How to Make Your Apartment Brighter: Tips from Professionals

If your apartment lacks light, you don’t have to prepare for a move. The problem can be solved with updated finishing and design tricks. We share the most popular ideas today.

Create a Light Background

Designers keep repeating that light-colored wall finishing is the solution for apartments that can’t boast large windows. There are many white and cream shades to choose from, matching every taste.

Advice from Anastasia Ushakova: Use white in the finishing of window sills, baseboards, doors, and ceiling cornices. But that’s not enough: soft furniture should also be light-colored. Choose one-color upholstery in cream or light gray for sofas and armchairs.

Use Citrus Tones

Using vibrant citrus tones, you play with the brain. These colors are associated with summer, sunshine, and warmth – a flat with such a color palette can never be dark.

Advice from Nadezhda Zотовaya: Don’t be afraid to use bright paint colors – yellow, orange, and their combinations. They bring a feeling of energy and cheerfulness, which is often missing in our climate conditions. Add vibrant details to the interior, but remember: there shouldn’t be too few of them or they might get lost.

Install Transparent Walls

In many apartments, the zoning problem is solved by building additional partitions. The amount of natural light in this case tends to zero. To avoid disappointment with the reconfiguration, use glass partitions.

Advice from Valeriya Dzюba: Installing a metal partition with tempered safety glass will allow you to zone the space. When reconfiguring the room, consider all limitations and plan ventilation.

Surround Yourself with Mirrors

The more mirrors on the walls, the more light they reflect and scatter in the space. What about the idea of a mirror wall?

Advice from Dao decor: A mirror wall in the headboard not only expands a small space but also maximizes the amount of light. For a stronger effect, use furniture with mirror finishes: for example, stylish bedside tables with drawers.

Use Transparent Furniture

Transparent plastic furniture is a real find for small apartments with insufficient light. Tables, chairs, and shelves appear weightless and cast no shadows.

Advice from Inna Fineishteyn and Lina Kalaeva: Transparent Ghost chairs will fit any interior. But replacing all furniture with plastic is boring. What to do then? Look at mesh metal models – they also let light through and bring variety to the interior.

Do Away with Curtains on Windows

If your apartment is not located on a high floor and trees grow in front of the windows, the issue of natural light becomes one of the most pressing. What to do? Completely give up not only heavy curtains but also semi-transparent blinds.

Advice from Nastya Antonyuk: If you’re not ready to live with “bare” windows (which is especially uncomfortable on lower floors), use roller blinds. During the day, you can fully roll them up to let in sunlight, and in the evening – quickly create a cozy atmosphere.

On the cover: Design project by Anastasia Ushakova