A decorative table lamp is essential to any house. They are among the most eye-catching home accessories. Table lamps provide light throughout the home and provide highlights that can add beauty and serenity to any area. Despite of the proliferation of the variety of lighting today available for the home, table lamps are still a very popular choice.

The table lamp is designed to be placed on a table and usually used as reading lights. However, there are a variety of uses of the table lamp. Table lamps are also used to provide aesthetic touch to a room, in additional to their original light purpose. Table lamps today comes in an assortment of attractive shapes, sizes, and styles - from sleek contemporary to more traditional table lamps with fabric shades. Table lamps are also made of different materials to suit your tastes, such as metal, glass and wood.

In addition to design, there are many factors to consider in choosing a table lamp for your home. The most important probably is the height of the table lamp. Since the functional use of the table lamp is lighting, you should feel comfortable when reading on a chair beside the table lamp. Before buying a table lamp, you should measure the table lamps height so that the lamp shade would not cast a shadow on your shoulder when reading beside a table.

Finding the perfect table lamp is not that easy. Over and above the design, you also need to consider several factors. It is very important to take measurements to make sure that the lamp would be tall enough to not cast a shadow on your shoulder when you are reading beside the table, for example.

You should also choose a table lamp that is proportionate to your other furniture. The table lamp should not be too large for the table it sits on to hold or too small to provide lighting on the room. As a rule, the shade of the table lamp should not exceed the size of the table it sits on.

Unless you live in a strictly regimented interior, you can choose any style of table lamp to place in a room. The table lamp should fit in any room it is placed, from contemporary or traditional. However, the material used in the lamp base should complement the finish of the table.

An important but often forgotten consideration in choosing a table lamp is the lamp shade. The right lamp shade can transform a humdrum base into something exquisite, while the wrong lamp shade can make even the most stunning lamp look badly proportioned, inappropriate for the room or awkward to use.

As a rule, the lamp shade should be two thirds the height of the base to ensure balance. This proportion ensures that the lamp shade will not look top or bottom-heavy. The lamp shade should also cover the hardware underneath, such as the the wire frame around the light bulb or the metal between the base and the bottom of the wire frame.