A floor lamp is one of the most useful and practical light fixtures available to a person. In dorm rooms or other cheesy apartments, it is not rare to find a ceiling fixture missing. The additional cost of running wiring in the ceiling simply made fixtures an impractical luxury. Apparently it was figured that the people buying the place could buy lamps or pay an electrician to run wiring in their ceiling. Well, table lamps never seem to provide enough ambient lighting and electricians are simply too expensive. The solution—a classy floor lamp of course!

A floor lamp will never be able to provide the level of ambient lighting that a ceiling fixture can produce. Ambient lighting is the general illumination that is present in a room. Technically speaking, a table lamp does provide ambient lighting but it generally illuminates one area very well while casting shadows over the rest of the room. Therefore, a table lamp is terrible for ambient lighting. Unless you are prepared to place floor lamps in every corner of the room and a couple in the center as well, a floor lamp is a better choice for ambient lighting.

When compared to a table lamp, a floor lamp has superior elevation (unless of course the table lamp is being propped up by 10 phone books or something!). The reason why a ceiling fixture or chandelier is so superior when it comes to ambient lighting is because it is centrally located above everything else in the room. Light is cast downward onto the room which is why a ceiling fixture illuminates everything so well.

Light from a table lamp is also cast downward—onto an end table or something! Much of the light is lost on the table's surface. A floor lamp, however, is elevated above a table lamp and can therefore cast its light downward onto objects other than an end table. However, because a floor lamp is neither centrally located or as high off the ground, it does not provide the same level of ambient lighting as a ceiling fixture might. However, it is certainly superior to a dorm room or apartment illuminated exclusively with table lamps all over the place.

Placement of a floor lamp will have a lot to do with the level of ambient lighting it produces. If placed in an obscure corner so that it only illuminates the chair where you like to do your reading, then a floor lamp will not provide much ambient lighting in that situation. But, when a floor lamp is placed either behind a centrally located couch or even one on each side, the level of ambient lighting improves dramatically. Remember, the best ambient lighting will come from the center and above a room. A floor lamp is only so tall but the closer you place it to the center of the room, the more effective will be its ambient lighting.

Of course, even in homes with ceiling fixtures, a floor lamp is a great way to add task lighting to a room while improving its ambient lighting as well. The height of a floor lamp and its ability to sit behind objects like chairs and still provide overhead illumination make them far superior to table lamps. If you are in need of some ambient lighting in your home, then a floor lamp is certainly the best choice for you!