What is the difference between Light and Bright?

What is the difference between Light and Bright?

I found out the day I went into a client’s white living room with its white sofas, white chairs and pale carpet and was asked to make the room lighter. Her house was in San Francisco and outside the light was gloriously intense. Inside, by comparison, this all-white room seemed somehow gloomy. It took me a few beats to click into the solution to her problem and correct an incredibly common mistake:

Colour Misconception #1. Dark rooms should be painted white to maximize the light. 

Painting a dark room white does not achieve the beauty of whiteness. White actually only works in rooms with good light and lighting. Then the white is energized. Activated. 

A dark or dim room painted white is a lifeless grey. It creates a dull and deadening effect.  We can compensate by adding loads of lighting to reach white and light. But we want our rooms to look great under nuanced and variable lighting levels. It is dark rooms that need colour and preferable a yellow based colour that will mimic sunshine. 

What my client meant was ‘Can we make my room brighter?’ And the solution was simple. We changed the walls to an orange yellow ( Farrow and Ball Orangery) and everything came alive. The white furniture looked great contrasted against the energy charged walls. It felt like the bold sunshine from outside was pouring into the room.