Want to bring some brightness to your home and not spend too much? Whether you’re staging your own home or you just want to live a happier life with better light quality, you can brighten up your home with these 5 budget-friendly tips.

Tip One

Remove the curtains and/or blinds This is our first go-to trick when staging a home that feels dark. In this case, the homeowner also painted the walls white for a major transformation with home staging. Here’s a before and after.

Tip Two

Bring in table and floor lamps Obviously, right? More lamps offer more light. You don’t need to spend a fortune on high-end chandeliers and and designer end-table lamps. You know all the affordable furniture & accessory websites: Wayfair, IKEA, Overstock, West Elm, and many more. We say shop local! Go check out the local second-hand and vintage stores. Here in the Berkshires, you can’t throw a lightbulb without hitting an antiques store. There’s also Goodwill.

TIP THREE

Lighten up your furniture If you can afford to go out and buy new sofas, chairs, ottomans, and rugs…terrific! If not, invest in a quality sofa cover that’s a lighter or brighter color. New bright pillow covers. A fresh white duvet cover. A lighter rug.

And when we say “lighten up your furniture” we also mean you can remove some of the clutter — curate your furniture. Create seating spaces that allow for easy movement and conversation areas. Use a light area rug to define the space and leave the surrounding space clear.

TIP FOUR

Work with what you’ve got Dark walls or paneling that you can’t or don’t want to transform? That’s okay. Look at the example below. The knotty-pines walls morphed from dark and heavy to a charming natural accent when we lightened up the furniture (and removed the curtains, of course).

TIP FIVE

Mirrors This is an age-old design technique. Glass mirrors are first documented in the 3rd century! Candle-holding mirrored sconces helped to brightened very dark rooms. (We stumbled on this history of the mirror…fascinating!) While we don’t use many mirrored candle sconces, we do place mirrors across from windows. We recently did this in a charming country house. We strategically placed 3 mirrors on different walls (the one below in a bookcase!). And we used a mirrored cocktail table.

BONUS TIP

Clean your windows 😂 You’re welcome.

Cover photo courtesy of Dan Alden Country Real Estate Services.