Dark room - any ideas on how to make it lighter?

[Rowana]

The dark room is the one in the diagram with no furniture in it. The problem is the window for the that room is not very large and the room is a middle/internal room in the house. I have thought about taking the wall down (marked with red dotted line) and replacing it with crittle doors or putting in French doors for light but that’s not ideal. The blue lines are windows and there’s another room the other side of the ‘dark’ room that we can’t knock through to so there’s no scope to put another window in it.

The two problems are I want the two rooms to remain separate/private from each other as one is used for visiting guests (has a sofa bed in it) and also the sofa in the lounge needs to go against the wall which we could take down (furniture can’t be rearranged as it’s the only way it fits!) It’s already painted white and has a light coloured carpet.

I’m at a complete dead end on what I can do. Has anyone found a way round a similar problem with an internal room?

I can’t embrace the darkness. Dc use it for studying (it’s a real multi-purpose room!) and keep moaning it’s too dark If it was a snug or something like that I absolutely would. A friend has navy walls in their lounge and they are lush. In the winter it’s not an issue as by the time they are back from school it’s dark anyway. It’s now that it’s summer and they are both working in the day (revising - in between moaning about revig) that the lack of light is an issue. Also, thinking ahead to the days when they are off to uni , I think I will have it as a craft room and it’s too gloomy for that too!

What is outside the window? If there is a wall or fence, you can paint them white and/or use garden mirrors to reflect light into the room. If you combine that with a mirror in the room opposite the window and use light reflective paint, that will maximise the light levels. Make sure there are no curtains, voiles or blinds covering any part of the window too. I was shocked how much lighter my room became when I took down my roman blinds for cleaning. I could actually see the change in light levels in the room as I lifted them away from the window. It was like when the sun comes out from behind a cloud.

If that still isn't enough (or in the interim), a desk lamp with a daylight bulb for task lighting will help. You don't need the whole room to be light and bright, just the workspace. In fact, you could embrace the darkness, paint it navy, and just have a daylight desk lamp instead. Sometimes painting a dark room white will make it feel far gloomier than it is, especially if it is contrast to the rest of the house. There may well be a psychological element to the problem too, that it "feels" darker than it is IYSWIM.

Swap the rooms around? Make the dark room a luxurious lounge for TV watching etc?

How big are the rooms? I agree with a pp that you could swap the rooms around. I have a dining room that's naturally light and a playroom that's fairly dark. We've put in extra lighting, painted the walls light and at some point will change the carpet but I am planning that when dc are at secondary school and need to do lots of homework we'll just swap the two rooms around for a few years.

Paint it dark red, get each child a lovely bright (brass) desk lamp and refer to it as the library!
Truly, if they need more light to study the decor is not going to sort it- it needs to be good task lighting. And it will feel less gloomy once you embrace the dark and paint it.

No, swapping isn’t an option as the only log burner is in the front room so that needs to stay the lounge. Plus the lounge gets used a lot more by the whole family so the ‘nicer’ of the two rooms should be the one everyone uses I think iyswim.

I think I might get some colour on the wall, try and make the room a bit more of a room with purpose rather than the bland white box it is now. Thanks everyone for prompting me to be brave! Will discuss colours with dc tomorrow.

Change the window to French doors. Put in spotlights.

Have you looked into getting a lightpipe fitted? I'm thinking of doing this in my dark hallway. There are various brands but this is one:
www.syneco.co.uk/solarspot/products-residential

@Rowana
Some pics here:
www.syneco.co.uk/solarspot/installation/showcase

@freaklikemeee thanks! I have wondered about it but have no idea about cost. Have you got that far with your research yet?

@Rowena Sadly no costings yet as it's on my 'to do someday' list with other things taking priority.

Just found some example prices here, but presume that doesn't include installation:
www.syneco.co.uk/solarspot/products-residential/d-38-prices

Installation starts at £250
www.syneco.co.uk/solarspot/installation/finding-an-installer

Thanks!

Not being funny but have you tried adding lights? We bought some led strips from screw fix and they do a great job of improving the light levels without feeling like the lights are on in a dark room. I think the tape is quite cheap and you can cut to length, and stick it anywhere really.

Johnd2 - yes I do think we need to address the lighting in there too. Not sure quite how yet!

There are plenty of ideas online. Some people plaster edges into the ceiling and whatnot and hide them there, but for diy the easiest would be to get some shelves with a front edge and hide them behind, or even put them on top like uplighters.

A big mirror? Opposite the window?

Just read somewhere recently that you need to put the big mirror (s) perpendicular to the window to bounce most light around to the darkest corners otherwise you just bounce it straight back out / at the brightest spot - probably same principle as to why the convex mirrors are recommended. Is the hall way bright - does sun come down the stairwell or from front or back door to bounce around? Could you take down the hall wall and replace with a glass wall similar to an office - or even a glass single or double doors?

Or put in internal floor to ceiling glass panel window (s) between front room and back room? which have a blind to hide chaos when needed.