Using natural light to boost the mood of your kitchen

Letting the light in

Autumn has just started, nights are getting colder, days are seemingly becoming shorter and darker quicker. It makes you value natural daylight. Natural daylight can make your kitchen look a whole lot cleaner and more modern if used correctly, it’s a fact that using natural light has its benefits over using artificial light and incorporating a design where natural light mostly covers your kitchen, you’re going to find yourself much happier. As well as making you feel happier natural light can make a home look more vibrant and bright and give a feeling of more space.

Benefits of using natural light

• Leads to higher productivity: Studies have shown that people working under natural light are far more productive and have more energy compared to people working under artificial light. A boost in productivity or energy can make the whole world of difference in a grey morning before work, it can be exactly what you need.

• Boosts your body’s vitamin D storage: Vitamin D is used for absorbing calcium which is used for bone growth but has also been found to prevent certain types of cancers, heart disease, depression and weight gain. Being under the influence of natural sunlight can have a massive effect on your health and well being not just how you feel.

• Benefits vision: Think about it, your working and all day you’ll be either looking at a computer screen or a phone screen. Looking at the fluorescent light can cause eye strain however natural light has been shown to lower the risk of nearsightedness as it makes the eye produce a healthy chemical that aids development.

• Improves your mood: People are generally happier in Summer than they are in Winter. This can partly be down to holidays and in general better weather, however, natural light also plays a part in this. People are happier in Summer because the days are longer meaning people get more sunlight, it has a direct link to the hormones we produce in our body that controls our emotions, we won’t get into the Science side of things but it basically makes you happier!

• Helps you sleep: The amount of daylight you receive during the day has a direct link to how much sleep you get at night, in fact being under the influence of artificial light before you go to bed can cause you to struggle to fall asleep.

How can you let more light into your kitchen

A modern kitchen will often have large windows overlooking outside that will let light in. You can remove window treatments such as blinds or curtains in Autumn, this will immediately make the room look a whole lot more spacious and light. Another way to do this is by replacing your curtains or blinds with thin fabric curtains.

You can use Autumn as a time to tidy, declutter or change your kitchen setup around. Simply by swapping things around can leave your kitchen feeling fresh, new and cleaner. Paired with more natural light often a change in your kitchen or space can leave you feeling a lot happier as it can boost your mood, sometimes all you need is a small change.
As strange as it sounds sometimes simplicity can give your kitchen a completely new modernistic design. It can be as simple as moving or removing decorative objects to leave surfaces bare. This can leave your kitchen feeling fresh and more spacious.

What works well with naturally lit kitchens?

Try to avoid using brilliant white on walls as it can often leave a room feeling cold, an off-white shade such as cream goes with a lot of colours and pairs perfectly with a traditional kitchen that uses wooden cabinets and surfaces as opposed to laminate or marble. You can paint your kitchen ceiling a shade or two lighter to create the illusion of height and space or even choosing a paint with a particular finish such as satin can both make the room appear lighter.

Go glossy. Glossy or shiny surfaces reflect light making the room look lighter, brighter and more spacious. In other rooms close to the kitchen you can add furniture to help diffuse this light, it can add stylish touches throughout the home by adding mirrored accessories or items made from glass or metal. The floor can also be turned light friendly by choosing wooden, ceramic or stone floors with a polished finish.

You can further boost brightness by using glass doors or other objects. Glass is very in right now, it works great with modern kitchen designs. Bi-folding doors are a particularly good choice as they can turn a whole wall into a wall of glass, this can also produce amazing levels of light and breathtaking views.