There is nothing worse than sitting down to work a dark home office. You can barely see your notes—or, even worse, you struggle to find your coffee. The main light is too bright to turn on; it distracts you. How can you find a good balance?
You’ll be pleased to hear that you don’t need to splash out on gleaming white walls or huge, airy windows to brighten your home office this fall. More and more people are finding that a simple office desk lamp will suit their needs.
This article tells you exactly what to look for when choosing the best desk lamp for your home office. From the lamp’s style to extra features, we know everything you need to put on your checklist. Even better, our team has found the best desk lamp for your office. Because it is agile, you won’t need to alter your office light fixtures or fittings at all. Skip to the end to see our recommendation.
1. Look at why good lighting is important to you
Did you know the right lighting can change your mood? You will notice when you’re tired that bright, artificial lighting will keep you up. The glare pierces your eyes and make you feel like you have just woken up, even if it’s late afternoon.
This sort of lighting is used in office light fixtures to make sure you focus on work. Unfortunately, you can become irritated by the fluorescent, bright light forcing itself into your eyes. This isn’t great, especially when you’re staring at a computer screen all day.
On the other hand, a lamp that casts a soothing, warm glow can be comforting. When you get into bed at night, you need light that helps calm you down and feel ready to sleep.
Just as the lights you find in your office desk lamp won’t help you sleep, moving your bedside lamp next to your computer won’t help you concentrate.
It’s time to try something new. Something better. Illumination that doesn’t give you a headache but is still bright enough you won’t knock over your coffee.
2. Which lighting type do you need?
When choosing the best lamp for home office, you need to consider the type of lighting that works for you. There are a few options you need to be aware of, each with their own pros and cons.
- Natural: Bring daylight into your home (like those huge windows we mentioned before). This is great in the summer, not so useful in the winter. If you need to remodel your home, it is also the most expensive option.
- Ambient: The primary source of light for your whole room, ambient lighting can be created with ceiling mounted fixtures like chandeliers. They help to warm the whole room and may need some extra help from a desk lamp.
- Overhead: Place the lamp on your ceiling, so that it illuminates from overhead. These lamps usually cast a wide pool of light. When you are tired and want to focus on work, this can be a bit much. A spotlight might help, but these can also be intense.
- Task: Made with less aggressive LED lights, this type of lamp helps you focus on the task in hand. They are great for anyone completing a specific job, including working at a desk. Usually, you can adjust these lamps to illuminate necessary areas of your desk.
- Corrective: This kind of lighting helps reduce the glare from your computer screen.
Most rooms have ambient and natural lighting. To improve your experience in darker days spent working from home, portable task and/or corrective lighting is best for your desk.
3. Find your perfect color temperature
Temperature doesn’t just apply to how hot your lamp gets—though this is definitely something to think about. Nope, when we talk about temperature, we mean that you need to find the right color for you.
Remember in step one, when we talked about how your bedside lamp is more comforting than a strip light in your office? And how it would be more likely to help you sleep than concentrate?
Well, this is likely down to the color temperature. That is, how warm or cool the light is that comes from your lamp.
As this website demonstrates, a bulb’s color temperature goes on a sliding scale. For instance, you can get a warm white and a cool white bulb, as well as warm and then cool yellow, and so on.
The warmer the light, the cozier it will be. The cooler the light, the more alert and awake you’re likely to be. Cool light is less inviting and more clinical, so if you need to stay up later then cool light is for you.
If you’re struggling to choose, you should go for a lamp that emits natural daylight. This is more pleasant for your eyes.
4. Gasp at an amazing office desk lamp design
One thing you have total control over is the design you choose. There are a huge variety of lamps nowadays, and there will almost certainly be one to suit your tastes.
Most home offices suit a modern lamp with a sleek finish. This is also useful for if you think you will stop working from home soon and want a lamp that can also be moved to your living room or kitchen.
A desk lamp with a two support arms and rotating joints is useful. This is because you can move it around to the position that is best for you. In this way, the desk lamp becomes specific task lighting, illuminating exactly the points that you need it to.
5. Get a budget—then work within it
There is a whole heap of lamps to choose from out there—and not all of them are wallet friendly. Make sure that you create a reasonable budget and stick to it. If you choose the right brand, you will be able to find your perfect illumination for an ideal price.
We recommend spending up to $80 on your dream lamp. Maybe not the cheapest lamps around, but you will definitely feel—and see—the difference.
6. Add amazing features (without ruining your office light fittings)
Did you realize that lamps can charge your phone? Yes—they are that incredible nowadays! This feature is great for anyone who is on their phone a lot of the day with work (or, scrolling on social media when they’re bored with work).
Buying a lamp with a USB charger is incredible because it doesn’t just save time and space, but it helps free up your extension cable for important business use. Simply plug your phone in and go!
Our Recommendation: The Best Desk Lamp for Home Office
Of course, we have a TaoTronics recommendation for you!
We think that our brand-new lamp, (model TT-DL092, which you can find by clicking the link or searching our website) is the perfect way to keep your home office glowing. It works to reduce shadow and minimize glare, so you can read documents with ease.
What’s more, it’s totally user friendly. This is a big claim, but one that is substantiated as soon as you use the lamp. Just check our Amazon reviews! You can switch the light source from front to back without moving the lamp head, effortlessly adjust the lamp to the position you need it to be in, and even use the touch controls to set the lighting.
Even better? It has amazing color reproduction. This means the lamp emits close to natural daylight, saving you the trouble of choosing between warm and cool light and helping you stay awake without artificial glare.
This is also the FIRST desk lamp with auto-brightness adjustment technology. Our intelligent lamp has an ambient light sensor that changes the strength of the light automatically according to your surroundings.
Not only is this great for reducing eye strain and fatigue, but you don’t have to worry about dimming it yourself. As the darkness creeps in during the early evening, you can just switch the lamp on, adjust it to where the light needs to shine, and let it automatically illuminate your workspace.
Good luck!
So that’s it! You know how to choose your lamp, including picking one within your budget that is the right design. You also know to look for warm or cool colors, whichever works best for you. We hope you enjoy your hunt and find the perfect accessory for your home office.
Buy your own desk lamp today by searching the TaoTronics collection. If our TT-DL092 lamp has caught your eye, you can buy it on Amazon! Just click the link.
- What is White Noise? Learn How a Sound Machine can Send You and Your Baby to Sleep - March 12, 2021
- Get A Phone Ring Light to Take the Best Selfies and Videos! - October 30, 2020
- How to Choose the Best Lamp to Brighten Your Home Office - August 21, 2020