In any room in your house, turn on the overhead light and look around. Okay, then, turn it off, and turn on only the lights from table and floor lamps. Always a huge difference, right? One of the easiest ways to make any room feel cozier, warmer, and perhaps even sexier is to never use the overhead lights (this includes recessed lighting, which is usually billed as an upgrade, but to me is just way too harsh), and always rely on the ‘secondary’ light sources to brighten things up.
For me, this rule is most important in the bedroom, where at night I often like to wind down with a book before going to sleep. I can’t think of anything less relaxing than laying in bed with the overhead light glaring in your eyes, so I was stoked when Lulu & Georgia offered to send me one of their Audrey lamps for the new apartment, especially since we didn’t have any lamps for our bedroom. The Audrey is such a classic — ceramic base, gold detailing at the bottom, and available in a rainbow of colors. I somewhat inadvertently ended up with the buttercup color, but I love the bright cheerfulness it lends to our otherwise neutral bedroom. For now, it’s living on my nightstand (I love it alongside this plate I found years ago at Anthro, on sale!), but I suspect that eventually, I might move it downstairs to a console table we have yet to buy for our entryway. The yellow is so cheerful and welcoming, I kind of want it to be the first thing that greets me when I walk in the door!
L&G has become one of my favorite places to look for pretty, unique goodies for the home. Today, we’re all in luck because for one day only, you can snag 10% off your entire purchase using the code AUDREYLAMP10. I’m loving this gold garden stool (hello, glam!), these pretty, sculptural vases, and the geometric pattern on this notebook. What about you?
And PS, I’m not alone in my love for the Audrey — today, several other bloggers are sharing how they’ve styled the lamp in their homes. You can head on over to Glitter Guide to see all of our photos!
{The full disclosure: Photos by Victoria McGinley for vmac+cheese. Lulu & Georgia is a brand I truly love and love working with! For writing this post, I received the lovely Audrey lamp free of charge, but all opinions here are my own — especially that nobody looks good in recessed lighting. Seriously. The 10% promo code expires 8/28/13, so get to shopping!}
I can’t get the code to work :(
Hi Ame! I checked in with them and it should be working — give it another try.
I completely, completely agree. Happy to know that it’s not just me who hates having the main ceiling light on! The thought of it makes me shudder…
Ooooh I so want this lamp!
Love the color of that lamp! Gorgeous.
Victoria,
Thank you so much for your full disclosure. As an avid blog reader I get so frustrated when people do not mention that they received the item for free. Especially with this lamp which pretty much all of my favorite bloggers “coincidentally” have but only few mention they received it no charge. I appreciate your honesty and your genuine opinions!!
Thanks for the feedback, Mara! I try to be as diligent as possible in making it clear when stuff was given to me for free, either at the end of the post and/or within the post itself. Glad to know it’s appreciated :)
Is that a picture of your hubby on your nightstand? How sweet! And, of course, that lamp is beautiful.
-Kodi
grey et al
It is indeed!! :)
Where’s your nightstand from? Love it!
It’s actually a filing cabinet from Crate & Barrel! We have a very tall bed, so we needed taller nightstands too (really hard to find), but these ended up being perfect. They have two drawers and look amazing. Here’s the link: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/organizing-and-storage/filing-cabinets/strut-filing-cabinet/s158260
Awesome-My bed is tall too and I’ve been looking for like 2 years! Thanks!
Gorgeous LAMP!!!
http://happinessiscreating.com/
I love this lamp and completely agree with you on lighting. my first choice is always natural light (windows) and lamps are a close second. I also love the way you have layered the picture frames on your nightstand–such a great idea!
Just beautiful! Since we live in pretty new construction, we don’t have any overhead lighting in the bedrooms or living room, so I’m always looking for good lighting options. I’m happy to learn about Lulu & Georgia. Thanks for the recommendation – and lovely, lovely work with the styling on your night stand.
I checked out their gorgeous site and realized that my decorator had selected the Beria pillows from this brand for my office design! I didn’t realize the extent of their collection, so thanks for introducing it.
lol re: recessed lights though I do swear you need as much lighting as possible when ya need it like packing for a trip etc..definitely off to peruse their selections
True story. We’ll turn it on when we’re cleaning or doing house grunt work. Maybe that’s why I also associate overhead lights with bad things — they’re only ever on when we’re doing chores!
Beautiful lamp, so MOD!
http://thepinnestsjournal.blogspot.com/
Your bedroom looks peaceful and bright – a good combination in my opinion. I love the yellow – it’s fresh and fun.