I have spent more time looking at lighting in the past 7 months than I have in all my previous years combined. My apartment does not get great natural light. The windows are north-facing, and there is a building very close across the way. The overhead lighting also leaves a lot to be desired. It exists in the entryway, but not in the main living space (a previous occupant installed a light above the dining nook, but the main room is for the most part overhead light-free), nor in the bedroom. Needless to say, I have a decent amount of additional lighting for a one-bedroom apartment.
I have considered some sort of battery operated flush mount for the living area, but for now I’ve not invested in one. I also considered table lamps to flank the couch, but I didn’t really want to take up space with end tables (floor lamps could have worked, but I wanted one for the other side of the room (I’ll talk about that later) and three floor lamps seemed excessive for an 11’x20’ room). Which brings us to plug-in sconces. I like that they don’t require floor space, but they do take up wall-space. And my walls are WHITE so I appreciate that feature. The finish leans silver, but has gold undertones and they have the most beautiful leather detail. They’re not the strongest (about 40w equivalent in each), but with both on at once, they do a pretty good job of lighting this side of the room. One of my best decisions for this space.
Oh man. This floor lamp. Let’s start with what I like about it. It’s very simple and I like the matte-black finish. It’s dimmable and doesn’t draw too much attention to itself. Also, it was getting to the point where my apartment was DARK (I hadn’t yet hung the sconces) and I just needed something (I had virtually no lamps in my last apartment, so I didn’t have anything I could use as a placeholder). And that brings me to the final piece of the puzzle. The price. Can’t be beat. Target to the rescue once again.
Now, on to what I would like to change. It could be more special. I think even if I were to add a different shade it could help. I also wouldn’t mind if it was just about 5 inches shorter, although the height is growing on me. I definitely need a floor lamp for this corner, but I’m not sure this is the forever piece for this space. And that’s okay, rooms should evolve. For now though, I need light and it provides it while being unobtrusive. Time will tell if I decide to invest in something else, but for the time being, this works.
In my bedroom, I scored a pair of vintage chrome lamps from eBay. I REALLY wanted chrome lamps for this room. Who knows how or why I became obsessed with the idea, but I needed them. I think I liked the idea of something shiny to juxtapose all the muted tones and textures in the room. I did a lot of searching on Chairish/1st Dibs/Etsy/eBay and was pretty convinced I’d end up with vintage chrome pillar or stacked ball lamps (George Kovacs style). But then I saw these and I knew. The shape was interesting, the price was a bit better than the others I was seeing, and I knew with a conical shade they would be perfect. They came a little tarnished/rusted, but I used some plain white vinegar on them, and now they SHINE.
They came without shades, and it took some trial and error to find a size and shape I liked that didn’t break the bank. Ideally I wanted a more dramatic shape, and I wish they didn’t have the tape on the top and bottom, which would have given them a more modern look. I think these may get swapped out eventually, but for now they are getting the job done.
I was on CB2 looking at lamps for my mom’s guest room, and this lamp was at the front of the page. I normally really hem and haw over making a purchase (and on top of that, I’ve been trying to avoid purchasing anything else from CB2 for this space in particular, because I don’t want it turning into a showroom!), but I NEEDED this lamp. I did not care that I don’t really have a space for it, or that it may lean a little more modern than everything else in my apartment. I added it to my cart and purchased it 5 minutes later. I could use a lamp on my desk (although, naturally, I was thinking of a desk lamp), so, I suspect it will live there. But, I love it so much that it hasn’t even arrived and I am talking about it.
Maybe because lighting is a necessity so I didn’t really have the luxury of overthinking it before buying it, but all of the lights I’ve purchased have been some of my easiest buys for this space (shades for my vintage lamps excluded). I’ve definitely fretted about these purchases the least of almost anything I’ve bought so far in furnishing my home. Who knows why, but I’m very happy that for this at least I didn’t have to agonize too hard.
That’s not to say I didn’t put thought into this. Lighting is important. You need to make sure the scale is appropriate, and ideally your lighting would be layered so that it’s coming from different angles. For instance, I needed the height of the bedside lamps to be roughly 24 inches. The nightstands are just a smidge too low, and a low lamp would have just drawn attention to that issue. But, too large and they would have overpowered the nightstands. Plus, I wanted to make sure the height was sufficient for reading in bed. And the living room sconces are set high enough to be casting downward, which helps offset the fact that there are no ceiling lights in the room. It definitely took some consideration, but I’m happy to say my apartment is no longer a dingy cave.