Floor Stands | Standard Lamps & Lampshades
Upgrade Your Floor Stand with a New Lampshade
Many of us have the lovely traditional wooden floor lamps, also called standard lamps that may have been in the family for some time, or discovered in a 2nd hand shop.
Their traditional lampshades - those ones with 'spokes' and linings and often made of silk - are either long gone, or in bad repair. Fortunately, it's straight forward to spruce the stands up by giving them some TLC and the addition of a modern style lampshade means their journey can continue onwards.
The lampshades that I recommend for standard lamps are:
Tapered style
- Tapered 46
- Tapered 43
- Extra Large Tapered
If you have a small space then you could squeak in with a tapered 38 but this can look small on some floor stands.
Drum style
With a drum style lampshade the height of the shade is important so that the proportions look good. I therefore recommend:
- Straight-sided 40 drum (40 cm w x 30 cm h)
- Straight-sided 45 drum (45 cm w x 30 cm h)
Much of your choice is subjective and whether you prefer a tapered or straight sided look.
A straight-sided drum shade generally sits a little higher than a tapered style shade and shows off the neck of the stand a bit more.
It is also good to think about how much space you have for the stand and shade, and how dominant you want it to look in your room.
Below are some pictures that show the (approximate) comparison of how the different styles and sizes look on a floor stand.
Extra large shade
The extra large tapered lamp shade is great for tall floor stands, particularly traditional wooden standard lamps, over 155 cm tall, or floor stands that are wide (stout). It is quite an imposing size lamp shade and is perfect if you want a real statement piece.
Fabric for large tapered lampshades
If you decide that one of the tapered style lampshades works best for you then you may need to know that the best fabric for this style of shade is one that does not have a vertical pattern that needs to remain vertical to make sense - eg trees. This is because as the pattern wraps around the tapered shade the vertical shapes 'bend' and in extreme cases end up more horizontal than vertical! Definitely not what you want for birds or trees!
Personally, I think medium to large patterns work well on larger shades, but it's a subjective decision.
Tripod Floor Stands
Tripod floor stands are great if you like a contemporary or scandi style look. Even better, if their legs retract then they can often double up as a table lamp.
Generally for this style of floor stand I would recommend a 'Tapered 46" lamp shade. This style provides a good width, but has less height than some of the other larger lightshade stock that I carry, making them a good proportion for many tripod bases.