A Good Lamp Is Hard to Find ...

... but well worth the search

A floor lamp with pleat-gathered lampshade custom made by Florens is a dazzling focal point in this sitting area. (Photo: Florens)

When considering the design of a room or space in your house, how much thought do you give to lamps? If you’re like a lot of people living under a ceiling filled with can lights, the answer is probably “not much.” My own relationship with lamps has been fraught—not because I don’t love a really good lamp, but because I have a hard time finding ones that I like.

In this living room setup, your eye is immediately drawn to the jewelry-inspired Maggie Lamp by Kinzig Designs. (Photo: Liquid Sands Gallery)

Lamps are either glorious or gaudy. They either enhance the room, detract from it, or simply disappear into plebeian monotony. (Note that some lighting is designed to fade into the background, but that is not the point of this treatise.) You’ll see oversized or figural lamp bases in very affluent homes and although they may have been chosen with great care, the brow furrows trying to understand how on earth this could be considered in good taste.

So basically, lamp selection is more important (and subjective) than it might look.

What’s in a Lamp?

Thanks to modern interiors, our world has become brighter. Well-placed cans or recessed lighting opens up those dark corners, help us see the recipes we’re following and keep our eyeliner straight. As Arlyn Hernandez puts it in her argument for overhead lighting, “I need to have a room fully awash in light.” It’s a lot easier moving into a house or an apartment with artificial light already built in. We crave ease of use, switches that power on and dim down.

Matilda Goad & Co. Raffia Candle Shade, red trim (Shop: Matilda Goad & Co.)

Ideally, lamps should be celebrated for adding “frosting to the cake,” accent illumination to a room already benefitting from ambient light. Your ambient, or general light is provided by windows and/or overhead lighting. Some homes have better ambient light than others and lamps can really help make a room feel welcoming and pretty.

Lamps are a holdover to earlier times when central lighting was not yet commonplace. Their function was critical and yet even so, form always followed. Fanciful designs on metal—bronze, copper, brass, iron—for the base, topped with shades of painted glass or dangling crystals. You couldn’t avoid the use of lamps and chandeliers so they might as well contribute to the artfulness of a room.

Typically the base is 60% of the height of a lamp; but lamp rules are made to be broken. Amoria Mini Lamp (Shop: Regina Andrew Detroit)

As time went on shapes and shades tended to be less ornate, but well-designed lamps still bring a great deal of eye appeal; they are noticed far more than you might think.

How to Choose a Lamp You’ll Love Forever

The vast majority of us choose our own lighting because hiring a lighting designer is not in our budget. There is a lot of information out there on creating good lighting and where to put lamps, so you may not need to anyway.

The challenge is that the styles are endless and you should take your time, since that lamp is going to be in your life for a long time. Don’t believe me? Start pricing the amazing lamps you find, and you’ll come around.

I love everything about this little Kinzig Design “Liora” table lamp

Consider that my warning: A custom lamp could be in your future. And it could be that one, amazing piece you will never regret buying.

You might freak out at the cost, and you should think long and hard about putting so much money into one thing. But honestly, I’m beginning to look at lamps as the components of a collection; by elevating the style of a room, they become priceless objects of art in their own right.

Handmade lampshades made from an antique shawl. (Shop: Floren)

At the same time, it’s totally fine to bargain hunt in the lamp department. Most people don’t have the means for a bunch of thousand-dollar lamps. The best places for bargains are thrift stores and community sites like Facebook Marketplace. Consignment shops are another fruitful source. Often you’ll score a great lamp worth far more than what you paid.

The Uttermost Vardar, a floor lamp with a modern curve provides understated “oomph” to a reading chair. It’s not my usual style but I see this working in a well-appointed sitting space. (Photo: Lamps Plus)

Going back to me, again, my weakness is for old things; I’ll choose an antique lamp even if my space calls for something lighter or more contemporary. So I’ve been trying to familiarize myself with the new, appreciating their shape and how they might complement a kitchen counter, perhaps, or a foyer.

Pearl Stained Table Lamp in Champagne Pink (Shop: Etsy/LaFabrica Studio)

The best way to approach lamp shopping is by looking at interior spaces you like (Pinterest is good for this). What is the style you keep going back to? What kind of lighting do you find accenting those spaces? Note the finish, the size, the shade(s) and the positioning of these lamps. You might need to adjust your furniture placement or even add or replace some.

Lamps as Art

Lampmaking is an art form, pure and simple. Artist Olivia Hayward creates painted and handsewn lampshades one by one from her studio in the UK. Pair them with the base of your choice.

Olivia Hayward paints little scenes and embellishments on her lampshades, both custom and off-the-shelf. (Shop: Olivia Hayward)

A darling handpainted lampshade painted by artist Olivia Hayward. (Shop: Olivia Hayward)

In his little antiques shop in Manhattan, my grandfather used to convert bronze sculptures (or any other statuary his clients had) into lamp bases, placing a handsewn silk shade on top.

So next time you have a room or a home to breathe light and life into, give lamps their due.