Wooden Table Lamps

What a wooden base changes

A table lamp sits at eye level on furniture you are close to, so its base is looked at more carefully than any other lamp in the house. Wood reads warm and quiet where ceramic reads decorative and metal reads sharp, and it takes light differently: a turned or reeded surface catches the lamp above it and shows its own shadow lines. It also sits more comfortably on wooden furniture than glass or chrome, which tend to compete.

Turned, reeded and carved

A turned column is the classic form, symmetrical on a lathe and suited to a traditional or transitional room. Reeded and fluted bases add vertical grooves that catch light along each ridge. Carved and hand-finished bases in mango are more irregular by design, so no two match exactly, which suits a room where nothing else is symmetrical either. Woven rattan bases are the lightest option, physically and visually.

Sizing to the table

As a guide the lamp should stand no more than about one and a half times the height of the table it sits on, and the shade should not overhang the table edge, or it will catch a sleeve every time you reach past it. Beside a bed, the bottom of the shade sitting near eye height when you are sitting up keeps the bulb out of view while you read, which is the single measurement worth getting right on a bedside lamp. On a console behind a sofa, a taller lamp balances the length of the piece better than a small one, and the light clears the back of the sofa instead of pooling behind it.

Shades: linen, cotton and woven

Linen and cotton drums are the usual pairing and give an even, soft light through the fabric. A woven rattan or seagrass shade throws patterned light and reads more relaxed, but it hides less of the bulb, so choose an opal lamp behind it. A dark or lined shade pushes almost all the light up and down rather than sideways, which makes it a reading lamp rather than a room light.

Bulbs, switches and dimming

Most take a standard E27 or a smaller E14, bought separately. Warm white around 2700K suits every wood we stock. Check whether the switch is on the base or inline on the flex, which matters when the lamp sits behind a bed or against a wall. For dimming, use a dimmable bulb with a plug-in or inline dimmer, since a table lamp is not usually wired to a wall dimmer.

Pairs, and matching across a room

Bedside lamps look best as a pair, and they are sold individually, so order two. Elsewhere a single lamp is fine. Where you want a room to hang together, keeping the wood tone consistent matters more than matching the exact design: an oak table lamp and an oak floor lamp from different ranges will read as a set, while oak beside walnut will not.

Care and what to expect

Dust with a dry cloth. Avoid silicone polish on open-grain and oiled finishes, which leaves a film that dulls the surface and is hard to lift once applied. Keep water off a raw or oiled base and wipe spills straight away rather than letting them stand, since an oiled finish absorbs rather than repels. Hand-finished mango and acacia vary in colour and figure between pieces, including between two of the same lamp bought together, which is the material rather than a defect. Turned oak and walnut are far more consistent, so order a pair in those if an exact match either side of a bed matters to you.