No One Turns the Big Light On Anymore — So These 12 Lamp Alternatives Create the Perfect Cozy Ambiance

Sometimes those so-called 'big lights' are just too much. For the perfect warm winter room, try switching to table and floor lighting instead

floor lamps and table lamps on a colorful background
(Image credit: Target, CB2, Urban Outfitters, Soho Home, )

If there is one thing we have happily left in 2023, it's overhead lighting. Why use the bright, sometimes design-less, and often abrasive "big lights," as the internet loves to call them, when you could use trendy, chic, and equally practical table and floor lamps instead? Rather than muddling the vibe and ambiance you as an interior design lover have worked so hard to create, soft, diffused light from free-standing fixtures works in concert with your space, sanding down the hard edges and elevating it simultaneously. 

After taking a good long look at some of best home decor stores, we've taken it upon ourselves to compile a quick edit for anyone that's aligned with our illumination-focused resolution. You heard that right — all the digging has been done for you. Another great tip for the new year? Work smarter, not harder. 

Finally, if you haven't already, be sure to check out the Livingetc list of ins and outs for 2024 (and click "save" so you can refer back to it while shopping, reading, or browsing the web).

6 Table Lamps to Use Instead of the Big Lights

6 Floor Lamps to Use Instead of the Big Lights

Brigid Kennedy
Style Editor

Brigid Kennedy is a style editor at Livingetc.com, where she is responsible for obsessively combing the internet for the best and most stylish deals on home decor and more. She was previously a story editor at TheWeek.com, where she covered both U.S. politics and culture. She describes her design style as colorful and clean, and in her free time enjoys reading, watching movies, and curating impossibly niche playlists on Spotify. She lives in New York.