Recessed lighting isn’t always the answer to a poorly lit room. Just as “Once you win a price, it’s yours to keep,” “Once you punch a hole in your ceiling, it’s there forever.” Or at least until you spend more money closing it up.
Strategically placed floor lamps can work wonders in a dim space. Even if you have recessed lighting to show off your art and provide an ambient glow, you’ll need additional light to see your hors d’oeuvres and read Domino magazine.Hubbardton Forge’s Almost Infinity Lamp could be called “transitional,” a vague, non-committal term to describe everything from medieval to modern. It’s our generation’s way of saying, “It wasn’t the living room I grew up in, but it’s not too edgy.” I mean that in a nice way.
I love Artemide’s Logico chandeliers, but I think the Logico floor lamp is stunning also. (Not crazy about the proportions of the table lamps.) It’s contemporary, but it works beautifully with traditional architecture…very elegant.
If you have a traditional house, resist the urge to go with a lamp that’s brass and/or “colonial” and consider investing in the
Romeo Soft Floor Lamp. Designed by Philippe Starck, it’s hard to imagine a room where this wouldn’t be beautiful.
Sonneman’s Candle Triple Floor Lamp is sculptural and versatile: each of the three arms adjusts from 50-64″ high, and it’s on a dimmer switch. This one does look best in contemporary settings.
Murray Feiss’s Cityscape floor lamp in polished nickel is also adjustable. While the proportions aren’t quite as elegant as some of the others, it’s a bargain at less than $200.All of the floor lamps above provide general/ambient light. For reading or any other focused activity, though, you need a task lamp with a more directed beam of light.
The two “pharmacy” floor lamps below, both from George Kovacs, are unobtrusive but stylish. And, like the Feiss Cityscape, they’re well-priced.
The Pharmacy Reading Room Floor Lamp looks great in formal and casual rooms. It’s only available in the brushed nickel, but that’s what you’d want for this fixture anyway. (You can’t see the base here, but it’s round – )
The Wa-Hoo Pharmacy Floor Lampis a little more conservative looking…it’s available in antique brass, but choose the brushed nickel to avoid an ’80s flashback. (Fyi, this one has a rectangular base -)
A word about “torchieres:” don’t. They’re deceptively hard to work with.
A word about “torchieres:” don’t. They’re deceptively hard to work with.Torchieres can’t replace task lighting, because they bounce light off the ceiling – up – instead of directing it down where you need it. And BECAUSE that light is going up, it’s not making you and your guests look your sparkly best.If you already have a torchiere, add a few table lamps to ensure that you don’t look like death warmed over. (Unless, as we approach Halloween, that’s the look you’re going for.)