If there?s a room in your house that looks eternally gloomy and dark ? no matter how bright it is outside, there are plenty of tricks you can use to breathe more light into the space. From making the most of natural light to sneaky cheats that create the illusion of light, Easyshed promises you even the dingiest room can appear bright and airy.

Prune those trees

Ensure that if there aren?t any large trees or high hedges outside your windows, that they are pruned down and thinned. Trees and hedges, although they create privacy, block out a lot of light.

Be creative with lighting

Ceiling lights, lamps on tables and the floor and where possible incorporate low level lighting, for example under cabinets. This combination of lighting will allow you to not only set the mood in the room, but will enable you to brighten darker corners and most importantly, when all of the lights are switched on, a light and bright room.

 Use Floor Lamps

Invest in a couple of floor lamps with bright light bulbs to light the areas of the room that are particularly dark.

Go open-plan

If you are building or renovating, consider putting in roof lights that will filter sunlight through into the darker corners of your home. Another consideration, if your kitchen, living and dining rooms are smaller, would be to knock down the dividing walls and create a more open plan design, allowing the natural light to flow.

 Open your curtains

Dress curtains well back from the windows, so that they don?t cover the windows when they are open. Ideally create wall-to-wall curtain treatments which cover the walls on either side of a window, which maximises light through the window, but also implies much larger windows in a room.

 Go Sheer

Sheer curtains can also help to open up a room. Avoid heavy curtains and instead opt for light coloured linens and to make the window feel bigger and brighter make sure the curtains reach all the way to the floor.

 Hang Mirrors

Use mirrors to reflect light. Mirrors are a great way to make your room feel bigger and brighter. Either place a mirror opposite the window to reflect light into the room, or place two mirrors on opposite walls to reflect light off each other.

 Keep Things Light

Keep the walls, ceiling and floors a light/bright colour. Dark ceilings especially can make a room feel dark and heavy, so use a light colour on all the walls, ceiling and floor and the light will bounce all around the space, rather than being absorbed by the dark colours.

 Get Reflective

Avoid heavy dark furniture, instead, use light reflecting items, such as a mirrored table. Perspex and glass furniture is great, too. These items will appear to take up less space and light and make the room feel bigger and brighter.

 Go Minimal

De-clutter the space. Clutter absorbs light and space making the room feel small and dark, so only keep a few interesting/ meaningful items on display and store everything else away.