Well, the world has changed from the old earthen lamps first produced in 70,000 BC to decorative lamps.
This is because a lot has changed from our basic need for light to the beautification of our interior and exterior.
Either you have just bought a new home and looking at what types of light bulbs are available to add beauty to its decoration.
You are curious to know about lights, we are going to discuss different types of lamp styles in detail.
So, take a deep breath and start reading.
Table of Contents
How Do We Define Lamp?
Without going into the technical jargon, a lamp is anything that produces light;
or in other words,
A lamp is one of the essential home décor accessories covered by a lampshade with a light source inside.
Types of Living Room Lamps
Have you moved to a new house or going to buy a housewarming gift for someone, but waffling over what’s the best to choose? If yes, you are not alone.
Let us walk through four different types of living room lamps that are suitable for all placements, like tabletop, floor, desktop, and walls.
1. Floor Lamp for Living Room
Do you need to give an ambient look to your bedroom, or a soft light in your living room that is portable as well?
If yes, you need to have big lamps for your living room. Floor lamps are easily portable and can be used anywhere in your home.
Their design varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. The following are the common types of floor lamps that are also called standing lamps for the living rooms.
i. Traditional/Classic Floor Lamp
It has a colorful shade on the top with a straight rod supporting it. The lampshade material may vary from wood, chrome, glass to any metal.
It may look like an enhanced version of a table lamp.
ii. Arching Floor Lamp
As the name suggests, their pole or stand is arc-shaped. The reason for this design is its tendency to move upward and downward easily,
Besides it also add an elegant look to your room.
Sometimes they have more than one arc-like several small branches coming from the main branch of a tree.
iii. Torchiere Floor Lamp
As the name suggests, their lampshade is small and torch-like. Their beauty lies in their slim size.
Sometimes they come with reading arms, having energy-efficient CFL bulbs in them, which are considered best for reading.
iv. Task-Reading or Target Floor Lamp
In addition to adding beauty to your room, they serve the purpose of reading or similar tasks that require close light.
The difference lies in their bulb type as well, which emits light in a straight direction instead of diverging.
This makes the room environment comfortable for others who wish not to be disturbed by light.
Tips to Buy a Floor Lamp
Before buying a quality floor lamp, ask yourself if you’re going to buy it for reading or merely an addition to your living or bedroom.
The following tips may be helpful in this regard.
- Focused or Diverse. If you need a floor lamp for general light all over the room, a Torchiere floor lamp may be the ideal choice.
- Open or Closed Area. If it’s an open area for multiple people, like the patio, Stylish Arc design is recommended.
- Multi-Purpose. If you have a dual purpose in mind, like reading as well as illuminating the room, then a tall floor lamp, like Torchieries lamp with reading arms, is recommended.
- Bulb type. Because of white light produced by Halogen bulbs, it’s highly recommended to be good for reading use. So, if you have this purpose in mind, buy the lamp with Halogen bulb inside.
- Cost. Another aspect is the cost. LEDs will have much lesser costs than Halogens or Incandescent bulbs.
2. Table Lamp
Over the past few decades, the table lamps are more of a necessity than a luxury.
Not only it gives you access to turn on the light when you are on your bed, but it plays a major role in your room’s beauty too.
The following are different types of table lamps available commonly.
i. Traditional Lamp
These are the old-fashioned side-table lamps, having a bell-shaped lampshade with a simple base. Despite new and new styles coming in, it still holds its place today.
These lamps are cheap table lamps for the living room.
ii. Rustic Lamp
How about recalling memories of a visit to your favorite countryside with a glance at your table lamp? The lampshades of Rustic lamps have a rural culture in it.
iii. Tiffany-Style Lamp
Named after its designer, Comfort Tiffany, this lamp style dates back to the start of the 19th century.
It is made of stained glass that is processed in a unique way that the glass sounds like plastic if you tap it.
iv. Crystal Lamp
Crystal lamps use more glass pieces than any other design to look like diamonds, the way most of the chandeliers are made.
It has not match due to this unique feature of shine.
v. Buffet Lamp
Their base is usually straight without any curve, and the lampshade is also straight instead of bell-shaped.
They are more decent than others and are suggested for elders ‘rooms.
vi. Child-Safe Table Lamps
These are lightweight and sleek-design lamps that are different from the lights described above.
Here the purpose is to make sure it’s child-safe and easy to operate. Usually, LED bulbs are used in it.
Tips To Buy a Table Lamp
No matter how much you spend on table lamps, if it does not fit your living space, it may look odd and loose its primary purpose.
So, before buying a table lamp, the following tips may help you get the right one.
Height of the Table Lamp. Once you put your hands on the desired lamp because its style matched to your preference, check if the bottom of the shade is lower than your eye level when placed on your table. Otherwise, it will disturb you a lot.
Width of the Shade. Make sure the width of the shade is lesser than your side table.
USB Port. In today’s era, a table lamp with a USB port is more of a necessity than a luxury.
Night Light. If you are a person who has a problem walking out of bed at night if it’s pitch dark, then a table lamp with night light is preferred.
Double Pull Chain. If you need a table lamp for multiple purposes with the ease of changing level while sitting or lying next to it, like watching TV, general illumination, or reading a book, prefer the one with a double pull chain.
3. Desk Lamp
Directly speaking, a Desk lamp is a type of light that is specifically designed for a working table, especially the reading needs,
Whether you are an IT freelancer working from home all day or sit for an hour or two on your laptop after back from work, an elegant desk lamp is your need.
The main types of desk lamps are Contemporary, Traditional, Decorative, Adjustable, USB, or LED and Task Lighting lamps.
i. Contemporary Desk Lamps
These are the modern desk lamps that suit both your reading and technology need, like mobile charging and plugging in your laptop.
ii. Traditional Desk lamps
They tend to combine the evergreen look of the past with a modern take on focus and efficiency.
They are available in various designs and looks, including Antique, Pharmacy, Swing Arm, etc
iii. Adjustable Desk Lamps
As the name suggests, these lamps are flexible to be adjusted according to your desire.
There are hundreds of shapes and designs in this category, including Gooseneck, Balance Arm, Architect style, Wellington desk lamps, and more.
Tips to Buy a Desk Lamp
Whether you are at a workplace, in your room doing freelance work online,
or reading a book in the evening,
you need some light on the top of your desk that can express your unique sense of style as well.
Desired Light. If you like bright and white light that’s cozy for you after a tedious workday, then Fluorescent and halogen bulbs are the best desk lamps for eyes.
Focused or Diverse. Incandescent lights tend to provide heat as well in addition to light.
So if your preference is elegant glow and heat all over your room, a dimmer to adjust the light intensity, buy the lamp having Incandescent light in it.
Electricity Cost. On the other hand, if you’re curious about saving electricity costs, lamps with LED lights can save you 80% than others.
Arm Style. If there are going to be multiple users for the floor or desk lamp you are buying, the one with an adjustable swing arm is recommended.
4. Wall Lamps
What if you have bought expensive floor and table lamps to beautify your room but installed a raw bulb on the walls with simple holders?
Too odd, isn’t it?
The wall lights fill this gap here. From Wall Sconces to Wall lamps, there is a vast range of wall lights that can add beauty to your walls besides providing illumination.
i. Wall Sconces
Wall sconces are a great way to add beauty to your wall. It can either be general light or accent light.
It’s a perfect way to illuminate your hallway, bathroom, or kitchen. Types include chrome, brushed nickel, bronze, and others.
ii. Bathroom Lamps
Not only it adds beauty but gives a warm light to your bathroom that is not disturbing to your eyes when you go to the washroom at night from your sleep.
Different types of include Chrome, Brushed Nickle, Bronze, LED Bath lights, and bathroom sconces.
iii. Picture Lamps
Picture lights tend to draw attention to your art collection or a memorable photo.
Because spending thousands on an art-piece and not highlighting it well, is nothing but wastage of money.
Picture lamps with LED bulbs are preferred because halogen bulbs may discolor or fade the picture color.
Types include Plug-in, Chrome, Bronze, LED, and battery-operated picture lamps.
Types of Lamps With Respect To Light Source
Besides the apparent decoration of a lamp, the light it produces is based on some technology.
So it’s essential to elaborate comparison between different lamp types to get an idea of their technologies.
5. Incandescent Lamp
It’s the most common and ancient type of the electrical light bulb available for decades since it was first invented by Thomas Edison in 1879.
The core element is the tungsten filament inside that glows when an electric current passes through it. There’s either vacuum or argon gas in it.
It’s a quick and cheap source of light to buy. Its light intensity is more than any other technology but at the cost of inflated electricity bills.
Most 3-way lamps available today have incandescent bulbs in them.
6. Metal Halide Lamps
Invented by Charles Proteus in 1912, this discharge lamp is similar to the incandescent bulb.
The bulb contains two primary parts, the outer bulb and an inner arc tube made of quartz.
As the lamp heats up by passing electricity through it, the mercury starts to vaporize.
The arc gets brighter but gives a blue color. Once enough heat is dissipated, Halide salt starts to form vapors, and each element in the Halide salt give off its color.
So, they all combine and mix with the blue color of the mercury vapor, and the lamp starts to shift from blue to a white color.
This light is common in the areas where extreme light is needed, like make-shift pathways, dangerous areas, or where a small lamp is needed to lighten a big room.
7. Halogen Lamps
They can be called as an advanced form of Incandescent lamp.
The first commercial Halogen lamp was developed by Elmer Fridrich and Emmet Wiley in 1955, who worked at General Electric.
It consists of a tungsten filament that is sealed into a transparent enclosure filled with a mixture of a small amount of Halogen and an inert gas.
It can operate at a much higher temperature than a traditional Incandescent lamp
and can produce light with higher luminous efficacy and color temperature.
It was commonly used in car headlights a few years ago.
8. Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL)
CFL bulbs were introduced in the mid-1980. It was an alternative to the traditional halogen bulbs as the amount of power it takes is much lesser.
The apparent sign is the tubular loops in either a U shape or twisted in circles one over the other. The average life is 10,000 hours.
CFLs work differently than incandescent bulbs.
In CFL, an electric current is passed through the tube containing argon plus mercury vapors.
That generating invisible ultraviolet light, which in turn excites the phosphor coating inside the tube, resulting in the emission of visible light.
9. LED or Light Emitting Diodes Lamp
This type of lamp is the technology of today. Be it chandeliers, torch lights, table lamps, or even car headlights, you will see it everywhere.
Now the obvious question is, how do LEDs work? The science behind this light is the microchip, which illuminates when an electric current passes through it.
The heat produced is absorbed by the heat sink added to its surroundings.
LEDs are different from Incandescent, CFLs, and other types because they are more versatile, efficient, and long-lasting.
LED lights are unidirectional, whereas Incandescent light bulbs emit heat and light in all directions.
Do You Know?
10. Fluorescent Tube
A common example is the light rod we used to have at our homes a decade ago.
These are much more efficient than an incandescent lamp and are suitable to illuminate larger areas or buildings.
They use just 25-30% of the energy used by incandescent bulbs to produce a similar amount of light.
Moreover, their life is ten times more than incandescent lamps. The drawback is the same as CFLs; that is, they can’t be used with dimmers.
11. Neon lamps
Neon lights are also called pilot lights. It has a glass capsule, inside of which there are two electrodes along with Neon and other gases at low pressure.
Due to its glowing character, it’s still used for advertisement today. You may see shops or restaurant names illuminated like fire, and this is Neon technology.
Neon lamps are used where a wide range of voltages, brightness, and temperatures are needed. In other words, they are dimmable.
They are not affected by mechanical shock or vibration.
They are used in 110V, 220V AC, and DC application with more than 90V.
12. High-Pressure Sodium Lamp (HPS)
High-Pressure Sodium light is the most commonly used street light around the world.
The principle of this lamp is to pass an electric current through a mixture of gases.
They take a while to turn on completely and produce an orange-yellow light.
13. Low-Pressure Sodium Lamp (LPS)
It works similar to High-Pressure sodium light, except it is more efficient. Like HPS, it takes some time to give the full glow.
They are used in parking lots, streets, and other outdoor areas where color recognition does not matter.
Well, we have discussed different types of lamps concerning technology; each of them may not be available easily in its original form today.
Also, as more energy efficient bulbs are being developed, measures are being taken by the governments to phase out the traditional bulbs.
Do You Know?
Outdoor Lamps
The first impression of your home is its look from outside.
Imagine you have spent millions on the interior design,
but a guest of yours suggested installing some good light outside of your home during your house-warming party or Christmas event.
How will you feel then? You will don’t like to hear that. Therefore it is recommended to get the best outdoor lights for your home too.
Outdoor lights range from Post lights to Landscape lighting, everything that can provide an elegant look to your home. Most of them are waterproof.
Types of outdoor lamps include wall lights, post lights, landscape lights, string lights, and street lights.
i. Outdoor Wall Lamps
Outdoor Wall lights serve as classic porch, garage, or patio light.
ii. Post Lights
Post lights are tall lights that are mounted on top of poles used for open-air settings, like your lawn, driveways, and pathways.
iii. Pier Mount Lamps
These outdoor lights are designed to place on flat surfaces. A well-known use is at the columns of your gate.
iv. Landscape Lamps
Unlike Post lights, which are high-intensive, Landscape lights are low voltage lights,
that are specifically designed to give a vibrant glow to the greenery in the pathways and driveways.
Conclusion
Lamps are everywhere today. Besides illuminating our home with white, yellow, or colorful lights, lamps add elegance to your home, which no other thing can do.
It’s one of the trendiest gifts to give to your loved ones as well.
With a variety of colors, different types of lampshades, and various lighting capacities, lamps are one of the most natural methods to change the tone of your home.
The more attractive the lights you have in your home, the elegant the look will it give.
So, will you consider making a proper plan for buying lamps for your new home next time? Let us know in the comments.