Table Lamps, Bedside Lamps and Rechargeable Lamps

A table lamp is the light you actually switch on. The ceiling fitting gets a room to a usable brightness and then does nothing for the mood; a lamp on a bedside table, a console or the end of a sideboard is what makes a room feel finished at night. Around four hundred designs sit in this range, and they split three ways: bedside, cordless and everything meant for a living room.

Bedside Lamps

The commonest use by a distance, and the one with the tightest constraints. A bedside lamp has to clear the top of the mattress so the light falls on a book rather than the pillow, and it has to leave room on the table for a glass and a phone. Shorter than you would choose for a sideboard, in other words, and narrower at the base than the shade suggests.

Lamps here are sold individually rather than in pairs, so a matching set means ordering two of the same design. Worth checking stock on both before you buy one.

Rechargeable Table Lamps

Cordless lamps run on an internal battery and charge from a lead, which puts light where there is no socket: the middle of a dining table, a windowsill, a shelf, a covered terrace on a still evening. They are the ones with a touch switch, so a tap on the base takes them through their brightness settings rather than a rocker on the flex.

The practical case for one is a table you cannot run a cable to without someone catching a foot on it. The practical case against is that it has to go back on charge, so it is a second light in a room rather than the only one.

Table Lamps in Ceramic, Metal and Glass

Ceramic and metal make up most of the range. Ceramic reads soft and holds a colour through the whole body, so it sits quietly beside upholstery and picks up a wall shade rather than fighting it. Metal is the harder line — brass warms a room, black recedes into it, chrome bounces whatever light is already there. Glass sits between the two: it takes up visual space without blocking a view, which is why it suits a small table or a lamp that stands in front of a window.

Weight matters more than it looks. A ceramic or stone base stays where you put it on a bedside table; a light metal one moves every time the flex is nudged.

Table Lamps for a Living Room

A living room takes taller lamps than a bedroom and takes more than one of them. Two lamps at opposite corners of a room light it far better than a single one in the middle, because the light crosses rather than pooling, and the shadows land behind the furniture instead of across it.

Height should follow the piece it stands on. A lamp on a low side table wants to be tall enough that the shade sits near eye level when you are seated, so the bulb is hidden from where people sit rather than glaring straight at them.

Desk Lamps

A small number of designs are made for a desk rather than a table, with a narrower footprint and light directed down onto the work rather than out into the room. Anything with an adjustable head belongs here.

Every Table Lamp Comes With a Shade

Each one arrives complete, matched by the maker, so there is nothing to work out about fitting or diameter. Shades are the cheapest part of a lamp to change later if you want a different look, and there is a separate range for that, but nothing here needs one to work.

Common Questions About Table Lamps

How tall should a bedside lamp be?

Tall enough that the bottom of the shade sits at about the height of your shoulder when you are sitting up in bed. Lower than that and the light goes into your eyes; much higher and it lands on the wall rather than the page.

Can I buy bedside lamps as a pair?

Lamps are sold individually, so a matching pair means ordering two of the same design. Check that both are in stock at the same time, as ranges change.

Do rechargeable table lamps stay on all evening?

They are made to, and the run time depends on the brightness setting — the lowest setting lasts considerably longer than the brightest. Treat one as a light you move around and put back on charge, not as a permanent fitting.

Do table lamps come with a shade?

Every one on this page does, matched to the base by the maker.

What is a touch lamp?

One you switch by touching the base or the stem instead of a switch on the flex, usually cycling through two or three brightness levels. In this range the touch designs are the cordless rechargeable ones.