Most of us love enhancing our home. Creating that personal space that is ours and reflects our tastes and values. And let’s face it we love coming home to a place that feels like us and looks like us. It really is a part of the joy of living.

So when it comes to decorating our home we obviously need to give attention to the various furnishings that are in our home. Are you more conservative with regular lighting features or are you more adventurous and have say a Deer Antler Chandelier? Lamp shades are a part of these furnishings. We all know that lighting plays a pivotal role in the ambience of our homes. So when it comes to lamps and shades we need to think through carefully our choices as we chose the ones for our home.

Lamp shades vary immensely in their styles.  Some are deliberately funny and outlandish. They are garish by design and intended to garner a response. Others are exquisite in their elegance and beauty, designed for the sophisticated  and discerning buyer. So an important question to ask is what is the style of this room. Is it fun? Is it glamour? It is loud? Is it quiet? This will affect your choice of shape, color and proportion. We can tell from this that choosing a lamp shade is not only a matter of taste but also a matter of complementing the purpose of a room.

It is also vital to ask yourself the function of the lamp. Lighting generally has four primary functions. These are decorative, accent, task and ambient. Table, bed and floor lamps often fulfil three of these functions. They are decorative, adding flair to a room. They enable tasks such as reading or knitting. They also add ambient, indirect light to a room creating relaxing atmospheres.

Decorative lamp shades exist for beauty. They need to be noticed by people when they walk into the room. Therefore if decoration is your aim choose a larger lamp shade that will fill a space with its elegance and splendour.

Task lamps on the other hand are work horses. The lamp shade should direct the light onto the table you are working on. Whether you need light for the book you are reading or for the mail from your mail organizer or for the garment you are knitting for your grandchild, it must ultimately serve your purpose.

Ambient lamps need shades that go beyond utilitarian purposes and should also have an element of the decorative. Ambient light by its very nature is not designed to dominate and neither should the lamp shade.

So when choosing a lamp shade make sure you consider first its primary purpose and align your choice with your intention.