How can I brighten up my apartment?

Question

My new apartment has an open floorplan where the living room, kitchen and dining area are open. The kitchen and dining area walls are a chocolate brown and the other walls are a dark beige.

My couches are chocolate brown and I have very dark furniture. I think it looks beautiful, but everything is so dark. I have cream, blue, and blue/brown/cream paisley pillows.

My question is, the apartment is so dark with the dark furniture and dark walls. How can I brighten up the space?

I would like to add a bright rug.. like light blue? But would a rug look weird on top of carpet?

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions!

Answer 1

no i don't think that it would look bad at all.try it out

Answer 2

You could try lightening up the room a bit by painting a few shades lighter, or by installing more windows so more light can come in

Answer 3

No, rugs don't look weird on carpet, they do it on HGTV all the time, you just have to get one of those thin ones, not the fluffy ones.

One cheap and easy route to go is lamps. What we did is find a vase that we liked, drilled a hole in the bottom of it to install the lamp kit (you can buy at lowes for 5 bucks) and then buy a lamp shade. It looks great and is unique for your own space.

Answer 4

A contrasting light colored rug is a great idea. It does not look weird on carpet, just try to contrast the rug from the carpet. It will look weird if the carpet and rug are the same color. Think of the rug as art work on the floor, have some fun with it. A really shaggy rug is sometimes a great added texture. Also add great fun lamps, (always with dimmers). Use art work on the wall with darker frames than the wall color and try to keep the art work light in color. Black and white photos are great, (Family, friends, what ever you are into). Good luck have fun.

Answer 5

If you don't want to change your paint color to like a beige brown, then I think a rug would be fine as long as it goes with the pillows. Also you can put a big mirror on the opposite wall of your windows and it will reflect light into the room and brighten it up. Its an awesome effect. Hope this helps.