smarten and brighten

[dilodi83]

- I had to smarten up/brighten up the living room with a coat of white paint.

Are they both possibile in this context? I think they mean kind of the same. Am I right?

[JohnParis]

They do - kind of.

Freshen-up would work too.

John

[emsr2d2]

- I had to smarten up/brighten up the living room with a coat of white paint.

Are they both possibile in this context? I think they mean kind of the same. Am I right?

I would say that "smarten up" means to make the room look cleaner, better decorated, less casual, less out-dated perhaps.

"Brighten up" means that the room should actually be brighter afterwards. Perhaps at the moment it's painted a dark colour and it's going to be painted white so that it actually looks like the room is brighter after the redecoration.