Feel Good Home: How to Make the Most of Summer’s Bright Light
Long days and abundant natural light are a glorious feature of summer, and these tips help your home capture and celebrate that brightness
At this time of year, the lengthening days treat the UK to abundant natural light. We gain more than three extra minutes of daylight each day as we head towards the summer solstice on June 21, when the amount of daylight peaks at more than 18 hours. So celebrate this sunny abundance and boost your mood, too, by capturing the light at home. These nine bright ideas and clever improvements will help your home look lighter now and throughout the year.
Provide privacy
Bare windows are not an option in any room that’s overlooked or needs to offer its users privacy, such as a bathroom. But you can still find a way to make much of the daylight while also keeping out prying eyes. Hang sheer, gauzy curtains or use frosted film on the lower half of the window; both allow light through but offer good levels of privacy.
Bare windows are not an option in any room that’s overlooked or needs to offer its users privacy, such as a bathroom. But you can still find a way to make much of the daylight while also keeping out prying eyes. Hang sheer, gauzy curtains or use frosted film on the lower half of the window; both allow light through but offer good levels of privacy.
Splash some white around
White is the best shade for reflecting light, which is why it’s so often used in Scandinavian homes. It makes the most of the meagre daylight available in northern Europe during winter and helps homes feel gloriously alive and bright during summer. A pot of white emulsion and an afternoon of your time is all it takes to create a backdrop that will bounce light around and feel beautifully airy.
Discover more about Scandinavian style
White is the best shade for reflecting light, which is why it’s so often used in Scandinavian homes. It makes the most of the meagre daylight available in northern Europe during winter and helps homes feel gloriously alive and bright during summer. A pot of white emulsion and an afternoon of your time is all it takes to create a backdrop that will bounce light around and feel beautifully airy.
Discover more about Scandinavian style
Hang a mirror
It’s an old trick, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. Hanging a mirror is a fantastic way to boost light levels, as it bounces natural light back into the room, turning a plain wall into a beautiful reflector.
It’s an old trick, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. Hanging a mirror is a fantastic way to boost light levels, as it bounces natural light back into the room, turning a plain wall into a beautiful reflector.
Paint the boards
The floor (along with the ceiling) is the next biggest surface in a room after the walls, so its colour will have a great influence on the overall feel of the space. Dark boards and materials can really suck up the light, but pale flooring will help reflect it. Paint floorboards white for a (reasonably) quick transformation.
The floor (along with the ceiling) is the next biggest surface in a room after the walls, so its colour will have a great influence on the overall feel of the space. Dark boards and materials can really suck up the light, but pale flooring will help reflect it. Paint floorboards white for a (reasonably) quick transformation.
Clean the windows
Nothing shows up the dirt on windows like the summer sun flooding through them. All that grime and dust not only looks grotty, it diminishes the impact of the season’s sunshine, so roll up your sleeves and give the glass a clean.
Nothing shows up the dirt on windows like the summer sun flooding through them. All that grime and dust not only looks grotty, it diminishes the impact of the season’s sunshine, so roll up your sleeves and give the glass a clean.
Tackle hard-to-reach glazing
Velux windows, skylights and contemporary, oversized glazing help pull lots of natural light into a home, but as with any window, they need cleaning. This can be difficult to do yourself, so hire a professional window cleaner to tackle all the inaccessible glazing in your home and watch as the sun comes pouring in.
Velux windows, skylights and contemporary, oversized glazing help pull lots of natural light into a home, but as with any window, they need cleaning. This can be difficult to do yourself, so hire a professional window cleaner to tackle all the inaccessible glazing in your home and watch as the sun comes pouring in.
Install glass divides
Consider replacing solid doors and partitions with glass alternatives to allow natural light to flow between rooms. This is a significant job, in terms of work and expense, but a really effective one.
Consider replacing solid doors and partitions with glass alternatives to allow natural light to flow between rooms. This is a significant job, in terms of work and expense, but a really effective one.
Add some sparkle
Pepper your home with sparkly, reflective materials that will catch the sunlight and make it twinkle. From a chandelier dripping with light-catching crystal to decorative pieces made from glass or sporting a shiny, metallic finish, have fun upping the sparkle content of your rooms.
TELL US…
Do you have any tips for maxing the daylight in your home? Share them in the Comments below.
Pepper your home with sparkly, reflective materials that will catch the sunlight and make it twinkle. From a chandelier dripping with light-catching crystal to decorative pieces made from glass or sporting a shiny, metallic finish, have fun upping the sparkle content of your rooms.
TELL US…
Do you have any tips for maxing the daylight in your home? Share them in the Comments below.
Heavy curtains help our homes stay cosy during winter, providing heat and draught insulation. Come summer, though, that job is no longer needed and they may in fact block out valuable daylight. So take down curtains and do without window treatments altogether during the summer months.
Alternatively, reduce the amount of light curtains obstruct by hanging them on a longer curtain pole that allows them to be pulled wide of the window, so that maximum daylight can flood in.
Check out more ways to work bare windows