A sitting room at dusk lit only by warm table lamps, with blue evening light at the window

Lamps before the ceiling light

There is an evening in September when you realise you have switched the big light on without thinking. It tends to happen around seven. The whole room goes flat, every corner gets exactly the same treatment, and the sofa starts to look like part of a waiting room.

We have nothing against ceiling lights. They are very good for finding a dropped earring. But from now until March, most of the atmosphere in a house comes from lamps, several small ones at different heights, each with its own job. This is roughly how we go about it.

Start low

The first light should sit below eye level when you are sitting down. A lamp on a side table will do it, or a pendant dropped low beside the bed, so long as the light lands in a pool on the surface below. Low light draws the room in around you, which is what you want once it is dark before supper.

Beside a bed we hang pendants lower than most people expect. Somewhere around 50 to 60 centimetres above the mattress is a good starting point, and you can adjust from there once you have tried reading under it.

Two small stone globe pendants lit on either side of an upholstered bed against a panelled cream wall

The Luna Marble Globe was more or less made for this spot. It is a small sphere of natural stone, twelve centimetres across, and the light does not come through it evenly. It gathers in the pale patches and stops at the dark veining, so the globe glows in uneven patches of amber. One on each side of the bed is plenty.

Then something on the wall

The second layer sits at about shoulder height, and a wall is the easiest place to put it. A sconce throws light onto the plaster, and a lit wall makes a room feel wider. In autumn that counts for a lot, because once it gets dark the windows turn into black rectangles and the room seems to lose its edges.

Hallways and landings are where people usually give up and use a single overhead bulb. In a narrow space, where nothing should stick out, the Eclipse Marble Sconce sits almost flat to the wall. It is a disc of natural stone on a slim iron body, lit from behind, so the stone glows where it is thin and a thin ring of light escapes round the rim. It switches between warm, natural and white. After dark, we would leave it on warm.

A round stone wall light glowing on a white panelled wall above a dark chest of drawers with two amber glass vases

One lamp that is only for reading

Every sitting room needs a lamp you switch on for a reason. Put it next to the chair people actually read in, which is rarely the one that looks best in photographs.

The Column Reading Light is a brushed aluminium column with a frosted band of light let into the middle. It throws light up and down at the same time, so there is a soft halo on the wall and a pool at your feet, and you dim it by touching the column. Its footprint is about the size of a saucer, which means it tucks in beside an armchair where a side table would not fit.

A slim black column floor light glowing warm between two dark armchairs in front of sheer curtains

Let the pendant be looked at

If the room has a pendant, let it be something to look at and leave the lamps to do the lighting. Hang it lower than feels natural and keep it on the warmest setting it has.

Over a kitchen island, or beside a bed if you like something with more presence, the Cairn Marble Pendant works well. Three pieces of marble are stacked one on another and lit from inside, and the light leaks out through the thinner edges and the seams. From across the room it reads as three warm shapes. A run of three over an island looks like something you found on a long holiday and carried home on your lap.

A stacked marble pendant light hanging beside a bed with a tall blue grey upholstered headboard and a white bedside table

A few things we have learnt the slow way

  • After dark, choose warm white. Bulbs around 2700K sit at the warm end, and anything cooler makes a sitting room feel like an office after hours.
  • If you can, put the lamps on a switch or a set of smart plugs by the door. You are much less likely to reach for the big light if one press brings three lamps on at once.
  • Stand in the doorway and look for the corner you never sit in. It is usually the darkest one, and even a very small lamp there changes how the whole room feels.
  • Lampshades and stone both change colour when lit. Try things in the evening before you decide, because what looks cream at noon can look quite orange at nine.

Our own test is not very scientific. On a weekday evening, once it is properly dark, make a cup of tea and sit in your usual place for ten minutes. If you want to stay there, the lighting is right. If you find yourself getting up to do the washing up, you probably need one more lamp.

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