When you are weighing up how to brighten a room, the choice often comes down to two simple options, a fresh coat of paint or a large mirror. Both are affordable, both are achievable in an afternoon, and both can transform a dull space. So which should you reach for first? The honest answer is that they do different jobs, and the best rooms often use a little of each.
What paint does best
Paint changes the mood of a room outright. A lighter shade reflects more of the daylight you already have, lifting a gloomy space and making it feel airier. Paint also lets you correct the temperature of a room, warming up a cold north facing space or calming a glaring south facing one. It is the better choice when the whole feel of a room is wrong rather than simply too dark in one corner.
What a mirror does best
A mirror does not change the amount of light in a room, but it makes the most of what is there. Placed thoughtfully near a window, it bounces daylight into shadowed corners and creates an immediate sense of depth and space. In narrow hallways and small rooms, a good mirror can feel like adding a second window.
Weighing them up
- Choose paint when the room feels the wrong colour, the wrong temperature or simply tired.
- Choose a mirror when the room feels small, narrow or starved of the light it could be catching.
- Choose both when you want a genuinely dramatic change for very little money.
Our verdict
If we had to pick one to start with, we would reach for paint, because it sets the tone for everything else. But a well placed mirror is the cheapest piece of magic in interior design, and once the walls are right it is almost always the finishing touch we add next.
