Home Design Tips: Selecting Lamps - as part of the home design series by GeoBeats.

Lamps are the jewelry of the room. I love side lighting. I am not a big fan of overhead lighting. I love lamps on side tables. I love lamps on consoles. I love lamps on either side of the fireplace. Lamps are important, because they create the ambiance, and they finish off the room that you are decorating. I love lamps with personality. So when you choose a lamp for your house, and your personal space, make it have personality. This is an opportunity for you to have some fun. Another idea for a lamp...a glass candlestick that you turn into a lamp. Maybe you have some leftover wallpaper from another project in your home. Take it down to your local lampshade maker, have them make a lampshade out of the extra wallpaper that you have in your home.

I love to have fun with lamps...I love vintage lamps. Take a vintage Martz lamp, for instance. Put a contemporary barrel shade on it, and it has a whole new sensibility. What is really popular these days, are old movie lights. The older and more chic, the better. You can use lamps like this in game rooms, TV rooms, or even if you have the space beside your bed, as a reading lamp. One of my personal signatures is oversized lamps. I love lamps of any kind, any size, and any shape. Make your lamp cool, because that is what people are going to be talking about.