The days are getting shorter and we’re starting to see less of the sun in general. At my house this meanslightsare getting turned on a lot earlier, and in some rooms, they’re on all day. But I’m not talking about overhead lights like chandeliers, can lights, or the dreadedboob lights. No, I mean lamps—cozy table lamps, sexy floor lamps, and adjustable wall sconces with low-watt warm bulbs that often add more ambience than they do illumination. And the space in my home where accent lighting has made the biggest difference is the dining room.
I’ll admit that for a long time, it didn’t even cross my mind to add a lamp to my dining room. There aren’t manyavailable surfacesother than thedining table, and I also have a very cool statement chandelier with warm bulbs and frosted globes. Because the overhead light is on a dimmer, I always just turned it down when the lighting felt too harsh. And you know what? It wasfine.But the space always seemed to be missing something, and in early 2021, after all theholiday decorationsgot packed away and I felt like I was going to be locked in my house forever, I was determined to make every room ascozy as possible. Enter my dining room lamp, a minimalist gold base with a gray glass globe that I outfitted with alow-watt warm bulb.
Once I added just one little lamp to the dining room, I was kind of upset I hadn’t done it sooner. While I have a cursory understanding of lighting design—and I’m fully aware that I look like a ghoul when positioned under a single overhead light source—the lamp changed the entire mood of the space. It had a similar effect to warm, glowy string lights in the corner or enough candles to createa fire hazard.
With the addition of a dining room lamp, the space went from feeling like a functional spot for doing necessary things like eating, crafting with my kids, and arguing with my husband about money to a warm, welcoming place where I wanted to linger with a glass of wine. It felt like a cozy restaurant, and at the time, it was the closest I was going to get to one too.
