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Home Decor · 🍂 Autumn · Coming into season

Lamps, not the big light

The cheapest change in interiors, and the one people notice first.

£ · 15 minutes · 3 min read

Two lamps at different heights lighting a living room after dark

Ask anyone what makes a room feel cosy and they'll say candles. It's lighting temperature, and it costs about four pounds to fix.

This is the first genuinely autumn job of the year, and it's worth doing in the last week of August, before you need it.

The three rules

  • 2700K or lower, everywhere. The box says 'warm white'. Anything labelled cool or daylight belongs in a garage.
  • Two light sources minimum, at different heights. A floor lamp plus a table lamp beats any ceiling fitting.
  • Nothing above eye level after dark, if you can help it. Overhead light flattens a room and ages everyone in it.

Fifteen minutes tonight

  1. Turn on every lamp you own and turn off the ceiling light. Live with it for one evening.
  2. Note which corner is still dark. That's where the next lamp goes — a cheap one is fine.
  3. Swap any bulb that looks blue-white next to the others.
  4. Add a dimmer plug or a dimmable smart bulb to the lamp nearest where you sit.

Coming into season

An early-autumn job while it's still summer. Keep it now and it'll be waiting in your list the week the evenings turn.

My SZN editorial inspiration — our own seasonal idea, not a listing for a verified external event.

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