STYLING / Accessorising Rooms With Limited Natural Light
HOW TO DECORATE A ROOM WITH LIMITED NATURAL LIGHT
We've all got rooms in our homes that don't get as much natural light as we'd like. Whether north-facing, with a small window, or, simply existing in the UK during the winter months, it can be difficult to make certain spaces feel airy and inviting rather than dark and gloomy.
Here at Hortology, we're incredibly conscious of the light levels in a room to ensure the health of our plants is maintained. As well as curating a huge range of shade tolerant houseplants (that will cope well in low-light level rooms while looking incredible) we wanted to share with you some of our dark-room decor design tips to ensure your home feels bright, airy and energising in all seasons.
CLEAR WINDOW SILLS
As plant lovers, the temptation to fill every square inch of available window space with houseplants is strong and ever-present – but we must try and resist!
Having plants (or any other clutter) on the window sill will block light from coming into the room and create long cast shadows.
Instead keep plants around the edges of the room where they’ll get less intense sunlight but more consistent temperatures and enough filtered light to keep them in fine fettle.
One shade tolerant floor-standing show stopper will usually be a better choice than 5 or 6 smaller window-hoggers anyway.
METALLICS
When picking accessories for your dark spaces, choosing items that will reflect light around the room.
Metallic doesn’t have to mean silver and chrome (although they’re always welcomed) bronze, copper, gold and items with a glittery finish will offer benefits too.
GOLD FOR WARMTH
Whether you opt for a dark scheme and need to bring in light and bright metallics or for a light scheme and want to avoid looking overly sterile, warming gold is a must.
Accessorising with gold, bronze and brass gives warm bright accents that are welcomed in any north facing space.
EMBRACE THE DARKNESS
You don’t have to fight it - you could always embrace the lower light levels and accentuate them with deep, dramatic dark interior design colours.
Bringing in strong and confident dark colours can (somewhat counterintuitively) make the lack of natural light seem cosy and inviting rather than dim and dingy.
TONES OF GREY
Grey doesn’t have to be gloomy.
There’s a reason grey is incredibly popular a the moment – it’s transformed itself from its drab connotations into a fresh modern aesthetic.
Light greys will still reflect a good percentage of what their fully white counterparts would while being warmer, less sterile and offering a contemporary style to your spaces.
HIGH GLOSS
Finish affects colour.
Matt will absorb light and gloss reflects it.
Go glossy with darker colours and choose soft sheens for lighter tones (artificial lighting can glare off high sheen lighter tones).
Matt black is probably not your friend for this one.
WHITE
It goes without saying (but we’re saying it anyway) that using light colours can make a dark room look brighter.
White walls are major light reflectors so will enhance any natural or artificial light sources.
White accessories will have a similar effect - though understandably on a smaller scale.
LIGHT NEUTRALS
White everything can become quite sterile, so use neutrals like creams, greys and ivories add some warmth whilst lightening up your colour scheme at the same time.
Elegant. Modern. Minimalist.
Beige and green is a seriously lux colour combo...
BRIGHT
In dark spaces bright colours can take on a whole new feel.
Think about orange for a moment...
In direct and bright light it can be in your face and brash.
In darker spaces orange will still look impactful but often more sophisticated, classy and warming rather than in your face and shouty.
MIRROR SHINE
Bounce light back into the room by placing mirrored surfaces in the areas that get the most natural light.
Placing a mirror on the adjacent wall to your biggest window will reflect the most light and, following that, accessorising with mirrored reflective surfaces will help you to squeeze out every last photon.
TEXTURE AND PATTERN
Vibrant yellows and reds can inject excitement, brightness and vibrancy into dark rooms.
Break up big white walls with pattern and texture.
Do you know what’s great for adding pattern and texture?
Plants!
LOW LIGHT LIFE
Create indoor jungles even in low light areas with shade tolerant houseplants.
There are still a huge range of options to suit almost any space or style but pay extra attention to large and tall shade-tolerant houseplants that can make a massive statement in the corner of a room and hanging houseplants that can offer visual interest without cluttering spaces or casting harsh shadows.