10 Steps: Bedside Lighting

A stack of design mags.  A cup of tea.  Warm PJs. A cozy comforter and about 3 pillows.  There are few activities more indulgent than hanging out in bed, which is why stylish and effective bedside lighting is so important.

In lieu of matching table lamps (yawn), here are 10 ideas to light up your boudoir in 2010:

1. Pendant Lights: We love us some symmetry so these spaceship pendants hovering over the nightstands are right up our alley.  Plus, pendants save room for people who like a lot of stuff on their bedside table.

2. Sconces: Another space-saving idea we love.  Bendy sconces kick it up a notch because they provide excellent task lighting.  So no more awkward positions just to finish that last chapter in Twilight Eclipse while your partner sleeps.

3. Statement lamps:  For some reason the phrase "Dolly Parton's tits" comes to mind when we look at this over-the-top room.  (Did we just type that out loud?) We are crazy about statement lamps -- have some cool 50's inspired ones in our own bedroom.  However, they take up a lot of space. So, if you're someone who likes to have a book, alarm clock, moisturizer and picture of significant other on your nightstand -- statement lamps aren't for you.  Of course that doesn't mean you can't put some fierce ones in your guest bedroom...

4. Mismatched lighting: If you've read other posts here, you know we are big-time fans of eclecticism.  And while this room doesn't qualify as eclectic, the mismatched lights do.  A sconce and tiny nightstand + lamp are a perfect fit for the small space between the door and the wall.  Anything bigger wouldn't fit.

5. Solo lamp: Who says you have to have light on both sides?  If space doesn't allow it, consider using one light source for the bed.  If you're single and living in a studio, it's a no-brainer.

6. Floorlamps: Never in a million years would we have thought floorlamps flanking a bed would work.  And then we saw this picture and realized why that whole "never say never" phrase is so popular.  These work for two reasons: 1) the floorlamps themselves are skinny little things and 2) the rest of the bed and room is very streamlined. However, 20 bucks says you knock one over during your 3am pee break at least once a week!

7. Light as Art:  We're a bit torn on this one.  We love how this light works in scale and color with the rest of the room.  We also love the idea of light being the star of the show.  However, we can't get surgery and interrogation out of our head. That being said, there are a million and one ways to reinterpret this idea.

8. Centered pendant light: There's something regal about having a giant beautiful lampshade suspended over your bed. It's grown-up, glamorous and strangely makes us frisky.

9. Traditional chandelier:  A traditional chandelier, on the other hand, does not.  It does, however, add a fabulous shimmery element to any room.  We like how the one below is hung in an ultra-modern room. It takes the frou-frou-ness out of the equation.  We also love chandeliers in bathrooms, but that's a whole other post.

10. Sconces as art:   To be fair, these sconces are more art lighting than bed lighting -- check out how high they are hung, but the effect is spectacular -- so they garner the last spot in our 10 Steps list.

Addicted: Transparency

As life-long city dwellers, space is always an issue.  One of our favorite tricks for working in a small or crowded room is transparency.  Glass, lucite or otherwise clear furniture creates the illusion of furniture not actually being there, something almost all urban abodes can use.  Case in point, this "is it or isn't it there?" dining room table:

Here are a few transparency tricks we love:


Is your foyer so small it's practically non-existent but you still want something more than a mat to welcome guests?  Start with a lucite console table, hang a mirror above, add some tabletop objects de l'amour and voila, you have a bonafide chic foyer!  

This idea also works for skinny hallways.  The following mirrored console has the same effect.

We've also seen lucite consoles used as a vanity table in a bedroom, for office-less offices (e.g. desks that have to live in living rooms or guest bedrooms) and as a credenza in a  small dining room. 

We also love going transparent for coffee tables and side tables in living rooms.  

In the case of our living room below, using an opaque coffee table would hide one of the biggest design elements in the room -- our boldly striped rug. A clear coffee table allows the rug to be seen and doesn't take up a lot of space in our already crowded room.  We like this idea for nightstands in bedrooms, too.  

Kick the Habit: Dining Room Chairs Don't Have to Hurt

99% of the time our mantra is "form over function," but when it comes to dining room chairs our butts win out in the end.  Don't get us wrong, we love a Louis Ghost chair just as much as the next gal.  Until we had to sit in one for an hour-long business meeting and shifted our weight from one cheek to the other the entire time. So not fun.  (The folks below figured that out and are trying to soften the blow with pillows.  Good luck with that.)

And then there are benches and stools - good idea in theory, painful idea in practice.  Case in point, the following dining room we found in Living Etc.  It's over-the-top gorge(!), but we'd dread having to sit through a 2-hour dinner party on one of those tiny, backless stools, especially the one with the cushion.  How many times do you think that puppy would slide throughout the night?!

Oh and for all you barstool owners, do everyone a favor and make sure they have footrests.  Those of us under 6'0" start to lose feeling after 15 minutes of leg dangling.

We're not saying you should skip out on beautiful chairs altogether, just don't expect people to actually sit in them. Instead treat them like art -- and allow people to enjoy their beauty from afar.

Daily Hit: Room with a View

To walk around naked or not?

With a room like this, who cares?!  And judging by the naked pair of legs in the pic, we're not alone.


We don't even know where to start with a room this magical. The owners smartly recognized that the view is the real star of the show and have kept everything else minimal, warm and harmonious with its surroundings. Additional furniture, colors or prints would be fussy and intrusive. 


And that hanging chair must feel like a tree swing in your own personal forrest.  We can't imagine a cozier spot for our first cup of coffee in the morning.

Quick Fix: Paint the Tub

We are suckers for color so were just tickled pink (gag!) when we saw this bathtub in LivingEtc.  Genius idea for salvaging a tired old tub --  upcycling at its best!

The rest of the decor leaves us scratching our heads and we're not sure bubblegum pink would be our first choice, but admire anyone with the guts to paint their tub pink.  We'd paint ours indigo or charcoal and throw a pale lilac paint or wallpaper up on the walls. 


Btw, how fierce are those wooden blocks?! 

Craving: Alvar Aalto's Golden Bell Light

We came across this shiny and simple light fixture in LivingEtc and immediately pictured a gazillion places we could use it:  one on each side of the bed in lieu of boring bedside lamps, 8 or 10 staggered at varying heights over a long dining room table, one or three above a console in the foyer (against a dramatic wallpaper would be to-die-for!), a solo one hanging next to the mirror in a tiny guest bathroom.  


The possibilities for this shining beacon of chic are endless.

Design Decoder

What you'll find on The Fix:

• Craving: an object we covet
• Daily Hit: a room that leaves us speechless
• Kick the Habit:  design tricks we are so over 
• Addicted: design tricks that never get old
• 10 Steps: 10 inspirations for 2010
• Quick Fix: ideas for working with what you've got