I live in an apartment that is buried in the back of an old hotel and gets very little light during the day. The only room that gets decent light is my bedroom and even that is pretty scant. The trees that surround my room are beautiful but they are basically big leafy umbrellas that block out a good amount of the sun’s warmth and light. I have had to be a little inventive when it comes to filling my house with light. Here are my tips for bringing good light into a space like this.

Incandescent bulbs are horrible sources of light with truly terrible efficiency. We are so used to using them that we rarely think about other options. I have replaced some of the bulbs in my home with CFL bulbs and the difference is amazing. Not only are them more efficient when it comes to the lumens produced for the watts used but they also have a much longer lifespan than standard incandescent bulbs. I buy CFL bulbs that replicate natural sunlight and the difference is amazing. CFL bulbs fit into modern floor lamps and other sockets so you don’t have to buy anything special beyond the bulbs.

I have also filled my house with mirrors, which make the use of light even more efficient. They reflect the light around the room before it gets absorbed into the darker furniture that I have. These act as an interesting design element and make the space feel bigger too.

Light absorption is another consideration you should keep in mind. If you paint your walls a dark color then you are going to lose a lot of light as it gets absorbed into the walls and lost. If you paint your walls a lighter color, then you are going to get a better overall efficiency from those floor lamps.

I have also filled my home with different lighting instruments. Because there are very few hardwired lights in my home, I had to buy a lot of floor lamps. In my living room alone there are three floor lamps that each have two bulbs in them and most of them are CFL.