Home lighting: choose and combine your lamps

Find the spot that needs more light

Look around your room after dark. Where do you spend time? Is your favourite chair well lit? Does the sideboard disappear into a dark corner? These questions help you decide what to add.

At the dining table, think about both the tabletop and the people sitting opposite you. At a reading chair, check whether light reaches your book. On a cabinet, a lamp can provide a smaller pool of light while its shape works alongside your other objects during the day.

Choose one area to improve first. Once that lamp is in place, it becomes easier to judge what the room still needs and choose another design to work with it.

 

Give your lighting three jobs

General lighting helps you see the room and move around it. A ceiling light can do this, although several light sources together can also provide the overall illumination.

Task lighting directs light towards an activity, such as reading, working at a desk or preparing something on a work surface. The position of the lamp and the direction of its light matter here.

Mood lighting gives you smaller light sources to use independently in the evening. A table lamp on a cabinet or a low floor lamp beside the seating area can serve this purpose.

One lamp can do more than one job. A pendant over the dining table may light both the table and part of the room. A separate table lamp gives you another option when you move to the sofa after dinner. Being able to switch lights on individually makes it easier to adapt the room to what you are doing.

Table lamps for sideboards, side tables and bedside tables

A table lamp adds light to furniture you already have. A wide sideboard gives you room for a larger design; a small bedside table also needs space for a book and a glass of water.

Consider the whole lamp, including the shade. A narrow base does not necessarily mean a small footprint. If you want to read beside it, look at where the light falls and whether you can see the bulb directly from your seat.

Compare our table lamps for your sideboard, side table or bedside.

Pendant lights over dining tables and fixed work areas

A pendant light draws attention to the area beneath it. Choose a size that works with the tabletop, then consider how the lamp looks from elsewhere in the room.

The hanging height should allow light to reach the table while leaving a clear view of the person opposite. For a long dining table, several lights may be useful, depending on how widely each design spreads its light.

Browse our pendant lights to compare designs for above your table.

Wall lights to keep furniture surfaces free

A wall light is useful beside a bed, along a passage or above a console where you want to leave the top clear.

Work out the position from how you will use it. A bedside reading light needs to sit differently from a fitting intended mainly to light the wall. Also check whether the design requires a fixed electrical connection or has a cable and plug.

See our wall lights for positions where you want to keep surfaces clear.

Floor lamps at different heights

For a reading chair, choose a lamp whose light reaches the page. A low floor lamp serves a different purpose: it places a light source closer to the floor and can help illuminate a corner.

Look at the lamp's height, where the light comes out and the space available around it. A low sculptural design and a tall reading lamp meet different needs, even though both stand on the floor.

Bohero's lighting selection includes ceramic, papier-mâché, terracotta, cement and wood. These materials help you relate a lamp to your furniture, tableware and other objects. The light it produces also depends on the light source and the design of the shade or housing.

Try these three approaches:

• On a wooden sideboard: a white or pale lamp makes its outline stand out against the wood. Rounded ceramic forms can soften the sequence of straight lines across the cabinet.
• On a metal side table: terracotta or papier-mâché creates a contrast in surface texture. Leave enough room around the lamp and keep other objects on the table to a minimum.
• Against a coloured wall: repeat one of the wall's tones in the lamp, or choose a colour that stands out clearly against it. Look at a photograph of the lamp switched off as well as illuminated.

Your lamps do not need to come from the same collection. Repeat one detail, such as a colour or rounded shape, while varying the material or size. A pendant and a table lamp can then sit comfortably together while each retains its own design.

In the living room, a pendant can light the dining table while a table lamp adds light to a sideboard. If you also read on the sofa, provide focused light beside that seat. Let the missing function guide your next purchase.

In the bedroom, start with how you use the space beside the bed. Reading calls for light directed towards the page; a smaller light may be enough when you simply want some illumination before going to sleep. A wall light can free up a narrow bedside table.

In the hallway, a table lamp on a console can light the spot where you leave your keys. Keep the passage clear and position the cable away from the route you walk through.

A rechargeable table lamp is useful if you want to move the same light between different places, from the dining table to a spot beside the sofa, for example. Compare brightness, dimming settings and battery life for each model. Cordless operation alone does not mean a lamp is suitable for outdoor use.