go with the cozy look...create pools of light, make sure the windows are not covered in any way...but cozy is good...
I get a little agorophobic if things are too open and airy...I don't know where to settle.

Make sure the windows are sparkling clean - sometimes that can make a surprising difference.

The answer is to decorate in whatever style you want, using a variety of light fixtures - table lamps, torchieres, candlestick lights, bookcase lighting, under counter lighting, chandeliers. If you have an Ikea near you, walk through their rooms and look how they use lighting. You may not like their style, but you will see how they incorporate lighting into their rooms beyond just table lamps.

Add as much extra lighting as you can. Recessed fixtures that wash the walls in light, lamps that add room light, lamps that add task lighting, hanging fixtues, sconces, etc. Use full spectrum bulbs.

Mirrors to reflect the light you do have to bounce it around.

Lighting, mirrors, reflective surfaces. With dark furniture and walls, light or bright artwork would really stand out too. Looking at a large work of art is certainly a window of sorts.

thank you, lots of good ideas!

something i know i need is more lighting...i do not own ONE table or floor lamp! all my light comes from the fixtures on the walls/ceilings and recessed lighting, so yes, i think i need to invest in some lamps, maybe even under cabinet lighting in my kitchen...

and i agree with the clean windows - i am always cleaning my patio doors and windows and i always feel a difference when the windows are spotless :)
these are some good ideas! thank you!

Yes, just what all above recommend re. reflective surfaces, and lots of cozy lamps. Many years ago I had a friend with an apartment on the Monterey coast where the weather is generally misty and gray. Her apt. was set among many pine trees and was quite dark. I loved it! Granted, I love fall and it was perfect for that season. She did have lots of copper and silver and old mirrors, all which shone softly. The walls were most likely apt white (Navajo), but her sofa was dark, as were the accent rugs and wood tones( which glowed from polish).
Hey! I just remembered: go to the recent post of mine re.' tradional homes with white walls' Then take a stroll through Allison's beautiful home. It's set among lots of trees, on a lake, and expect it is fairly shady. It's not autumn in the pics and the resulting feel isn't dark and depressing...it's serenity! Check it out. Also, I love the look of white slipcovers in summer in a dark room.

I just saw this part:
"...my light comes from the fixtures on the walls/ceilings and recessed lighting,..." and wanted to say in my very prejudiced way....never use any unattractive, unflattering lighting unless you must for task lighting! If any of it is fluorescent...destroy it at once! :>O

Our TH is a middle unit. I understand what you mean by a dark home. We went with lighter colors for the walls. All our furniture is dark wood with upholstery in both light and medium tones.

Some elements that can light up a room would be glass tables which are great with cats (no scratch worries),light colored drapes (I keep mine open most of the time), and of course lighting at all different levels.

You did not mention the color of your walls.

Lamps are my favorite accessories. I would rather buy lamps over art!

I don't get a lot of natural light during the day due to hills and trees except in the mid afternoon. One of my favorite things to do it turn on my tiffany style floor lamp on a cloudy, dreary day. Makes me feel good all over! It's like turning your Christmas tree lights on at 5:00 in the morning!

I also use the Daylight flouresent bulbs in all my lamps - gives off a clean, white light - not dreary, especially to read by. If I want very sublte light while watching TV, I turn on one table lamp that has a gold, embroidered shade. Gives the room a cozy feel.

Black and Brown shades have become quite popular, and they are pretty, but such a waste of electricity. Stay away from those. My DIL has brown, leather look shades and they sit in the dark all the time. Drives me crazy.

Tusday

No wonder your home seems dark! Table and floorlamps are a must. Even small lamps inside bookcases.

I need a lighting course. What is "full spectrum" lighting? I've been using G.E.'s Reveal and honestly I can't tell a difference. Maybe it's because the lamps aren't near a wall and there's nothing to bounce the light off of?

But I too would like to lighten our room, even though it has a lot of windows in there, the Oaks are shading it until Winter.

And what is the difference between daytime fluorescent bulbs and regular F. bulbs? I have a F. bulb with my African Violets, thankfully in another room because the light is kind of ugly. lol

I lived in a condo townhome that was also the middle unit, so completely relate to how dark it was in the daytime. However, I had LOTS of lamps, 6 in the living room itself. I would keep a couple on in the darker corners during the day, and that definitely added light. Also had a big mirror over the fireplace, so that reflected light from the outside. The kitchen was in the back, and that's where I got the most sun during the day, so didn't need lights on. The house i'm in now has a lot of floor to ceiling windows, but I still love my ambient lighting. ;o)

Ok I know I need some lamps (lol)...but I have some questions...

The lighting I do have - my dining room fixture, the pendant over my kitchen table, my foyer fixture - I like all of them (picked them all out) and I don't think they give off "bad" light. I have recessed in my kitchen and in some of the hall areas - again I don't think it gives off "bad" light b/c I like the way my paint and rooms look at night when I have those lights on - I have been in houses where at night the lighting can be unflattering to the paint, the walls, etc

During the day I try not to use any lights except in my kitchen because I have to (no direct window in there) but otherwise the rest of the house gets a decent amount of natural lighting - I just feel like because there aren't a ton of windows to look out of it makes my house feel closed in - but it isn't necessarily dark in the rooms during the day.

I just feel like if I get lamps I won't use them - which is probably why I never invested in any. I hate to waste electricity if I don't "need" the light. The lamps I have had in the past always gave off small amounts of light that never seemed flattering to the room - so how do you know if the lamp is going to give off a nice light? Is it the bulb? the shade? the shape of the shade?

I think what it comes down to is that I am not a "lamp person" :( but I still think I need some even if they just serve as accessories in the room...

For those of you with lamps, task lighting, bookcase lighting, cabinet lighting - how often are you using that lighting? Do you feel bad using it? I always feel guilt turning on the lights if it's not "dark"...

No, I don't feel guilty using extra electricity. Lamps don't use that much anyway, and I have to have ambient lighting to make me feel comfy! It took some getting used to, not turning the lamp off, but my comfort is way more important. :)

Lamps Of all sorts and kinds are one of my great decorating weaknesses -- just love to sit in a room lit by pools of warm, friendly light. And with the choice of bulbs these days -- really helps on the electricity worries! Besides you could always add timers too!

And yes! -- do consider adding mirrors or reflective surfaces.

And add candles for another source of true light, warmth and charm. I love large white pillar candles sitting on a silverplate tray (check thrift shops and flea markets!)

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

Ok sounds good - look for light shades and 3 way bulbs - i will remember that when i'm shopping!

I live in FL so I'm always reading outside - either in my yard, at the pool or at the beach. Sometimes i'll look at a magazine/the paper while I am sitting at the kitchen table but when I'm reading a book I'm always outside (in the shade of course!)

Today is rainy, would have been a good day to have lamps around the house lol

We have loads of windows in our home, but being energy conscious I almost always have window treatments closed at least part way. We have cats that like to look outside or some would be closed all the way to keep out the heat of the sun.
I see no reason to light up a house just so it looks pretty. We use what's needed and turn off what's not. I wouldn't say I'd feel "guilty" about having lights on all over our home, I just see no reason to be wasteful when it's just family home. However when we have guests I do turn on more lights.

You seem to be saying conflicting things...you want light, but you don't want to add sources of light, and you don't want to turn the lights on unless you absolutely have to. You like dark colors, which is perfectly fine, but you don't seem to want to mix in light colored things. I think you have to try to sort out which thing you want, and then you can start adding in the lightness and brightness to your already cozy house. But until you are willing to add lamps with white or ivory fabric shades that let the light through them, hang large mirrors to reflect the light you have, and mix in some pale painted and/or slipcovered furniture, I don't think you are going to make much headway. Keep in mind that if you put dimmers on all the fixtures, and use lamps with 3-way sockets so that you can have both soft and bright light, you can get a lot of flexibility in how you light the rooms.

I assume you own your house, so I would recommend investigating the possiblity of adding skylights in the upstairs halls. We live in an old city townhouse, and there are two skylights in the long hall that runs down the side of the rooms upstairs. It makes a world of difference in how everything looks up here.

My dining room has a window, but due to the porch overhang, the room is always dark. I have a lamp with a 13 watt compact florescent lightbulb in it, comparable to a 60 watt incandescent bulb. I have it on a timer to come on at 4 PM and go off at midnight. On overcast days, I have it on all day.

I'm careful not to waste electricity, but using it for a purpose isn't wasting it, IMO.

I don't think I'm conflicting? I do want to add sources of light, I just don't want to waste electricity for the hell of it - I'm a housewife and it's just me most days, so to go from trying to save energy (and my electric bill) to adding in all sorts of lighting and keeping them on all day would be a big change for me b/c I'm used to using the natural light I have during the day - which in MOST rooms is enough, it's the lack of windows/outside views that bothers me most and that feeling of being closed in because of the lack of windows visually.

But I DO want to add in some other types of lighting - I said I would be shopping for lamps :) I thought it was a good suggestion and lamps can also serve as accessories.

Right now I have a very large mirror above my dining room table reflecting the light from my patios doors. I also have a mirror above my chair and a half upstairs reflecting the light from a window. I also have a mirror in my bedroom. I'm not sure how many mirrors is too many in a home?

Also I didn't say that I don't want to add in lighter things - I'm just not going to re-paint or buy new furniture when I just painted and bought my furniture less than a year ago. My foyer, loft/family room and office are painted BM Manchester Tan and I don't think that color is too dark. The darkest color in my home is my living room which is Nantucket Gray - but I think it's cozy. And now that I think of it my master bedroom furniture is white. So I DO have a mix of dark and light colored things in my home. I just tend to lean toward dark when it comes to certain things - light fixtures, door knobs, counters for example.

I think maybe I am using the wrong words or maybe I am just being confusing (I can easily be confusing! LOL) My house isn't super dark during the day - but I don't have a lot of windows and to me, just visually, the lack of windows and lots of wall make the house feel closed in. So I am trying to see what tricks there are to make it feel less closed in. I use the word bright but maybe I don't mean bright? Maybe it's just townhouse living and I need to get over it? LOL

Skylights are a good suggestion - I have one in my master bath and it lets in a TON of light. Maybe that is something to think about for the second floor and for the upstairs bathroom.

Sorry about the confusion I am causing. I think I have managed to confuse myself now!

Okay, you're feeling closed in and usually read outside, not in bed. As it happens, I was reading myself to sleep last night (by pretty bedside lamp) with an old Mark Hampton book.

Like others here, he loved mirrors, "both beautiful and practical," one of their great uses being creation of light on an otherwise gloomy wall or a dark part of a room, throwing light back into the room. He recommended pier mirrors for the narrow dark walls between windows (pier walls), which are always "cast in shadow." Pier mirrors replace shadows with reflected light from the light side of the room. Sounds like you have plenty of room by the windows for something like this.

Living in Florida, you'll probably appreciate his point that "they shed a light that is as cool as silver." Also, of course, they do create that illusion of more space.

I've read elsewhere that rooms with window on only one wall (does that apply?) can create a harsh glare uncomfortable to eyes. Pupils constrict too much, then aren't ready when one turns to the rest of the room. That book recommended always placing windows on at least 2 walls, preferably three, for a more diffused light light, but mirrors are going to be very helpful fixing any problem that way too.

BTW, I'm another one who can't live without lamps. Since you like reading, I suspect you'll end up addicted to at least a couple yourself. From earnestly studying pictures of fine rooms to try to figure out how to pull my own together, I noticed that designers tend to place them so the tops of the shades are at about the same level (even if they have to stand one on a pile of books to do it). Don't know your style, but lamps are a great way to express it. Except for "lampless," of course. :)

If it is a cloudy gloomy day and I will be at home, I turn on a lamp or two. We also leave lights on here and there all night for security.
So no guilt here. HoweverI am careful with running appliances that really suck up electricity but lamps really don't draw that much. I am only going to live this today once and if its gloomy out- then I want to feel comfortable in my own home and turn on as many lights as I feel I need or want.I don't like a gloomy house during the day.
So you dont feel guilty either!!!