No One Turns the Big Light On Anymore — So These 12 Lamp Alternatives Create the Perfect Cozy Ambiance
Sometimes those so-called 'big lights' are just too much. For the perfect warm winter room, try switching to table and floor lighting instead


If there is one thing we have happily left in 2023, it's overhead lighting. Why use the bright, sometimes design-less, and often abrasive "big lights," as the internet loves to call them, when you could use trendy, chic, and equally practical table and floor lamps instead? Rather than muddling the vibe and ambiance you as an interior design lover have worked so hard to create, soft, diffused light from free-standing fixtures works in concert with your space, sanding down the hard edges and elevating it simultaneously.
After taking a good long look at some of best home decor stores, we've taken it upon ourselves to compile a quick edit for anyone that's aligned with our illumination-focused resolution. You heard that right — all the digging has been done for you. Another great tip for the new year? Work smarter, not harder.
Finally, if you haven't already, be sure to check out the Livingetc list of ins and outs for 2024 (and click "save" so you can refer back to it while shopping, reading, or browsing the web).
6 Table Lamps to Use Instead of the Big Lights
6 Floor Lamps to Use Instead of the Big Lights
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Brigid Kennedy is a freelance writer and former style editor for Livingetc.com, where she scoured the internet for the best and most stylish deals on home decor and more. She also served as the website's in-house sofa expert, completely revamping and reworking Livingetc's expansive sofa buying guide by interviewing a total of 17 interior designers and sofa experts at top brands like Article and Benchmade Modern; sitting on upwards of 50 sofas across both Pittsburgh and New York City; extensively polling her friends and family for their own sofa-buying anecdotes and product recommendations; and traveling to Dallas, Texas, to tour the floor of a couch factory. In total, she estimates she has spent 40+ hours (and counting!) reading, writing, and talking about couches with accredited sofa connoisseurs o then pass that knowledge on to you. She describes her personal design style as colorful and clean, and in her free time enjoys reading, watching movies, and curating impossibly niche playlists on Spotify. She recently relocated from Manhattan to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she's decorating and DIYing a new home downtown.
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I Asked Designers to Share the Best IKEA Products They've Bought — Here's What They Said
IKEA's catalogs are about as long as the iconic pathway through their stores, so save yourself the time, and shop this designer-edit instead
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We've Just Pinpointed the Next Pattern About to Take Over Interiors — Plus, How to Make It Look Cool, Not Childish
What goes around in fashion always comes back around in interiors; This time, get ready for 1960s reminiscent polka dots to completely take over interiors Polka dots have proliferated the fashion scene lately, which means it's high time we embraced the 1960s-style pattern in our homes — here's how to do it