We often used standard lamps as task lighting or ambient lighting. I remember grandma knitting away under the standard lamp, with the main light in the lounge on as well. Lighting was simple and not always effective but that was how it was.
Nowadays, for homes to be lit effectively we need a variety of lighting solutions, and the general rule of thumb is that you have five different lighting types.
General lighting - which lights the area and makes it safe to move around your home. The old single lightbulb in the room was our general lighting.
Task lighting - this is lighting used to complete a task. It may be the lighting over a kitchen bench that illuminates the work surface, lighting for reading or craft work. In some respects this is where the old standard lamp came in.
Decorative lighting - this sometimes falls into the category of general lighting but the primary objective is to look great. That visual effect when you walk into an entrance of a home and get the wow factor or lighting over a dining table or maybe a lamp. Decorative lighting can be anything from a simple lampshade to a stunning chandelier. It can be dramatic or sensual. This is my favourite.
Accent lighting - lighting that illuminates a feature; art piece that creates a little bit of drama perhaps.
Kinetic lighting - moving light, the little lights that wink at you at night as you walk through the house when all other lights are off, or firelight and candles to create a little bit of ambience.
And within all these different types of lighting come uplights, downlights, wall washers, pendants, ceiling buttons, energy efficient, incandescent, warm whites and cool whites and so on.
My favourite is decorative lighting and, under that umbrella, you can have general lighting, task and accent, depending on how much light is released for each task.
Chandeliers, for instance, in an entrance can illuminate the whole area making it safe to move around, enter and exit the room, but they are primarily decorative.
A leadlight standard lamp falls under decorative because of its detail but it can also be task and accent lighting. The same goes for a task lamp that has a flexible stem. With a decorative "shade", it falls under that category, but next to a desk it becomes task lighting, behind a vase of flowers and to illuminated up the wall it becomes accent lighting, hidden but bringing attention to the vase and flowers.
Lamps are so much fun to use big and small, decorative or simple.
I love low-level lighting in the evening so the room disappears around you and you have pools of warm light in different areas creating atmosphere.
I have lamps that illuminate art from an occasional table, shooting up the wall or others behind a bowl of flowers. Hidden light behind a crystal vase filled with fresh water adds a whole new dimension to stems of flowers or foliage.
The light just needs to be subtle to be effective - it is great reflected in a mirror and I love candlelight in a mirror as it doubles the light.
The humble lamp often gets forgotten as it is an add-on or, with small children in the house, it might just be considered a hazard and get knocked over.
My kids grew up with lamps and candles and they soon learned to respect a naked flame and not to play with it and not to knock lamps over. It was only me that broke a lampshade so I had no one else to blame.
Think about the whole picture with lights at even intervals across your newly gibbed ceiling for those who are building. The older you get, the more lighting you require for everything, unfortunately.
Terry Lobb is an interior/kitchen designer and personal colour and style consultant who takes a holistic approach to living with colour, texture and style - email: terry@terrylobb.com; website: terrylobb.com
