Brightening a small room with Litecraft

For ages I wasn’t especially bothered about home décor. I never really went through the supposed “nesting” stage of pregnancy. More recently I’ve really been getting into it though. Like many things in modern life Instagram is the reason, and to a lesser extent Pinterest (which I’m still determined to get to grips with). Accounts like All That Is She and Me and Orla are both aspirational/inspirational but more importantly attainable (or that buzzword: relatable). Both accounts aren’t strictly home décor but you do get a peak inside their homes. They both have modest yet incredible sense of style and design. Their IG feeds are wonderful. I could go on about this, perhaps I will in another post, but I’ll stop now but do check out their accounts.

We live in a house built in the 1950s. The house was constructed for the coal mining community in the area, so it’s small yet very practical. The kitchen wasn’t yet the main focus of family life so there’s not much space been allocated to it and unfortunately there’s no room to create a dining area. Our living-room however is bigger, not huge but big enough. It’s also an odd L-shape and the previous occupants created a separate space by lifting the floor up slightly. It looks like there’s now two different areas separated by a step. While this can be a bit of a pain, (we daren’t look under there to see what they’ve actually done) it does mean we have a dining/work area.

My designated dining/work area is bijou but I’ve tried to make the most of it by adding some beautiful lights from Litecraft*. One of the simplest and most effective ways of changing the feel of a space is by adding lighting. You don’t necessarily have to go for ceiling lights like I did, a floor lamp, a mix of lighting, or whatever your personal choice is will have an immediate impact. I also like having different types of lights depending on mood and requirement. The Brooklyn 3 Light Industrial Ceiling Pendant Bar in Rose Gold* I think works incredibly well in a dining area. What I like about this pendant, apart from how beautiful it is, is that you can adjust the height, and you can do it easily. Well technically my husband did all labour while I “directed” where it had to go. He seemed to cope very well, bless him.

The beautiful warmth from the rose gold finish softens the industrial style pendant. (There’s a slight discrepancy in the colour of the pendant because the photos were taken at different times of the day.) Natural light and other lights in the room reflect gorgeously off this. It really makes for an interesting centre point without being too showy.

Other ways to make a small space seem bigger and brighter is by simply adding a mirror. They reflect the light in the room producing an overall brightening effect. Mirrors also create an illusion of depth to a small area, the bigger the better. Luckily we have large windows on either side of the house so we do get quite a lot of light in, well as much light as the Scottish weather allows that is. You don’t want all the light in a small space being sucked up and absorbed by dark colours so you should keep the walls as light as possible and add darker colours such as grey in decorations. If you do want to attempt that kind of style Monochrome Home by Hilary Robertson or Shades of Grey by Kate Watson-Smyth might help you out. Or you could just keep everything light or you know do whatever makes you happy. I have a Pinterest board full of beautiful mirrors for inspiration. I also have an Interior Décor board and a Lighting board for some ideas, if you fancy a little look.

On a more personal level, I’m at home quite a lot and it is just really nice to have a lovely space to work at or eat with friends and family. You don’t need to spend a fortune to create a warm and welcoming space. I am thrilled with how my pendant light from Litecraft has transformed my little dining area. If you don’t like the type of light I chose there’s a whole selection to choose from on the Litecraft site here.

Have you got any nifty techniques for making small spaces appear bigger?

*Light was gifted from Litecraft but all words and images my own.

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