Ugliest House In America Host Retta On One Unexpected Way You Can Brighten Up Your Home's Interior

When your home's interior lacks light, you might be tempted to brighten up the space with light fixtures, mirrors, or brightly painted walls. However, many homeowners may forget about the resources they have at hand. For instance, natural lighting is the best way to make your interior brighter rather than using artificial lighting. According to Shea Homes, natural lighting has multiple benefits other than improving the aesthetic of your home. It can improve your mood and mental well-being, it can help save you energy and money by reducing the amount of electricity you use, and if you have indoor plants, they'll receive enough sunlight throughout the day and live longer.

If you're having trouble receiving natural lighting in your home, yet you have enough windows and doors to let light in, you might want to take a look outside. Comedian and "Ugliest House in America's" host Retta travels to see some of the most unsightly houses in the Southwest. In the episode "Desert Disaster," she stumbles upon a home with some serious lighting issues, notes realtor.com. As soon as Retta pulls up to the 1970s house, she knows what the problem is.

Having greenery all around the home's exterior is a great way to add color and texture to your home. However, when the bushes, trees, and hedges start crowding your home and blocking your windows, it's time to trim them or remove a few. Retta claims, "trimming those overgrown junipers would be one of the easiest and least expensive ways to lighten and brighten the interior" (per realtor.com.) When you have tall, thick bushes blocking your windows, it cuts off your only source of natural lighting.

While you don't want to cut down every tree or bush you have, it may be necessary to remove a few. Go inside your house, examine every window, and figure out which ones will allow the most natural light in. If you don't want to remove the bushes altogether you could replace them with small ones to prevent any areas from looking empty. Alternatively, pruning and shaping your bushes can add character to the outside. They will still enhance the curb appeal without omitting any natural light from the inside.

In the season finale of "Ugliest House in America," Retta deems one ugly house in Palm City, Florida, the winner of a complete makeover, explains realtor.com. Initially, the home's exterior was painted aqua blue with a gray roof surrounded by gaunt plants. Interior designer, Allison Victoria changed the outlook of the house by repainting it white with black trim and adding tropical plants for some color. Fortunately, no added greenery blocked the windows so that natural lighting could filter through.

Homes that have limited windows will benefit from shorter shrubs or flower beds. Creating a garden with hydrangeas, begonias, or tulips in different colors will give it a lively appeal. Conversely, homes with multiple windows are much easier to work with, and you don't have to limit yourself from adding too many plants. If your windows are spread apart from each other, you can add boxwood plants in between the windows for contrast. Boxwood plants are easy to keep up with, states New Gen Boxwood. In addition, they're timeless and available in various shapes so that you can add different types of boxwood along the outside.