Great ways to brighten up a dark dining room

Dark dining room with black dining room table

If you don’t have a lot of natural daylight streaming into your dining room here are a few of our top tips to help brighten it up.

Bright kitchen diner with wooden dining table, chairs and dark rug

 

Crisp white walls

White reflects light – so the number one tip is to keep walls and the ceiling nice and white, crisp and clean. Light bounces around a white room and scatters light around the space. Build on the white theme by adding white curtains or blinds, white mirror frames or white framed artwork. This includes wiping down walls to keep them as white and bright as possible.

Pale wood dining table with matching spindle chairs in bright dining room with dark blue doors

Photo featuring: Branford Round Extending Dining Table – Oak

Pale wood and white furniture

Of course, a great way to introduce light into a room is by furnishing with light coloured or white furniture. A Scandinavian minimalist theme is perfect, the whole concept of Scandi style is to make the most of natural light and to use every means possible to bring yet more light into the room. The Scandi interior embraces sustainability so reclaimed wood furniture is hugely popular. Crafted from high quality light oak, we think the Scandi influenced round Wycombe oak extending table is a perfect choice. A round dining table set also works particularly well in a small space as it has no corners so it will make your space look bigger. The Chelwood Medium Reclaimed Wood Dining Table is another excellent option, with this trestle table you have the option of a wooden bench as opposed to individual chairs. As a bench has no back, again it will make the room appear brighter with less in it.

Photo featuring: Chelwood Medium Reclaimed Wood Dining Table

Layering lighting

If your dining space is in a kitchen you can place one or two glass table lamps on the top of a kitchen sideboard, hang fairy lights in dark areas or stand a floor lamp in a dark corner. Wall lights also work well as the light is concentrated on the walls -more eye level than a ceiling light, these work particularly well if they shine light down as well as up.

Photo featuring: Vance Neutral Lamp

Use a light floor rug

If you have a dark floor and want to bring more brightness into the room you can add a light coloured rug. With grey still a popular colour in interior style right now you will easily be able to find a light grey rug that suits most interior decor styles. It’s a neutral colour and will help break up and brighten dark flooring.

Add a bit of black and accent colours

A great way to make the white really pop is to add a couple of dark items to the room – we suggest adding a black pendant light – this works to make the white look whiter! A black pendant light works wonders over a reclaimed wood dining table as it distributes the light more evenly around the room. Bright and bold accent chairs will also help brighten the room – adding a burst of vibrant colour against the white will bring in another eye-catching contrast against the white.

Modern wing back chair in bright red in empty room with white walls and black hanging pendant lights