Glass Table Lamps: Selecting One That's Right For You

​Glass Table Lamps: Selecting One That's Right For You
By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jennifer_Akre/6885]Jennifer Akre 

Choosing the perfect furniture for your home is only half the battle. Even if you've picked just the right upholstered pieces and tables, you still need one more element in the room to really bring it to life - lighting.

While there are many different lighting strategies to choose from, few can match the flexibility and beauty of glass table lamps. Whether your home is done in a modern style, traditional or even antique, you'll find that glass lamps can really bring a room to life in terms of design, ambience and mood.

Finding glass table lamps for your home is easy. There are literally thousands to choose from, both in traditional lighting, hardware and furniture stores and online. 

When selecting the right table lamps for your home, there are some things to consider. The first, as with almost all furnishings, is scale. Table lamps shouldn't be so large that they consume the table or the room. Rather, they should be big enough to create the light you need, but not so large that they are difficult to turn on and off or block the sight lines of the room.

There are several basic directions you can go with glass table lamps. You can choose models that are clear glass, etched, frosted, textured, colored or even venture into stained glass works that recall a simpler time.

That's not to say that you need to go with a Tiffany lamp and empty your bank account. While Tiffany lamps are indeed the Cadillac (or should we say Lamborghini) of glass table lamps, you can buy newer lamps that were created in the style of Tiffany lamps for a lot less money. They are equally beautiful and really add character to a room. Your friends will find it hard to tell the difference between your "in the style of" Tiffany and a real one, unless, of course, they are watch Antiques Roadshow marathons on public television.

No matter which lighting you choose, you want to make sure that it is of a style and design that not only fits your d�cor, but which will add the right amount of light to the area of the room you're trying to light. Some designs are better than others at filling a space with light. There are many variables, including the design of the shade, the height of the lamp, the types of bulbs, the opacity or transparency of the materials, etc.

One of the ways to maximize your lighting options is to go with glass table lamps that have three-way sockets so you can have more options as far as the intensity of the light. You can also choose lights that have several bulbs instead of just one, allowing you to turn one, two, three or more bulbs on and off to control the brightness of the room.

While glass lamps have the potential to be brighter because the shade is more translucent than a fabric shade, this isn't always the case. For example, some stained glass table lamps can actually be quite subdued, especially if they use dark or opaque pieces of glass. 

The direction the light is sent is another consideration. If you have a lamp that has opaque or dark glass, the light will tend to be focused vertically rather than horizontally. This is great if you want it to light the end or side table it's on, but you may need to purchase additional lighting or add ceiling fixtures to give the room more even illumination and eliminate dark spots.

You can also use table lamps to control the mood and purpose of different parts of the same room. For instance, you can add a small lamp between two occasional chairs to create an intimate nook for conversation. Or add a table lamp to a sofa table to create dramatic lighting for your sofa. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination, sense of design and available space.

Author Jennifer Akre is an owner of a wide variety of online specialty shops including that offer both items and information on how you can easily furnish and decorate your space. Whether it is accent tables [http://www.onlytables.com] for your living room or [http://www.simplyoutdoorlighting.com]outdoor lighting for you newly remodeled home, there are many tips you can use to make any spot both functional and beautiful. Click today and indulge your senses.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Glass-Table-Lamps:-Selecting-One-Thats-Right-For-You&id=6785187] Glass Table Lamps: Selecting One That's Right For You