Table Lamp Guide: Sizes, Shades and Where They Work
By Furniture1004 min read
A table lamp is the smallest piece of lighting you will buy and the one you look at most, because it sits at eye level in the rooms you spend evenings in. Bedside, console and desk are three different jobs, and the same lamp rarely does all three well. Here is how to size one for each, and what the shade is doing to the light.
Bedside: hide the bulb
The test for a bedside lamp is simple. Sit up in bed and look across at where the lamp will be. The bottom edge of the shade should be at about your eye level, so you never see the bulb and the light falls down onto a book. Too tall and the bulb glares at you across the pillow. Too short and the light stays on the table.
Because the bedside table sets half the height, buy the two together in your head. A tall lamp on a tall table is the common mistake. The Fenwick, a clear glass base with a cream boucle shade, is the right height for most bedside tables, and the fabric shade is what makes it a bedroom lamp: it softens the light rather than throwing it.
Console and side table: size to the surface
On a console or a side table the lamp is decorative first and light second, so it has to be in proportion to the surface. About a third of the console's width is a comfortable size for one lamp. Any bigger and it looks like it landed there; any smaller and it looks like a bedside lamp that wandered.
On a console over about 120cm, a pair at each end looks more considered than one in the middle, and lights the wall in two even washes rather than one pool. This is where the Halston, in polished copper or chrome with a glass body, earns its place: it is a lamp that looks right in twos. Our console table guide covers the tables they go on.
Desk: light, not mood
A desk lamp has one job, which is to put light on the work without putting it in your eyes. It wants a base that does not take the whole desk and a light that comes out sideways and down, not through a shade that glows in your peripheral vision.
This is the one place a glass or metal lamp beats a fabric one. The Halston works here for the same reason it works on a console: the light comes through and out rather than being softened.
What the shade does
A fabric shade diffuses. The light comes through the fabric warmed and softened, the bulb is hidden, and the room glows. This is what you want for a living room or a bedroom, and it is why the Fenwick's boucle shade is the one in the range that looks most like lamplight.
Glass lets the light through and shows it off. Clear glass disappears and lets the shade do the talking. Coloured glass is the lamp. The Denizard, in forest green confetti glass, is a piece of colour on a side table whether it is on or off, and when it is on the base glows as well as the shade.
Metal reflects. Polished copper and chrome throw light around a room and catch every other light in it, which is why they suit a hallway or a room with a lot of glass. They show fingerprints, and a microfibre cloth fixes that.
One lamp with a sense of humour
Every room can take one object that is not serious. The Monkey lamp, in gold or black, holding its light up on a bookshelf or at the end of a console, is that object. The rule is one. A single monkey is a talking point; two are a theme, and a theme is harder to live with than a joke.
The bulb, again
Warm white, around 2700K, for anything in a living room or bedroom. Cooler than that and the softest shade in the world still looks like an office. Check the product page for each lamp for the fitting and whether a bulb is included, because it varies. A dimmable bulb, where the lamp takes one, is the cheapest upgrade an evening room can have.
Find yours
Free UK delivery and 30-day returns on every lamp.
Browse the lighting. For the lamp that stands on the floor beside the chair, our guide to floor lamps for a living room covers where to put one and which kind.
Frequently asked questions
How tall should a bedside lamp be?
When you are sitting up in bed, the bottom of the shade should sit at about eye level, so the bulb is hidden and the light falls on the book. In practice that means the lamp and the bedside table together come to roughly the height of the mattress top plus 50 to 60cm. A tall lamp on a tall table will glare; a short one on a short table will not reach the page.
How big should a lamp be on a console table?
Around a third of the console's width is a comfortable size for a single lamp. If the console is over about 120cm, a pair at each end looks more deliberate than one in the middle, and lights the wall evenly rather than in a single pool.
Fabric shade or glass?
A fabric shade diffuses the light and warms it, so the room glows rather than glares. That is what you want for a living room or a bedroom. Glass and metal let more light through and out, which suits a desk or a hallway where you want to see rather than relax.
What bulb should I use in a table lamp?
Warm white, around 2700K, for anything in a living room or bedroom. Check the product page for the fitting, and whether a bulb is included, because it varies by lamp. A dimmable bulb in a lamp with a dimmer is the single biggest upgrade to an evening room.
Is a novelty lamp a bad idea?
Not if it is the only one in the room. One monkey lamp on a console or a bookshelf is a talking point. Two are a theme. Keep the rest of the lighting plain and let it be the one piece with a sense of humour.
