I have this strange quirk – while I love lamps and see their value, I hardly have any in our home.
Can you believe I only had 2 in the entire house? One in the living room (a housewarming gift from my in-laws)…
and a pretty Tiffany-style desk lamp in the office (a gift-hand-me-down from Ryan’s aunt).
Some people (and lots of bloggers) have double that in one room!
THE SHAME!
I blame it on a variety of factors –
1. Indecision. I often see pretty lamps at stores and online. But, I can never decide what lamp I like best? Where should it go? Should I get one or two? Will it match the room? And with that, I move on.
2. Cost. Lamps are expensive. And, I have a hard time shelling out the dough for something that I’m living (contentedly) without.
3. Breakability. If something is too fragile, it breaks at the Woodwards. It’s like Newton’s Law. We can’t keep nice things. Some of this has to do with our own carelessness. Most of it, however, is due to the fact that our pugs think all end tables (and sometimes kitchen islands, dining room tables and patio tables) are, in fact, just another chair for them to lounge on. (We should really have our own dog training show.) So, table top lamps just never seemed practical for us.
4. Priorities. The truth is, there are so many other things that occupy my mind, lamps fall to the bottom of the list.
But, now I’ve brought home my very first “bought-it-myself” lamp, and I love it. Hello, gorgeous.
It’s pretty and great for this area. The cost was reasonable*. It doesn’t risk getting knocked off a table. I’m in love.
The magic happened on the IKEA journey with Jenny. (Check out her finds here.) Where typically I am indecisive and cost-conscious, I just went with it and grabbed it with little thought. (Although, if I’m being honest, I may have checked it out during the past 3 trips to IKEA.)
And, I had no clue how much it cost before it rung up. It ended up being about the most expensive lamp at the store. I think my face showed my surprise. I thought everything in IKEA was dirt cheap. Ryan says I have a gift to find the most expensive thing in a discount store. I call it good taste.
And don’t go telling me that $60 for a lamp is still a great deal, that’d I’d spend more anywhere else… yadayadayada. I know that. But, remember, I would have never bought a lamp anywhere else. So it’s a null point. But, I know the price was still fair.
And I really like the style in the living room. I loved this style lamp elsewhere but never bit the bullet. My original plan was to purchase a black version, but I really like the chrome. And, this chair has become my newest blogging and reading spot, so it’s useful for light. (I don’t think the blog has met our new-to-us chair before now. It may be the most comfortable chair in the world.)
Now, I’m thinking I may become a lamp collector, since I did such a good job this time. I’m not going to venture too far into the lamp world though, how about the tabletop version in red for guest room bedside lamps?
Do you love lamps? How many do YOU have in your house?
Oh. and I love that chair. It’s gorgeous!
I actually had more that I used in our old (800 sq. ft.) house than I was using in our “new” (3,000 sq. ft.), but it was mainly because we didn’t have overhead lighting in the living room at the old house.
However, I have recently found myself with an influx of lamps (breaking my indecisive streak?) and I have had to find homes for them. I discovered that a lamp I bought three years ago and had never used (hated it) looks awesome in our dining room.
Ok, since you asked, I had to count how many lamps we have. We have nine and need more (our living room and office seem so dark and I’d really like to have one in our dining room). I really like the lamp you bought–I would so snuggle up in that chair with a good book and a soft blanket!
I love it! It looks like a perfect reading/knitting lamp!
We’ve got 4 matching lamps in our living room that were $10 each at Ollies. We needed them because the back half of the living room has no overhead lighting. Then we’ve got one ceramic lamp in the nursery that was hand painted by Stephen’s grandmother when he was a baby. That’s about it for us.
Stephen has something against floor lamps because one fell on him in a store when he was 3 and left a huge scar on the side of his face. I’m hoping to eventually help him get over his mistrust of floor lamps because we’re going to need some in our dark dining room. Besides, the scar is hot. 😉
Also can you send me those Harvest blocks? I want them!! Thanks! 🙂
I can’t believe you only had 2 lamps in your house! We have a lot.. and sadly sometimes they are all on at once.
LOL I have two bed side lamps, 1 lamp in the living room, and one in the girls room (that’s not even plugged in!)
I have a hard time shelling out for lamps too… Kinda seem worthless to me when we have other lights
I’m with you. Love lamps… can’t make a decision or bear to part with the money to buy them! We have five… one is a craft lamp though – does that even count?! We have two in our bedroom, one in our guest bedroom and one in our living room. Your’s is gorgeous!! Love it and will have to go admire it in IKEA next time I get to visit. 🙂
Love it, it’s perfect with the chair, and TOTALLY worth $60. I like the chrome, too.
I think we have 10 lamps, which isn’t as many as I thought it would be! (I did just get rid of a couple) I’m weird about over-head lighting so I have them everywhere but the kitchen and baths. Lamps on bathroom counters kind of confuse/freak me out anyway …
So I have a slight lamp problem. As in I cannot leave Homegoods without a new one. Just thinking about it I have over 10 in the house, not counting the ones sitting in the basement because they got the boot for newer and prettier ones. Yeah its a problem.
I love this in your space and so worth the money. The look on your face when she rang it up was priceless though. You’re right….you just have excellent taste.
Loving the lamp. Loving the chrome. Seriously wishing my fall decorations had actually made it out of the rubbermaid I carried up from the basement. 😉 Yours are so cute!
Oh and I had to count…you made me. I have twelve lamps. It’s entirely possible I didn’t spend more on my twelve than you did on one. 😛 na na na boo boo. LOL!! I’m a super indecisive, cheap lamp buyer….they all came from yard sales or Goodwill.
p.s. I’d trade all twelve for your one….LOVE IT THAT MUCH!!! Do we have a deal?
I love the lamp! It looks like the perfect type of lamp for that space. I don’t have very many lamps either… I never know where to put them, plus my husband likes to use them as hat racks.
I LOVE LAMP. Seriously, they are my second favorite accessory (1 is pillows) because you can really go bold and just switch it out when you’re sick of it, reusing the same shade or whatever you want.
We need new lamps badly, ours our mostly goodwill or hand-me-downs; but like you I can’t make a decision and don’t want to spend the money. But we don’t have a lot of overhead light and I like the task light of lamps for reading and crafts. It’s on the list.
I’ve got quite a few lamps! That one is perfect, though. Love the shiny chrome. : )
i have no floor lamps, but i loooove that lamp. and 60 bucks is a good deal, lol, but i have that same problem of liking the most expensive thing.
i bought 2 lamps for our bedroom, but we hardly use them. turned out they’re mostly for appearance. good thing they were only 30 each, including shade.
oops… I forgot the one at the end of the hall on our console table.
That makes 13 lamps!
Your new lamp looks awesome!
I love lamps and prefer them to overhead lighting. I think the light that lamps give off is more warm and welcoming. That said we have 12 lamps in our house… 1 in the foyer, 3 in the living room (2 table lamps and a floor lamp), 2 in the guest bedroom, 2 in the office, 3 in the master bedroom and 1 in the TV room.
Cute! Never thought about how many we have until now… but there are 3 lamps in our house, and I’m trying to get rid of 2 (in exchange for some wall mounted beside lights)! Haha. Maybe I should send ’em your way
That is a beautiful investment piece! And helps to create a wonderful nook!
I have at least one lamp in each room and now I’m debating going to ikea and getting one of these pretties!
p.s. I have a dog toy basket just like yours!
I like your new lamp, Kim! We have our fair share of lamps, but some are looking pretty dated. I’d love to spring for new ones, but I also have a hard time choosing. 😉
I thought I was the ONLY one who loved lamps but had almost none in my house lol.
I totally agree with your cost perspective as far as shelling out that much money for something you are happily living without.
Up until this weekend I to only had two lamps in the house. One in the living room and a small one on my desk, but than I found a desk/table lamp at the goodwill in perfect shape for 5-Bucks and snatched it up. It’s a brushed nickel and after researching the regular price of this lamp is $129.95!!! So…. 5-bucks well spent I think lol.
I’m with your our house doesn’t have that many lamps! our living room only one…I bought some home and quickly returned it, lol. I do love almost all the lamps I see at TJ Maxx and Marshall…
I think you made a perfect choice lamp for that spot it looks amazing!
Love the chrome!
Great purchase!!! I love the look of lamps, but only have four in my home. One in my bedroom, and three in my living room.
Two in my living room never get used. They’re there for decoration as they are the cutest brushed nickel lamps (but non-matching) from PierOne. But I also have an apothecary style lamp similar to yours that has an OttLite bulb in it. It sits behind my favorite stitching spot and it gets used nightly!
I love it!! I’m glad you went ahead and bought it after the little surprise in the checkout lane. : )
I also have very few lamps. And I don’t think I’m very good about picking them out. Because I don’t like some of the ones that I have. To be fair, I’ve never actually bought one. We registered for one, we got some hand-me-downs and Nick bought our living room set. And now I won’t spend more money on them because….that’s how I work. *sigh*
You’ve inspired me though. Yours looks great!
I love that lamp. I had it in my cart the last time I was at IKEA, and then I put it back. And I regret it everytime I step into my living room. It would’ve been perfect.
Well as you know me I LOVE LAMPS! In our tiny Bungalow we have 5.
http://www.mrs-adventure.com/2010/04/updates.htm
Love the lamp………..
I find that I need one in each room of our home, except the dining room and kitchen. We do not have over head lights in every room and sometimes, turning on a lamp produces nicer light than our over heads. With that said, I love finding, “not your average” lamp. Home Goods is my favorite place to look for lamps.