaced with a deeper, wall-mounted unit. What you gain in extra storage space will be amplified by uncluttered surfaces and functional design.
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Embrace Your Space
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The best tip of all? Work with the space you have, rather than against it. In practical terms, this means playing up the strengths—and downplaying the perceived weaknesses—of your bathroom. Dark and small? Use deep, bold colors with white contrast, for a look that is elegant and makes good use of shadows. Or choose monochrome tones that play up architectural features, like crown molding or a glass-encased shower. Add a few favorite photos or artwork to the walls, in sleek frames that complete your room with a personal touch.
Related: 10 Bathroom Trends You Might Regret
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Boost the Brightness
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Don't despair, a brighter bathroom is easily within reach.
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How to make a room brighter: photos and tips on how to make a dark room with a small window lighter and more spacious
Simple tricks to multiply the amount of incoming light and even make a dark room with windows to the north more spacious and lighter
In a typical high-rise building, an extra window is not " cut through”, there is no way to add natural light. Therefore, techniques of visual correction of space come to the rescue. Here's how to make a dark room bright and effectively multiply the sunlight.
VVDesign
1. Lighten up the background
If the room is gloomy, there is no point in aggravating the situation by using dark tones in interior design that absorb natural light. The correct decoration of the walls, ceiling and floor will help to make a dark room lighter.
Architectural studio Astar project
Shades do not have to be snow-white: just choose any light option.
Imagine that the built-in wardrobe in the photo was made of dark wood.
DSGN HUB
Important : be sure to make a light wall opposite the window. And do not try to hang dark pictures on it or move a dark rack to it - immediately ruin the main idea.
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IN YOUR CITY…
► Houzz can hire a designer or architect in any city or country. Start looking for a specialist
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Victoria Glaz
2. Use sunny shades
White walls certainly create a wonderful atmosphere on sunny days. But not in our latitudes, where half the days of the year you won’t even see the sun. If you do not want to enjoy the atmosphere of the gray sky in your own bedroom, choose the whole range of yellow and close tones for decoration. In a similar way, you can make a room lighter with wallpaper or paint - and then even on the dullest day it will seem to you that the sun has visited you.
Urazmetov Rustem
In the photo: the interior of this Moscow apartment is made in the colors of Mondrian's paintings, while the bedroom got yellow for a reason - it fills the owners with energy and optimism, even if the weather is cloudy outside the window
ECO CEILING INC
3. Let everything will be glossy - even the ceiling
A stretch ceiling will not fit into every interior, but it is guaranteed to bring the room, as in the photo, out of the status of a gloomy lair. By the way, to make the space of the room brighter, you can use paint with a metallic effect or foil hanging structures - the effect is comparable!
Well Done Interiors Olimpiada Arefieva
The same applies to semi-mirror and glossy furniture surfaces that distribute and multiply light. If possible, use as much gloss as possible in the setting - this will make the room more spacious and lighter.
Alexandra Tkacheva
4. Hang a mirror on the wall… of any room
Use the ancient mirror trick. The best solution is to hang it directly on the wall opposite the window. This will not only make the room much brighter, but also visually enlarge the space.
TS Design | Taras Bezrukov and Stas Samkovich
Ideally, when the mirror is placed opposite the window, it multiplies the amount of light.
5. Make the walls transparent…
Did you get an open-plan apartment? Do not risk losing the last rays of the sun behind a deaf interior partition.
BY TOPIC…
I wish I could: Showcase dressing room
Yuliya Telnova
To preserve light in the interior of a dark room, we strongly recommend glass blocks and frosted glass instead of solid partitions.
REMONSTROOM
6.
Dissolve furniture
Plastic tables and chairs, glass tops - transparent structures visually disappear, allowing light to freely pass through them.
Anne Chemineau - Decor Interieur
7. Get rid of dark furnishings
In general, there should not be dark and massive objects in the room: they prevent the penetration and distribution of light. Choose a bed, sofa or wardrobe in light colors. This does not mean that the room should look like a surgical department: build the interior on the nuances of warm pastel shades. In this case, inclusions of any bright colors are quite acceptable.
Bjurfors Göteborg
8. Remove curtains
If the window is small, it is better to do without any curtains. If you live on the first floor or your windows are well visible from neighboring apartments, choose a light organza. Through it, the light will be pleasantly scattered around the room.
Let the fabric flow from the ceiling to the floor (this will create the visual illusion of a larger window), and hang the curtain rod as high as possible.
Roman Spiridonov
9. Let sunbeams into the room
Sparkling chandeliers, crystal vases, thread curtain with decorative beads - a well-known recipe for brightening up a room and making it sparkle and shimmer in the sun.
MAKEdesign
10. Clean your windows
Cleaning windows is hardly anyone's favorite activity. However, if you have not touched the glass and the frame for a long time, conduct an experiment - wash the windows clean. We promise: it will make the room at least a little, but brighter.
This is archival material. First published in 2015, updated in 2021
6 simple tricks - INMYROOM
Tips
It happens that for various reasons there is not enough light in the interior.
What can be done in this case to make it light and comfortable? There are different techniques, which we will tell you more about
Living in a dark room is not very fun and comfortable. Besides experts believe that this has a bad effect on the mental and emotional state of a person. It often happens that, due to different causes light in your room is not enough. What can be done in this case to make it light and cozy?
There are various ways in which you can achieve a positive result.
Reception No. 1: color without borders
Of course, it is better to start with the repair of the premises. Because it gives the advantage of making the room brighter and more spacious.
Ideal if you want to paint the walls, ceiling and floor in light color. White color is wonderful! But pastel shades are nobody did not cancel. They are also relevant in this case.
The main thing is that all boundaries between planes are erased. Experts recommend choosing lighter paint or wallpaper options, as how in poor lighting they can appear a little darker.
For such spaces dark and gray shades are not suitable.
Reception #2: windows
If you do not plan to make repairs, you can audit in room. Start with a window. Especially if it is on the north side and Nearby there are trees that create shade. Near it it is not advisable to put a dark furniture.
It is better that there is nothing superfluous on the window, not even flowers. If a there is an opportunity to do without tulle - wonderful! If not, then use light tulle and light curtains (silk can be used).
Reception No. 3: furniture
Heavy and dark furniture should be abandoned, and indeed it's better when it's less. Choose a light, warm range. Glossy surface most suitable for furniture.
This way the light will be reflected and visually make the room lighter. A glass table, transparent plastic chairs. If there are lockers in the furniture, then it is better that they are also from glass.
Reception No. 4: mirrors
Mirrors serve as an additional source of light.
