Brighten Up Your Interior

family room photo

Brighten Up Your Interior

family room photoMaximizing the amount of light in your home is a great way to brighten your living areas, whether you are considering selling your home, or just wanting to update your current home.  Here are four suggestions of ways to brighten up the interior of your home:

  1. Are your windows older or inefficient?  Replacing them with more efficient models, and possibly adding or enlarging your window space while you are doing so will lighten up your living spaces instantly.  Making sure your windows are dual-pane will help to keep your home warmer in winter and cooler in the summer months, and if you are listing your home for sale, will be an upgrade that will interest potential buyers.
  1. Is your interior paint on the cool and bright color spectrum?  If not, consider repainting your interior walls in a lighter color. The trend in years past in the Valley of the Sun was darker colors in desert-themed shades.   These colors, while they did the job they were designed to do—accenting walls while being on trend—aren’t the best choice to reflect light and brighten your spaces.  An off-white or light gray shade can instantly lighten your home, with little money expended.  An added bonus if you’re listing your home for sale will be to make your home appear fresher and cleaner.
  1. Have you considered installing solar tunnels?  While skylights were popular in years past, they aren’t necessarily the most economical or waterproof option.    Solar tunnel lights, or tubular lights, are absolutely an economical choice (ranging from $500-$700 each) and they can be installed in a standard, non-concrete tile roof in a matter of a few hours.  A solar tunnel light is a shaft from the roof into the drywall ceiling of your home, and has a reflective coating in the tunnel itself.  A transparent lens sits on top of the roof and focuses daylight down into a lens in the ceiling itself.  Tunnel lights can be utilized to their best effect in kitchens, bathrooms, hallways and utility rooms—anywhere more natural light is needed.
  1. Does your home have an open floor plan?  If not, an easy way to increase the light in your home is to remove cabinets that block light from a kitchen window to an adjacent room, or vice versa.  This is a relatively simple and quick option that will not only increase the value of your home due to the resulting open floor plan feel, but will also increase the natural light throughout this area of your home.

Whether you choose one method or a few of these methods, going light and bright is a winning proposition for updating your home, or getting it ready for sale to maximize your resale value.   I have more tips for you that are specific to your home.