Finding The Right Table Lamps Shouldn’t Be T...

Anyway, I think I also ruined my search pretty early on because I already had something in mind that I thought was perfect, but it was way out of my price range. It’s the lamp that has been in my bedroom mockup for a while now…

That lamp is this Robert Abbey Tangerine table lamp from Lamps Plus (affiliate link), but at $887.20 each, that’s never going to happen.

It’s so perfect, though. And you know how it is when you find something that’s perfect but way out of your price range and then you try to find something similar in your price range. Nothing will ever compare to the original. And this one would be so perfect. I did this little mockup of it with the drapery fabric and grasscloth.

So I continued my search last night. At one point, I decided to go in a totally different direction and thought it would be beautiful to add a natural element like rattan. I started searching for rattan lamps, and none of them really caught my attention until I came across this rattan gourd table lamp from Lamps Plus (affiliate link). As soon as I saw it, I stopped and thought, “That’s it! That’s the one!” Of course I did. These are $607.20 each. Ugh. Why is everything I love out of my price range?! There’s no way I could bring myself to pay over $1200 for two table lamps.

Once I did my mockup, I realized that rattan probably isn’t the right choice anyway. It’s too much brown with the bedside tables and the shades, but I’m considering replacing the shades with something light, bright, light-filtering, and less eye-catching when they’re open. So I don’t really want to factor those into my selection.

I tried to find something similar in my price range, but of course, nothing like that exists.

The next option I found is this mid century modern table lamp from Target (affiliate link). It’s a set of two on sale for $125.99.

Again, I would paint them. I don’t put white table lamps in the “I would never” category. After all, I have a white lamp in the living room, and two white lamps in the music room. But I don’t want white lamps in here, so you’ll have to imagine them painted an orange/coral color.

This one also caught my eye. I love the shape of this stacked ovoid lamp from Target (affiliate link). It’s a bit more expensive. It’s on sale for $123.99 each.

And once again, you have to imagine it painted.

And finally, this vase base table lamp from Lamps Plus (affiliate link) caught my eye because it’s similar in shape to the original expensive lamp that I wanted. These are $81.59 each, and I could easily achieve a similar look to the expensive lamp with some paint and gold highlights.

It seems a little too skinny, though. The expensive one seems to have a more substantial base, which is one of the things I love about it. This skinnier one won’t have the same impact. And it’s the tallest lamp of them all. I was hoping to find something around 27″ high, and this one is 30.25″ high. But if I go with these, I could just hang the headboard a little higher than I had planned. I just don’t want my headboard and lamps being the same height, and I certainly don’t want the lamps being higher than the headboard.

I don’t think I can look at any more lamps. I’ve looked at hundreds of them (not even exaggerating), and what I’ve learned is that I have expensive taste. Everything I really like is out of my price range, so I’m almost certainly going to have to select something that needs to be painted and customized. Of course, I’m completely fine with that. But at this point, I’ve looked at so many lamps that all of the lamps in my price range seem so boring.

I know it’s just a lamp, but it’s also one of the first things that people (and I) will see when walking into our bedroom, so I want something fun and unique. And lamps are part of the “jewelry” of a room, like adding jewelry to a nice outfit, so I don’t want bland or boring lamps that look like they came from a big box store (even though they will almost certainly be from a big box store).