north facing livingroom

[user1471554919]

Hi everyone
This is my first post .
we have a north facing living room here goes ,
this room drives me mad ,there is no sun in this room due to me making my hubby invest in a orangery ,which by the way he was totally against .
We have to put main lights on all day long rain or shine .
This is really getting me down and im starting to argue with my hubby .He doesn't see a problem with the lack of light issue,
THB we have lived in this bungalow for 10 years and i have hated it from day 1 but hubby loves it .
street full of bungalows and all retired people ,no noise ,what more can you ask for .
We were going to sale it but couldn't find anything we liked in price range and i refuse to increase the mortgage .
hubby said we just keep wasting money on this house ,
help !!! . I feel like i have dark cloud sitting on my shoulders ,

I have a north facing sitting room,its quite long, with 2 windows in it. We need lights on most days unless particularly sunny. We have one wall where the log burner is painted in a dark teal colour, and the rest of the room in Dulux Timeless. Our furniture is mismatched but not dark, but what has really brightened it up is natural colour curtains and rug. It really lifts the room. Its the first time i have really loved my sitting room since we moved in 4 years ago!

We did look into skylight but wouldn't look right

I think we have dulux timeless in hall.
We have dulux light and space in lounge at present

Lighter furniture would help a little.
If you can afford to, move.

I had to move as it made me miserable!

Thanks for all your advice. I'm going to sand furniture and clear vanish it. I've arranged for brown leather sofa to go to charity shop.

That's not an orangery is it? It's an extension! Orangeries have much more glass in them, all that brick wall is blocking your light

conservatories are mostly glass . orangery is made of bricks and lantern roof for more use in the winter months . its got 3 good size windows and french doors

I would change the sofas and the clock to begin with and lighten the fire surrounding if you can.

I think you have two choices - either try to brighten up the room which will be quite hard work, or make a virtue of the lack of natural light and make it really cosy and snug - darker walls and warmer highlights and accessories, gold and brass rather than silver, etc.

Either way, I would invest in some uplights - all your current lights are pointing down. A few uplit lamps would make a difference. And I think the cream walls are doing you no favours as even the warmest cream will struggle with lack of natural light.

Agree with Darkhome change the furniture - it will make a lot of difference. My north facing living room is actually painted a very pale nude pink which makes it warmer as well as lighter. Yellow also works
well in our dark, no natural light hallway. We have a cream sofa and curtains too.

cream sofas and curtains are in living room not hall!

JassyRadlett I did have rose gold accessories and changed for mirrored silver thinking that would reflect the light better. How wrong was I.

averythinline
Thank you for the links. They were really helpful

Sand and wax just the tops of the furniture but paint the rest of it cream like that cupboard in the corner - Frenchic paint is brilliant.

Just a thought but what about painting the fence a lighter colour - it will reflect light in. And do you need the blinds in the conservatory?

Yea I pull the blinds down at night

I can’t exactly put my finger on it but the room just doesn’t look right, sorry. But I can see why it’s getting you down. It looks very enclosed.
The living room is very narrow. Could you swap the blue sofa with a less deep one? Also remove the rug and uncover more of the nice light wood floor.
Definitely get rid of the clock and the brown sofa. Keep everything light and not oversized - smaller dimensions will make the room look bigger. Make the room cosier with throws, cushions and texture but nothing too bright and jarring.
In the extension add lamps and plants to make cosier looking. Get rid of the red. Also think the fence could do with breaking up - perhaps a hedge of beech or laurel in front to disguise it.

White slatted wood blinds would look nice in the extension.

We embraced our north facing living room, painted it navy blue, put in dark furniture and have loads of lamps and clever Hue light strips to give it a soft glow. I love it. It's cosy in the winter and cool in the summer.

Hi peachgreen
Just wondering what are hue lights.

Tbh CoolShoeshine I don't have issue with size of room. I believe it's good size for bungalow living room 5.69 m x 4 m.
I've looked at many houses with smaller rooms. It's just the lack of light I have problem with

You can programme them to lots of colours so we have them on a nice warm peach.

I agree with pp's who say the furniture has to go. It is very heavy and just sucks the light out. Replace the coffee table for something like this www.kmart.com.au/product/coffee-table-oak-look/2086342.

Your parquet flooring looks glorious but we can't see it. The fireplace looks very dark. Can the bricks be whitewashed? Attic24 attic24.typepad.com/ has blog posts about dressing her mantlepiece seasonally. Something light, airy in design.

That thing over the fire needs to go and the black thing facing the fire. I think the mirror is quite wrong in size and shape. I would like to see a picture of an uncluttered design in a more elongated rectangle. Would old gold work as a colour in the curtains and the picture. Rich but not necessarily heavy. Your rose gold bits could accessorise. Also a picture on the smaller wall around the corner with a light directed to it.

You have quite a bit of pattern and movement in the floor. I would make much of the rest of the room quieter.

I don't mind this so much www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/stocksund-3-seat-sofa-tallmyra-blue-black-wood-s89129801/ I would prefer to see it in a paler colour but no black, greys or browns. But the legs give it a lighter feel.

In your little extension, the black and red are two very strong colours in a small space. And they suck light rather than reflect it. That takes a certain psychology to cope with, I think. I couldn't do it. I think take more colours from nature.

And yes, yes to painting the back fence to something more unobtrusive that would reflect light back in and planting plants that provide movement in the breeze.

I actually think the dark grey sofa is more of an issue than the brown one - cold but dark at the same time.

I'd paint the walls a warmer neutral and agree with gold accessories rather than silver - that gold lamp looks nice so maybe more like that.

The spotlights are quite harsh- I'd go for smaller lights (like the gold one) instead.