Bright lounge ideas for your home
Find that your friends would rather go for a walk in the park than sit and have a cuppa with you in your lounge? Do you children say they feel depressed after being in your sitting room for an hour or so? Does your dog refuse to go in there, ever? Then have you ever considered your lounge may just be a tad on the gloomy side? If you have, and you want someone to talk to when you’re sitting in there again, there read our following five easy bright lounge ideas to add some warmth and light into what should be a family room after all.
1. Paint a neutral palette
One of the easiest ways to inject some brightness into a room is to repaint in a neutral palette. That’s because colour immediately changes the mood in a room. When we say neutral, don’t worry we’re not talking Magnolia (yawn). No, there are plenty of lovely neutral shades around to choose from. For instance, Farrow and Ball’s latest collection includes the very lovely ‘pinkish’ Peignoir.
2. Bring in bright curtains
Windows and how much healthy sunlight comes streaming in is the key to having a bright lounge. So don’t block it out with heavy, dark drapes. There are so many gorgeous patterns and colours around to choose from today (such as these Richard Barrie Enchanted Curtains that it could potentially take you days to manage to whittle them all down to just one favourite. If you can afford it buy a heavier pair for winter too (but keep them bright!). Meanwhile, getting matching cushions made up from the same fabric is great for a co-ordinated look.
3. Get some greenery
It’s amazing how having a plant or two in your lounge can really brighten it up – especially if you sit it in a light or bright container. Succulents, cheese plants and other non-flowering species blend in with most décor styles and look pretty sophisticated in their own right. Meanwhile having plants in a room also helps filter out chemical toxins from items such as air fresheners and furniture wipes.
4. Add some bright artwork
These Gunga dancers by artist Bella Pieroni make us want to move around and freely shake our arms around just looking at them. A print of contemporary art such as this won’t fail to cheer up anyone who looks at it. The beauty of it is that it has movement as well as colour, so works on two levels.
5. Layer your lighting
Altering your lighting is the quickest way to make sure there are no gloomy corners in your lounge. Interior designers recommend using three types of lighting:
• Accent. Your main ceiling light – whether a chandelier or spot lights
• Task. Lighting which allows you to do things such as a table lamp to read
• Ambient. Lighting which isn’t strictly necessary but gives off a glow and creates a mood such as under cabinet lighting.
Even if you try just one of the above ideas it’ll help remove that gloom from your room.
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