How to Brighten Up a Basement Apartment
Utilize Plants
Brighten up your basement apartment by decorating with a couple of good-sized, plants with large vivid leaves, placed near any natural light sources. If natural lighting is scarce, invest in shade plants or realistic faux plants or purchase a fluorescent bulb to place over your live plant.
Install Recessed Lighting
Opt for recessed lighting to further brighten the room and make it appear taller.
Make the Ceiling Look Higher
Basement ceilings are notoriously low, giving a cavern-like feel to the room. Brighten up your basement apartment by opening up the room, by making your ceiling look higher and your walls feel more open. A great way to achieve a more open, brighter look is with lighter colors. Select a light paint for your walls and then use a lighter tone of that same color to paint your ceiling. If you've got crown molding, paint it the same color as your walls. This will help maintain the appearance that your wall flows into the ceiling, which will make your ceiling appear higher.
Alternatively, you can elect to paint your ceiling with a high gloss or semi-gloss paint, which will draw the eyes up and give the effect of a much taller and brighter ceiling.
Mounting drapes close to the ceiling, if applicable, can also help make a room seem taller.
Decorate with Mirrors
Decorate with mirrors to help brighten up a basement room. Situate mirrors along a ceiling by the entryway or along a wall in such a way that they might reflect back any natural light spilling in from windows or doors.
While most basements don't have the luxury of full-size windows and tons of natural lighting, they usually have a couple of small windows that can be showcased to help better brighten the room.
Decorate with Low-Profile Furniture
Decorating with low-profile furniture in a small apartment helps create a more open space, which helps to brighten up a room. IKEA is a great source for low-profile sofas and beds. At the same time, invest in a tall, narrow book case, which will help heighten the ceiling.
Published by Nik Minor
Nik is a freelance writer, editor, law student, and small business owner. View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentMirrors and low profile furniture seem like especially good ideas. I'll say it again: I like the wide frame of reference.
I used to have one...the ol bachelor pad
gonna pass this on to my roomie-he lives in the basement and it does seem like a dungeon sometimes
Great info, cheers :)
Like the mirror idea.
You've got some fantastic tips here. Great write-up. Great work.