A Few Rules For Bedside Lamps (and what ACTUALLY made the biggest difference in our Pantry Makeover)

This post is sponsored by Troy Lighting. 

Last week, after 2.5 months of sleeping in our daughter's room while our room was under construction, we moved back in! Our room still has a ways to go and (ie. our bed frame still hasn't arrived), but the key players are here and man, it feels good to be home. 

The Troy Lighting Calabria Table lamps were  the first things we picked out for this bedroom (waaayyyyy back in this post! What?!). We wanted something significant, and I love the warm mix of browns with our black nightstands. The delivery window was long, but we knew these beauties would be worth the wait. You know how it is when you know you want something, and it's the exact thing that fits your vision. It's worth saving up and waiting for your dream lamp to be in stock, and even waiting long lead times on delivery. Because, sometimes, no other lamp will do, and that's when you know you picked a good one.

When it comes to bedside lamps, you have two options imo and we've tried both: You can free up your nightstand completely and go with something wall-mounted (but you'll have to hang it just so you don't have a light bulb glaring into your eyes), or you can let your lamp be "the thing." The furniture, the sculpture, the show-stopper. Let it take up space.

And in that case, a lamp can truly double as a piece of art. If you have a great, substantial lamp on your nightstand, you don't need anything else. You can skip the little boxes and plants and vases and the candle the last three books that Reese Witherspoon has recommended (even though — wow, those trendy spines). You can skip all the how to style your nightstand posts with one great lamp.

Three Rules for Bedside Lamps

1. A bedside lamp has to be shaded so that the light is nice and filtered and glowy and soft. I'm really loving Chimney or empire shades (the more cone shaped shades) right now and they are definitely making a huge comeback. It's kind of a nod to the old. Nothing is worse than laying down with a bulb blaring in your face with no shade to filter it.
2. I normally recommend a 3000K bulb all day long, but for accent lighting, I like to go a little warmer, especially in the bedroom. For our bedside lamps, a 2700-2800K with 200-400 lumens. It's inviting, soft and warm...but not too warm.
3. The scale has to be appropriate to the size of your bed. If you have king size bed, you need a larger lamp to make it feel balanced. (A pair of tiny buffet lamps just won't do!) And, it seems like it goes without saying, but be mindful of the height so you can comfortably reach the switch when you're lying in bed. I like the nightstand height to be within two inches (up or down) from the height of my bed. Alternatively, you can get a voice-activated light bulb and really make your bedroom feel luxe.

You may remember, the lamps in our last home's bedroom were Troy Lighting, also!  We only got to enjoy them for a few months before we sold our house. We loved those lamps — the Artifact Graystone lamps. And the person who bought our house must have felt that way, too, because he bought them from us! We started scrolling through Troy Lighting as soon as we moved into our new house, insistent we were NOT going to wait another 5 years for the perfect bedside lamps. Troy Lighting's selection is sophisticated and refined, with lots of heirloom-quality staying power. They have the kind of lighting that you'll want to "borrow" for your other rooms — until the living room and the entry and the office gets their turns. (Guiltttyyyyyy)

There is one other new light we've had for a few months but haven't showed you that is ALSO from Troy Lighting. When we revealed our pantry, so many of you were like, "Hold on — you changed way more than the paint color." And it's true. One of the biggest things we changed, besides the paint color, was the light fixture. We went from a headache-inducing florescent light that didn't make anything look appetizing to Hudson Valley Lighting's Conrad Flush Mount with two bulbs in our favorite 3000K color. Most people don't realize behind those big florescent lights, there's just one junction box — where you can install ANY light you want. We didn't even have to move it!

(See our whole pantry post here)

It kind of feels like you're throwing your money away on good design and beautiful organization and dreamy paint colors if you're not lighting your spaces properly.

When choosing a flush mount for a small space, first think about how much light you need. I wouldn't normally necessarily recommend multiple bulbs for such a small space, but we wanted to make sure the items in the pantry were well lit. And I knew I could go darker with the paint because it would be.

Also, If it's the ONLY light in the space, you may as well make a small statement. Ask yourself, How can I really elevate my pantry? You basically get once piece of decor--that's your light. And isn't this one so pretty?!

You know (and I know) I could talk about lighting all day long, so sound off with any of your lighting questions in the comments!