Lamp Shade & Lighting Guide
What Type Of Lighting
So, if you need some advice on buying the right lighting for your rooms, then you have come to the right section. Here, we have put together some tips to help you make your decision.
To start with, be clear about what you want to achieve with your lighting; is it for reading, socialising, or creating ambience?
We have split our lighting into 3 categories for your ease;
Ceiling Lights
A centrepiece with its main function to illuminate the room whilst being true to your design or theme, and of course being the right drop for the space available, for example;
- Pendants over a kitchen island or dining table can hang lower than pendants for the centre of the room.
- Semi flush pendants sit nearer the ceiling in case you are compromised on ceiling height, but equally, you can of course, shorten the drop on all of our pendants, just take a look at their minimum and maximum drops before making decision.
- Multiples of smaller pendants hung together are super stylish over work tops
Task Lights
Use what we call task lighting wherever you need directional lighting; on a desk for example or behind a reading chair.
A task light has a number of adjustable parts to enable the user to position the light to exactly where you need it and generally the shade part of the light is made out of the same material, for example metal, so they do have a retro utilitarian vibe which is great for creating character in your home.
Mood Lights
Generally shaded, this is the type of light source, be it floor, table or wall that offers warmth and ambience for your relaxing spaces. The size of lamp will be determined by the space available, so a floor lamp is great for putting in dark corner in need of some mood lighting without taking up any surface space, whilst a wall light can be a subtle answer to lighting and also showcase your pictures. Table lamps look great when more than one of the same style is placed around a room for synergy in the design and the Rūma team particularly like one either side of a dresser or console table suing the ‘bookend’ styling.
You can also have the opportunity to personalise your space by choosing a shade in a colour to match your interior by selecting a base only option then pairing with one of our gorgeous shades available. Alternatively, you can check out our ‘complete’ lamps that already have a shade selected for you. Either way, as long as the colours tie in with your chosen colour palette, you can’t go wrong.
Outdoor Lighting
All Rūma, all our outdoor lighting has the requirements needed for safe outdoor luminaires.
The IP rating is what is important so here is an explanation for your information;
For outdoor lighting you need to check out the IP rating, (the Ingress Protection) rating.
The first digit refers to the degree you’re protected from any contact with moving parts, and the degree the light is protected from anything getting inside. This ranges from ‘0’ (no special protection) to ‘6’ (dust-tight). The second digit indicates how much moisture (drips, spray or jets) the light can withstand. This ranges from ‘0’ (no special protection) to ‘8’ (protection from complete, continuous submersion in water). For example, an IP44 rating means nothing bigger than 1mm can get in, and it’s safe from splashing water.
We have a number of contemporary wall lights and floor spikes to illuminate your exterior with as much style as your interior.
Shading Guide
Here at Rūma we want to make your life easier so have collated a few pointers when shading your lamp. This will ensure that you can pick the right size, and style of shade to suit your chosen lamp base, every time.
Rule Of Thumb
As a general rule, if you make sure the height of your base is the same diameter as your shade, then you can’t go wrong.
The exception to that is when you have slim candlestick base as they can take a much smaller diameter shade. Use half the height of the lamp base as the approximate shade diameter sizing.
You also want to make sure the shade doesn’t expose any of the hardware underneath such as the lamp holder when looking straight on to the lamp but you can be sure our shades, and bases, are made so that that doesn’t happen.
Shape Guide
If the base is round, it will look best with a cylinder or tapered cylinder shade, there is no hard and fast rule here, it’s just personal preference. If anything, the cylinder-shaped shade is slightly more contemporary.
A candlestick lamp looks good with just about any shape of shade.
Style Guide
A textural, natural-feel shade looks great on a wooden base or stoneware artisan-style base.
Crystal or glass bases suit bright and monochrome colours with more of a silk, cotton or velvet statement shade but if your theme is natural you can happily keep the shade that way too.
