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Objects of Design #231: Extendable Wall Lights

image from siggalund.is
image from siggalund.is

Kitchen lighting tends towards the unimaginative. Most of us plump for downlighters and leave it at that. And, most of the time there’s nothing wrong with that.

image from madeindesign.com
image from madeindesign.com

After all you need a task lamp. It needs to be out of the way and it needs to provide the best light possible for the job. One slight bugbear though. Why have chrome ones? I know that brushed chrome and steel is all the rage (I have it on my worktops) but surely the point of good kitchen lighting is that it isn’t drawing attention to itself. Don’t you want the beauty of your kitchen to be what everyone notices? And, perhaps, the fact that it’s a light and bright room. You don’t need people to be looking up at the ceiling at the boring downlighters. So, buy white ones. That way they disappear. Also, they don’t have to be symmetrical. Think about where you need light for not the pattern you are making on the ceiling. This goes with the previous point – if the lights are doing their job and on drawing attention to themselves it doesn’t matter what pattern they are in.

image from emilyforgot.blogspot.co.uk
image from emilyforgot.blogspot.co.uk

Anyway, now I’ve got that off my chest, where was I? Well you can see where I’m going from the pictures can’t you. Shortly after we had installed our downlighters, I started thinking about kitchen wall lights and wishing we had thought about a couple of those instead.

my kitchen
my kitchen

This is an old picture of my kitchen – the shelves are now dark grey – but it’s the best shot of the full room. You can see where the downlighters are. Now, to the left of the picture on that run of cupboards there is a table lamp in the corner which provides a great ambient light in the evenings. I think an extendable swing arm light would look great at either end of those shelves, instead of the picture and the water carafe. Or even above the open shelves pointing down, or where the clock is, extending out.

from skonahem.com
from skonahem.com

I think it’s a great look, and one that is a little bit different from what everyone else has. And, if you find one that is extendable, or swings, then you can move it to light what you need. It’s also a great way to create a different mood in a room that, these days, is unlikely to be used just for cooking. Many of us eat in ours, I work in mine, and we all tend to hang out. By all means use downlighters in the working part but think about something else for the reading/eating/chatting/homework part.

from welke.nl
from welke.nl

So the question is, where do the lights come from?

The daddy of them all is the lampe gras No 214 which is a design classic

lampe gras N9 214 from holloways of ludlow for £404
lampe gras N9 214 from holloways of ludlow for £404

But you could also try this for £200

swing arm light from bodie and fou, image by Pella Hedeby
swing arm light from bodie and fou image by Pella Hedeby

Or this which costs £140 from Rockett St George

extendable wall light from rockett st george costs £149
extendable wall light from rockett st george costs £149

Or finally this one from Ikea which is just £42 and looks much more expensive.

ikea ps led wall lamp is just £42
the ikea ps led wall lamp is just £42

Next time I redo my kitchen, I’m definitely going to consider wall lights. What do you think?

 

 

 

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

6 Comments

  1. Hello Kate, I’m searching for such an extendable wall lamp into our bedroom and the Ikea Ps looks really nice but I can’t find it on their website …is it something new, perhaps?

    1. I thought it had been around for a while – perhaps they have discontinued it. Try made.com – they have the Frosini or the Ogilvy both of which come in black, white, grey or chrome. Habitat also had one that I have seen in store but can’t find on the site or you could try their silver Tommy. I hope that helps. XK

      1. Oh yes, I’ve already noticed that this post was written in 2013 ?, so the lamp must be discontinued by now. I’m writing from the Netherlands and Made is also available here, I’ll check it! Thank you!

  2. these are brilliant, I just wish I had gone for wall mounted lights at home – project nearly finished and avoiding more changes to the design. But next time!

  3. I like the idea and the one from Rocket St George is probably my favourite. If I had the one from the Skonahem image in my kitchen, it would literally stretch like an arch from wall to wall – that’s unfortunately how small my kitchen is…

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