Many people are spending more time at home, especially in the darker days of winter. If your interior resembles a dark and gloomy cave, is it any wonder when your energy and mood start to lag?

Fortunately, you can revitalize your spirits and spruce up your castle by inviting in the sunshine. Here are 10 tips for filling your home with natural light.

1. Go Gauzy

A home with tiny windows is no place for blackout curtains. If you must have a dressing at all, stick to thin, gauzy versions. 

These protect your privacy by hiding the details of your naked body as you make the mad dash from the shower to your bedroom to dress, but they won’t make your interior resemble a funeral parlor.

2. Add a Thin Coat of Film

Better yet, why not get rid of the curtains altogether? You can still protect your privacy with a one-way film that blocks your interior from prying eyes.

This stuff comes with added perks. Your leather couch won’t fade as much as the film blocks many of the sun’s UV rays. You’ll also protect wooden furnishings and floors from fading.

3. Hang a Mirror

Do you inhabit a tiny pad with only one or two windows? Take a lesson from the moon. Although it creates no illumination, people can still see it in the nighttime sky because it reflects the sun.

You can create this illusion in your interior design by hanging a mirror opposite the window that gets the most sun. The reflective surface will catch the rays, distributing light more evenly around the room. You can even use vases and glass sculptures to cast rays into otherwise dim, spooky corners.

4. Declutter

That collection of figurines belongs on display – just not on your windowsill. Lining your windows with objects blocks your light. If you have objects blocking sunlight, it’s time to consider decluttering your home.

Decluttering creates a cleaner, more open appearance overall. Take a tip from professional organizers and tackle one room at a time. Divide objects into three piles: keep, donate/sell, and recycle. The more open space you have, the roomier and brighter each space will appear.

5. Make Your Glass Sparkle

If your windows are covered in spots, any light flowing into your abode gets filtered through a foggy film. Let the sun’s rays stream in unimpeded by cleaning your windows until they shine.

You don’t need any specialty products. A plain white distilled vinegar solution does the trick without a single chemical additive.

6. Slap on Some Fresh Paint

Maybe you went through a goth phase and painted everything black. While you might have a bear of a chore covering up the old job, redoing your walls a paler shade creates the illusion of more light.

Pro-tip: You probably won’t get away with a single coat of primer. Double up on that stuff. You might even need to put on a coat of primer, paint, prime the work again, then finish the job if you have a particularly bright red or dark hue to cover.

7. Look Down

That dark carpet hides all but the most egregious stains. It also makes your living room look like a dungeon.

Remember: light reflects, whereas dark absorbs the sun’s rays. Redoing your floors in pine-colored wood brightens your interior. Another option is a light, reflective surface like marble or tile. White carpets look elegant – until that first stain. Consider your lifestyle. The fuzzy option probably won’t work if you have energetic puppies who live to roll in the dirt.

8. Add a Skylight

It isn’t as hard as you think to add a skylight. They can make rows of townhomes that look gloomy from the outside appear gigantic on the inside.

Believe it or not, you can DIY smaller ones that don’t require you to cut into your roof beams. However, you will need an extra set of hands to help you with the heavy lifting and maneuvering the skylight into place. Of course, you can also call in a contractor if you lack confidence or simply don’t like heights.

9. Tear Down That Wall

Does your home have a partition wall – not a load-bearing one – between one of your few windows and most of your living space? You can distribute the light over a wider area by taking it down.

Another option to capture light from another room is to add a cutout “picture window” style opening between rooms. Many people do this between their dining room and kitchen to draw more light into the cooking area while making serving dinner as easy as passing plates across a counter.

10. Think Inside-Outside Spaces

Finally, if your home has a deck or patio, consider enclosing it. Then, you can open your interior doors and let in the sunshine.

You can go a step further by making removable plexiglass inserts that transform the space into a miniature “Florida room” in the wintertime. That way, you can make better use of the abbreviated sunlight hours.

Fill Your Home With Natural Light

People are spending more time at home these days. Your interior design – particularly the brightness of your abode – influences your overall mood and comfort level.

The sunnier you make your house, the better you’ll feel. Fill your home with natural light using the 10 tips above.