Bossy color never designs a room with trends in mind – and neither should you, Gentle Readers. However, we do perk up when a classic idea becomes a trend, then suddenly people embrace it, and then the manufacturers come up with great interpretations.
Which is exactly what’s happened with the accent lamp. You may mistake it for a table lamp, but it is decidedly not. Oh, no. An accent lamp is less than 20” high and is not meant to illuminate a room as a lamp does. Its job is to add a bit of sparkle to a small space, a corner, or a vignette.
Accent lights are especially popular on bars, where they can add just enough light for you to pour the gin and the tonic into the same glass.
As an alternative to candles, Ally Coulter placed this accent light to create a soft glow on this home bar. We love how it makes the cut crystal and mirror sparkle.
Designer Mark Sikes uses accent lights often and well, much to our delight. Here’s one artfully tucked into a vignette in his living room.
Circa Lighting has fully embraced the tiny light trend and has several lovely options. We adore the preppy Ralph Lauren horseshoe-shaped Westbury accent lamp at just over 12″H.
And the genius lighting designer Thomas O’Brien‘s Terry Lamp is just 12.5″H. It even has a little sister, the Tiny Terry, that stands just over 10″H. (The adorable-ness meter nears puppy range with that one.)
For those of you who fear that tiny things are too…precious (please re-evaluate that position, by the way), Williams-Sonoma has you covered with the glamorous Short Cut Stone Table Lamp. This beauty would look fabulous on a bookcase or a credenza in an upstairs hallway.
In our opinion, you can never have too many lighting options. Most homes need more light! So expect to see more tiny lamps coming soon to stores near you.
(Is it cliché if I burst into a rousing verse of, “You Light Up My Life” right now? Yes. I thought so.)
Bossy color | Annie Elliott interiors is a design firm based in Washington, DC. Annie’s design work and decorating insights have appeared in such publications as Better Homes & Gardens, HGTV Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bethesda Magazine, and Washingtonian Magazine.