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How to Increase the Natural Lighting in Your Entry Doorway

Updating and transforming a house to be exactly what you want can feel like an impossible task.  There are some desires that have to be sidelined due to sheer expense and effort, like wanting more windows or expanding a room.  One issues many homeowners run into is the lack of natural lighting in certain areas of the home.

Entry doorways suffer from this problem as these spaces can be a tight and awkward, lacking windows due to foyers simply not being a concrete room with enough exterior walls.  There are ways to beckon in natural light without knocking down walls and spending thousands of dollars on a huge renovation.  In fact, many tips and tricks you can employ won’t cost you much at all!

Mirror, Mirror

Ask any interior designer how to make a room look bigger and usher in more natural light and the answer will always be to use a mirror.  Mirrors will help bounce sunlight around any room by reflecting light and ricocheting the rays every which way.  Mirrors are statement pieces, room expanders, and a sly way to elevate the amount of natural light in any room.

Mirror placement is just as important, too.  It might be trial and error in getting the mirror in the right place to maximize the amount of natural light it redistributes.  Try placing a sizable mirror on the wall adjacent to a window or opposite to a window, if possible.  If you have wall space in your entryway to spare, you can double the effect of the mirror by mounting another large mirror in a key place.

a mirror hanging in an entryway

Use Light, Reflective Paint

You can turn your walls into mirrors with a simple trick of painting them a light color.  Light paints (like most white paints, for example), have highly reflective surfaces.  If you head to your local paint store and pick up any paint samples, the reflective properties will be listed indicating how much light will bounce off of that particular paint color’s surface.  Light colors do the best job at reflecting light and glossier paints even more so.  Avoid matte or flat paint when you’re trying to increase natural light as it soaks up light, hence its lower reflective quality.

Upgrade Your Entry Door

If your entryway suffers from shadows and darkness, consider upgrading the door itself.  It’s a more expensive solution to increasing natural light, but this is a surefire way to let in more rays and lighten up your entryway.

Exterior entry doors are available with windows and will undoubtedly be a one-stop solution in increasing natural light in this space.  Installing an entry door with side windows or windows nested in the top portion of the door is the best method of increasing natural light if you don’t have room to install full replacement windows.

If privacy is a concern, there are entry doors available with clouded privacy glass.  With privacy glass installed, there won’t be a worry of people peering into your home while sacrificing natural sunlight.

Add Side Windows

If you want to skip the tricks and illusions of increasing natural light, go big or go home by adding double- or single-hung windows in the entryway.  If you have the space to add full-sized windows, consider this solution.  Although adding windows where they don’t already exist can be expensive, there are still ways to save.  Shop for new windows during sales or the colder seasons, which is usually the slower times for window companies.  You might also be able to snag a deal by purchasing a set of windows.

entry door sidelights

Transom windows are another option.  Transom windows can be an alternative to side windows, and with entryways uniquely varying, the space may only have room for transom windows as an option.  These windows are located in the space that separates the door from the roof or installed above any exterior windows to allow for more natural light.  Transom windows were once used to allow for breezes to pass through homes, but today these windows don’t typically open or close.

Paint Your Ceiling White

Just like your walls, your ceilings can also benefit from a bright white paint job.  There’s a reason why most ceilings are painted “ceiling white”, and it’s because of the high reflective properties of this type of paint.  Ceiling paints have a higher Light Reflectance Value (LRV) so when natural light enters the space, the paint will do its job in reflecting it back.

Utilize Reflective Decorations

A savvy designer knows the power of interior decorations and even if you don’t consider yourself a decorating guru, there are small, simple ways to boost natural light in a dark space.  Reflective décor has the same power as mirrors and bright white paint.  Things like sparkling chandeliers and shiny, glossy hardware and sconces can bounce natural light around a shadowy space.

Feldco has high-quality doors in many shapes and sizes to perfectly fit your home. We also have professional and experienced installers to make sure the job is done correctly.

We provide homeowners with great local services and showrooms so they can customize their homes with a variety of styles and colors. Get a free quote today to start your project.

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