5 Reasons to Use More Lamps

5 Reasons to Use More Lamps

We are lifelong devotees of the lamp. Unlike any other light source that you can introduce into your home, the lamp is the most versatile and, in our opinion, the most beautiful, too.

So, in case you were looking for a convenient (and endlessly useful) excuse, here are our top five favourite reasons why you need to start using more lamps in your interior design.

Lamplight is far more agreeable than the overheads

There are few elements of interior design as unhelpful as stark, bright, imposing lighting that can’t be dimmed or controlled. Yes, the overheads can be switched off but, without an abundance of lamps to choose from, you’re tied to an either/or situation.

It makes the evenings tricky, but also the duller, dimmer days of autumn and winter. While it may not seem like an issue, turning off the overheads and replacing that bright, direct beam with lamplight will often reveal quite how much the room needs their softening, soothing effect.

Lamplight can also help to create more texture, by highlighting certain areas of the room and leaving small spots of shadow — something we talk about specifically below.

They are as ornamental as they are practical

It was Sir William Morris who once advised homeowners to have about them only things that are beautiful or useful, and it’s always rather satisfying when those two characteristics converge.

Lamps are one of those items. They can be things of beauty – sculptural pieces of décor that represent a true focal point for the room, while also bringing light and ambience – that irresistible sense of warmth – into the dim corners of our home, helping even the pokier rooms to feel bigger – something you can read more about here.

Besides, light itself can represent something of a decorative element. A concentrated light source pooling on a small side table or a quiet seat at the edge of the room is as evocative as a painting, and a beautiful way to instil a sense of calm.

We like to think of lamps as occupying the ideal ‘middle ground’ between decorative lighting and practical lighting. They provide more practical benefits than accent lights like strings of fairy lights, but they also provide a lot more beauty than your standard overheads.

The routine is part of the charm

If there’s anything more pleasant than taking a tour of the house toward the end of the day – just as the sun is setting, work is winding down, and the smells of dinner are starting to edge through the ground floor – and drawing the curtains, switching on the lamps, and transforming the home for the evening time, we have yet to encounter it.

Light has a tremendous amount of power when it comes to establishing mood and tone. Walking into a warmly lit home is the ultimate invitation to relax, to forget the stresses of the day, and to slow the pace to a near-halt.

Think of how the lights dimming at the theatre instantly push a busy, chatty crowd into a collective hush. It takes nothing but a shift from bright to dim, and the room is transformed.

Lamplight is perfect for focus

A concentrated light source pooled on a desk, writing table, or favoured reading chair is the ultimate signal to draw-in your attention span, and focus upon the task at hand. It encloses you within a space without drawing you away from the rest of the household or giving you that sense of being hemmed-in or sequestered away.

It’s also ideal for drawing multiple people into a more intimate setting. Consider the power of a couple of small lamps placed strategically along the dining table, and the sense of closeness created by doing away with the overheads in favour of nothing but a table, your guests, and a long, indulgent meal.

Lamplight is much more easily layered than other forms of lighting

We’ve written a much more comprehensive guide to layering lighting, and why it’s so useful to know how to do it. In a nutshell, layering lighting gives you a lot more control over the room’s ambience, while at the same time giving the room a much greater sense of depth and detail and, essentially, avoiding that ‘flat’ look.

You can read our full guide here but, for now, suffice to say that having a few lamps in any given room is the key to layering light and making everything feel more sumptuous.

Lamps are an interior design holy grail, and an easy way to change a room’s look and atmosphere. You can browse our full range of decorative lamps for more inspiration.