Illumination – Light up your home with these bright ideas

As the cold winter months approach, it starts to become harder and harder for us to get the daily amount of natural light that we ideally need to stay healthy. Additionally, many of us spend our working days sat inside, staring at screens and leaving in the dark of an evening. This means it’s often easy to feel down and miserable at this time of year.

Are you thinking of ways to brighten up your property in the winter months? Take a look at the following short guide, with some tips and tricks on how to invite light into your home.

Inviting in and substituting light

In apartment builds, aside from having large windows, open floor space and brightly coloured pale walls that reflect light, property companies such as RW Invest use smart lighting techniques to help. Not only are these energy-efficient solutions that can save both the investor and the tenant money, but they can help to schedule light and make it appear more naturally around your daily routine. Smart lighting can be set as alarms, and to turn on and off in the morning and evening, emulating natural light and helping with positive wellbeing and sleep patterns.

Does your apartment feel dark and uninviting, and perhaps even a little claustrophobic? Think about some of the ways that you can get it feeling a bit neater and fresh. Start by clearing some of the clutter out, and dusting/cleaning the room thoroughly, removing and unwanted items and mess that could be an eyesore.

Once you've got that out of the way, you could take a broader look at your home, and see where gets the most and least amount of light at different parts throughout the day. Based on this, could you position some of your furniture better, or shift some of the rooms around so that they make a bit more sense. If a room that you spend most of your time is dim, while an uninhabited area gets a nice ray of sunshine through each afternoon, then perhaps see if there are any logical changes you can make, or even consider renovating to accommodate the light.

Still living in shadow?

Here are a few quick extra tips that you might consider:

• Ensure all of the windows in your home are clean. Often if a window has a layer of dirt, or even some marks, it might not look like it would have much of an effect, but it can obstruct some of the light from coming in. Even if your windows look as clean as a whistle, it’s still worth running a finger or cloth along them, as you’ll be surprised with the dirt they can attract.
• Add in some mirrorsor shiny ornaments into your home. It's a simple trick, and as long as you don't mind staring at yourself from multiple different angles as you walk around the house, it can reflect light into different areasand help to light it up nicely in some hard to reach places.
• Take a look at the garden surrounding your property, and any shrubbery, bushes or trees that might be obstructing your view. Maintaining your garden and removing obstructions from the window will ensure you’re doing the most to accommodate light from the outside.
• Get out in the garden! This obviously isn't an excellent solution, especially when the weather gets a bit miserable, but sitting outside or going for a walk for half an hour each day will make you feel a lot better. Even sitting on your phone and answering emails or having a brew outside can be beneficial.