Tag Archives: contemporary

How to Decorate Safely With Vintage Floor Lamps

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Before you buy a floor lamp there are certain things that you might want to keep in mind. First of all you need to know that floor lamps were considered to be more dangerous than other lamps until the last decade or so when technology and good design helped fix some of the problems that made this style of lamp flawed in the first place.

For instance, historically, floor lamps have always been known to tip over. Nowadays there is a standard that contemporary floor lamps must meet call the UL “tipability” standard. This means that the floor lamp you are buying has a much heavier base and there is less danger of it falling over and landing, say, on a sofa cushion and setting it on fire.

Yet another feature of floor lamps that made them dangerous for years was the cords. The cords were made of cloth and easily caught fire with the slightest of power surges. Nowadays floor lamps are made with a plastic zip cord rather than the old cloth cords. The old cloth cords also used to fray and it was much easier for an animal or child to chew through them or get accidentally shocked just by touching it.

The fact that most antique lamps do not have a standardized non-tippable base or a safe electrical cord is why you are probably better off to buy a new floor lamp then one from an antique store. It is just safer. Yet another reason is that the very old floor lamps attached their lampshades through a wire clamp that was attached to the shade itself. This style of clamp for attaching light bulbs is also obsolete.

However if you do find the floor lamp of your dreams there is no reason why you can’t take it to an electrician or antique dealer to see what can be done to refurbish it. This is done all of the time to recycle old floor lamps. It is probably a good idea not to try and rewire an old lamp yourself unless you are an experienced electrician.

Although rewiring and old floor lamp is easy, making sure the base is stable is not. All it takes is one wild child or unruly dog to tip it over and you could have a fire on your hands.

Floor lamps come in an incredible number of styles nowadays including all of the retro looks that you would find in an antique store and all of the more contemporary styles. LampsPlus coupon codes has discount codes for LampsPlus which is a store with a huge selection. As you browse online to shop for floor lamps it is quite common to find them in every style imaginable including Mission, Seventies Retro, Tiffany, Art Deco, Arts and Crafts, Country, Late Victorian and Gas. You can also find modern Swedish styles that include shades shaped like upside down frying pans and large metallic mixing bowls. Nowadays they also come in every type of finish and shade including glass, porcelain and brushed metal.

How to Decorate With Pendant Lighting

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Pendant lighting is not to be mistaken for chandelier lighting, which casts a softer more ambient light. Pendant lighting is usually hung from a single sconce on the ceiling from which sprouts a single chain or metal tube. The lamp shade itself is the “pendant” that dangles at the end.

Pendant lighting is considerably more practical than other types of lighting, which is why you often see them in kitchens, bathrooms, hallways and other places that need to be well lit. Usually the shade on a pendant style light fixture is completely enclosed and made out of a white, cream or opaque glass.

These pendant shades usually completely enclose the bulb although in the last decade, hat shaped or funnel shaped shades that are open at the end and that can be adjusted in height using adjustable wires are becoming quite common (especially as kitchen lighting fixtures in condominiums.) You often see them suspended in a row over a kitchen island in newly designed buildings or hanging high from a twenty-foot ceiling in a hallway.

Pendant style lampshades are almost as old as lighting itself with the earliest version being the bare naked light bulb hanging from a fabric cord from a ceiling. This style of pendant lighting is known as the Burnside.

Shades on pendant style lighting, which was first popularized in the forties in the form of gorgeous blown glass shells, have evolved to compromise all sorts of styles. Some of the most attractive styles of pendant lighting are inspired from this era which features glass globes that have been stepped or squared off with Art Deco touches. You can also find square or triangular open flute art deco shades that have wrought iron details and pastel colored glass panels.

Pendant style tiffany lampshades are also quite striking looking but one problem with them is that they are not quite in style as a pendent. Floor lamps and table lamps look more contemporary then the hanging tiffany lamps, which unfortunately can make your place, look too much like the interior of a chain restaurant.

Yet another style of pendant lighting that seems to never go out of style is the Colonial. This type of lighting features a shade that looks like a lantern with a candle inside. A similar style is the Storybook style, which is made of cast iron and hangs from a heavy chain. Both of these styles tend to look better out of doors but they were often found indoors in the seventies if you are going for that kind of “horse drawn carriage” reference in your décor.

Don’t forget too that to be beautiful the stem of a pendant lampshade does not have to be really long. Shorter styles with stubbier tubes are reminiscent of the Edwardian and Art Deco eras and look contemporary and timeless at the same time. This is especially true if you can find a style that is shaped like a child’s top, a trapezoid or deconstructed globe as these shapes are typical of this popular Mid-Century look in pendant lighting.