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
Price: $178
The marble base combined with the rich velvet shade has a certain cozy and robust vibe that, when fused with a soft lightbulb, feels oh-so warm.
Price: $105
No shade, no problem. With this orb fixture from Soho Home, you get maximum light while steering clear of the switch on the wall. As much of a design statement as it is practical.
Price: $148
Though it's available in four different colors, the Amber variation of this Wooj Design lamp is by far the best if you ask me. Unique in design yet neutral enough to blend in, this trippy table fixture looks as warm as the light it casts.
Price: $495
Paired with more modern decor, this antique-inspired table lamp would prove an excellent contrast for any space in need, especially as its glass shade would cast "distinctive light patterns and shadows" across your room.
6 Floor Lamps to Use Instead of the Big Lights
Price: $598
The only thing better than the way this Anthropologie lamp would singlehandedly illuminate a room is its unique four-legged base, which curves out at the top but cleverly comes together at the bottom.
Price: $599
Cool metals like silver chrome will be all the rage in 2024 — capitalize on the hype now by investing in this CB2 floor lamp that handles the emerging trend perfectly.
Price: $250
It's not rattan, which will definitely stick around for 2024, but the raffia covering this Target floor lamp is similar enough in vibe to make this a great statement piece for the new year.
Price: $99
Minimalist, versatile, practical — there's nothing to dislike about this sleek option for Article, and its price point is really just the icing on the cake.
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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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