By Keith Loria

Buyers coming into a home want to envision a place they can call their own, so you want to do everything you can to make sure a buyer can see everything your home has to offer. 

By utilizing the right lighting, the look of a room can go from mediocre to sensational, making it look bigger, airier and more desirable.

“Proper lighting will enhance your skin tone, allow you to see what you’re doing, draw attention to focal points in your décor, and make a big difference in how you feel about your home,” said Carla Grammatica, founder of Stage Setters in Westchester, N.Y. “Light can create a positive association between your house and the prospective buyer.”

Natural light is always a great thing for a home, but the quality of natural light, sunlight in particular, depends on many things such as time of day, the weather, and what season it is. You should keep all curtains open and windows clean to maximize light coming in.

There are three types of lighting that anyone involved in a home sale should be aware of: general, which gives overall light to an area and allows for safe function in your home; accent, which highlights and draws special attention to details; and task, which helps you perform tasks around the home.

Experts reveal other lighting options that are important to know about.

“Ambient light is a hidden source of light that washes a room with a glow,” said Rosemary Sadez Friedmann, a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. 
“Aesthetic lighting itself can be a work of art, such as a neon sculpture.”

Grammatica said to place accent lights in darker corners and turn them on before showings, and put lighter-colored art on your walls, or pictures with light borders and frames.

Other good advice to maximize light is to place mirrors on strategic walls to bounce light from your windows around your room and repaint darker-colored rooms with brighter, lighter colors.

“Lighting can also play tricks on the mind and enhance or minimize the physical size of the room,” Sadez Friedmann said. “If a room is too tall, low luminaries that don’t allow a lot of light out the top can help shorten high ceilings; if a room is too small, visually push one wall open by washing it with light; and if a room is too wide, illuminate the narrow ends of the room. Conversely, if a room is too narrow, illuminate the wide sides of the room.”

Experts say it’s always a good idea to view each room at different times of the day to see how the lighting looks; and remember, by making smart lighting choices, you will showcase your home in the best way possible.

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