Lamps

In every room throughout your home, sufficient lighting is essential. From task lighting and ambiance lighting to complementing a main lighting source, lamp lighting is a dynamic and practical way to illuminate virtually any area of your home.

Lamp lighting is one of the most versatile forms of home lighting, and lamps come in various shapes, sizes, forms, and colors. Because they're so portable, lamps can brighten any corner of a room, be used as an accent piece or showcase a cherished piece of art.

Lamps generally come in three sizes (let's call them short, medium, and tall) and are typically placed in one of two spots: on a table (or something similar) or the floor.

Typically, you'll place shorter lamps on an end table, a bedside table or office desk. For these sized fixtures, the term "table lamp" is all-inclusive and can technically be any lamp you place on this kind of furniture, like a desk lamp, reading lamp, or accent lamp.

A desk lamp focuses light downward and in a wider swath, highlighting what you have across your desk. A reading lamp is more task-oriented, specifically lighting a book or whatever you're holding in front of you. And an accent lamp is usually equal parts functional and decorative.

The next tallest size for lamps is the buffet lamp. You can place a buffet lamp wherever you want-on a table or desk or on the floor in a corner or against a wall. Slightly taller than table lamps, they're also shorter than floor lamps, the tallest of the lamp family.

The floor lamp is designed to give a living space more light. Many allow you to adjust the direction of the light, and the amount of light emitted is pretty evenly distributed between top and bottom for a nice, uniform look.

Other specialty lamps include a piano lamp and kids lamp. A piano lamp is typically small and features a narrow base and wide light source. It can sit either on its base or attach itself via clamp to a piano's sheet music stand.

And, of course, there are lamps for the brightest lights in our lives: our children. Kids lamps are fun, colorful, whimsical, and still pump out a great amount of light. From dinosaurs and sports to flowers and princesses, you have hundreds of choices with it comes to a lamp for your child.

When looking for the right lamp, its brightness should match the room's mood or application. Brightness can be traced back to wattage, so be aware of the total wattage you're using. (Many lamps are designed to use limited wattage, so just follow the manufacturer's recommendations.)

A great way to provide muted light with an artistic flair is the distinct stained glass work of a Tiffany lamp on an end table. On the other end of the spectrum, a torchiere lamp (a type of floor lamp) provides optimal upward light and could be a room's main light source-depending, of course, on the room's size and configuration.

As another lighting tip, if you're placing a lamp on a table in a high-traffic room, make sure its lampshade emits enough light both up and down.

Lamps take specific types of bulbs, as indicated in the product specs. Here's a quick rundown of the different types of bulbs lamps can use:

• Incandescent: The most common type, considered "standard." Warm, steady light, ideal for most household applications. Generally the least expensive type of bulb with a life expectancy of 700 to 1,000 hours.
• Compact fluorescent (CFL): Gold standard for contemporary efficiency. CFLs use 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
• Halogen: Increasing in popularity and provide more light per watt than incandescent bulbs. Avoid touching the bulb with bare hands, since any oil can render it useless.
• Light emitting diode (LED): More efficient than CFLs, they've yet to catch on with full force. But the lifetime of LEDs could potentially dwarf that of CFL bulbs, the next efficient type.

Lamps are an easy way to light up a room as much as you choose, as well as provide a design statement.

Until next time, Happy Home Improving!