Decorating the Windowless Room

There’s usually at least one in every house; the windowless room that defies decorating. Maybe it’s the narrow kitchen in your townhouse, or the den you built in your basement, or the afterthought fourth bedroom. Whatever the case, how can you make it feel less like a cave?

LIGHT UP THE SITUATION

Your first instinct might be to flood the room with fluorescent lighting. Ignore this instinct. Fluorescent lights give off a pale white light, which in contrast to incandescent bulbs, can seem cold. They are associated with psychologically cold, sterile environments – hospitals, offices, schools – and cold linoleum and efficiency. While efficiency may be a reasonable work atmosphere, it’s hardly cozy.

In fact, some studies indicate that fluorescent lighting makes some people irritable. The ballasts that are in most fixtures produce light on a frequency of sixty cycles a second. While this is lower than most people’s perceptual thresholds, it can be subliminally detected by many people, who can be emotionally effected without realizing it. (And you thought it was your co-workers and boss who were making you so cranky all these years!)

Instead of fluorescents, get torchieres with frosted shades; these will not only throw light up onto the ceiling, warming the entire room, but light will also spill out into the room through the translucent shade. Two torchieres, each in a corner of the room, will make an enormous different in a dim room.

Task-lighting (bedside or endtable lamps) should also be incandescent rather than fluorescent. The yellow light of an incandescent bulb psychologically brings to mind warm things – the sun, a fireplace, candlelight.

COLORS

Bright colors are obviously called for in the windowless room, but that shouldn’t restrict you to neutrals – the eggshell, offwhite and sand so beloved of realtors discussing resale value. Wood is very warming, so consider half-paneling (wainscotting) for a basement den, and even a bright red paint or wallpaper above it. Reds are energizing colors, perfect for a gameroom, but less perfect for a bedroom. Choose indigos, blues and teals for restful rooms.

‘WINDOWS’

Just because your room doesn’t have windows doesn’t mean you can’t pretend it does. Put a lavish window treatment up on a blank wall or over the head of your bed in place of a headboard. A valance and long draperies instead of metal louvered doors in front of a closet will give the impression of a window, and replace cold metal with a warm fabric. Buy stencil or craft paints and paint an outdoor scene on one wall. Then put a window frame and sill around it. Hang a ‘kitchen window’ style cafe-curtain from a spring rod. Put potted plants and herbs on the windowsill. (You will need a gro-light for them if you want to keep the plants alive!)

FABRICS

A windowless room is probably not the place for the slick, shiny fabrics. You want a plushy, non-reflective surface that soaks up the spilled light; reflections off of satin, for instance, might give an icy feel to the room. Throws, afghans, deep comforters, large pillows will all give the snuggly impression of warmth.

REMEMBER:

The two keys to remember when putting together a look for a windowless room is: Warmth and Light. As long as you can evoke an impression of warmth and light, your dark cave will become a cozy retreat.