There are so many advantages to having a home filled with natural light. It’s not only aesthetically easy on the eye and makes your home a pleasant place to be in, but it can also have huge health benefits and increase you and your family’s levels of productivity.

You may want to create a home that is light and bright throughout, or perhaps you’re simply trying to brighten up one of the inevitable dark spaces within your property. Either way, natural light is always going to be popular – either with you and your family, or potential buyers of your home.

Once your home is filled with natural light, you’ll probably notice several of your energy bills reducing. You’ll have less need for lights on during the day, and you’ll find that sunlight can naturally warm rooms for you.

So, what are the best ways to leverage natural light in your home?

Colours

If you’re redecorating or simply dedicated to leveraging the most natural light possible, aim to paint your walls white. If you’re not a fan of white, go for the brightest and lightest colours possible in order to keep natural light from being absorbed and to ensure your space maximizes the natural light available.

When painting, aim to use silk finish paint for maximum effect. This type of paint will reflect more light than standard varieties meaning your home will be simply shining.

Look Up

Many architects and building designers are now using sun tunnels as a great way of leveraging natural light and allowing it to fill your home. These are also known as tubular skylights, light tubes or sun pipes and they are very eco friendly. Excellent value for money, they are highly effective.

Sun tunnels are cylinders made of highly reflective materials which reach from the roof to the spaces below where light does not generally reach. They can travel for many metres through walls if required. Sun tunnels can bring light from 1 or 2 floors above into a space that previously may have been dark and unused.

Let the Sun In

Try and make your home as open to light as possible. One of the great ways to leverage natural light in homes with staircases is by making these as open as possible. Put a skylight on the landing and you’ll have light streaming down to the ground floor. You can also do this with attic conversions and ballustrades are used similarly to allow light to spread throughout your home.

Mirror Mirror

As well as using bright colours and reflective paint finishes, mirrors are an excellent way of leveraging natural light. They help to reflect light even into darker corners of a room and help to give a general feeling of light and bright space. You don’t need to go for large imposing mirrors if it doesn’t fit the style of your home, smaller models carefully positioned can work just as well.

New Windows

Nope, we don’t mean replacing all of the windows on your home – although giving them a thorough clean regularly will definitely help to allow as much light in as possible. One of the best way to light up interior rooms with no natural light is to install interior windows which can pull in light from next door rooms. The height of these windows will help to bring in light whilst also maintaining privacy. These work really well for bathrooms and children’s bedrooms.