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Bedside lights have a nebulous place in lamp taxonomy: Many good bedside lights could double as table lamps, desk lamps, or night lights; bedside lighting can also include wall-mounted sconces and even floor lamps. Still, after consulting 17 experts, I was able to distill some essential qualities. Bedside lights should either be dim or dimmable, conducive to winding down at the end of the day and signaling to your brain via lower, warmer light that it’s time to go to sleep. (This is also a good reason to keep your phone in another room, or at least out of arm’s reach.) Since they may be sharing night-table real estate with water glasses, books, alarm clocks, and other little objects, they should be on the compact side, sturdy and hard to knock over.
For nighttime readers, directional light is useful: “If you’re gonna be reading in bed, I think it’s really important to have lighting that’s adjustable,” says interior designer Liz Lipkin. “If you’re sharing a bed with someone and you want to read, that person will be less disturbed by something with a directional shade.” Even if you don’t read in bed, a bedside lamp should have the amorphous aesthetic quality of being a good “last light on” — the final light you turn off before going to sleep, a starring role in your nightly ritual best filled by something you find soothing and beautiful. (Currently, my “last light on” is a beeswax taper in a candlestick — I feel like a Jane Austen character huffing it out at the end of the night.) The only aesthetic criteria for last light on is that you like it, and we’ve found lamps for everyone, including German resin mushroom for cottagecore homes, a concrete-based globe, and a subtly UFO-shaped lamp with a handmade ceramic shade. If you’re looking for other types of lamps, visit our Lighting District for a roundup of our 100 favorite lighting implements.
Update on September 13, 2024: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.
What we’re looking for
Brightness
Since bedside lights illuminate a small area and cast a warm, low glow conducive to winding down for the night, they should emit less light than floor lamps or overhead lights. Some fixtures on this list have built-in LEDs or come with bulbs included, and we’ve listed the brightness of each; if you’re buying and installing your own lightbulb, look for a brightness of around 450 lumens or lower.
Dimmability
Several of the experts we spoke to mentioned dimmability as a useful feature in a bedside lamp, which allows you to adjust the lamp to ideal light levels for reading, watching TV, or keeping a light on at its dimmest illumination while you fall asleep. Some lamps cycle through a few preset brightness levels, and others have smooth dimming — we’ve noted which are which below. Even if a lamp doesn’t dim on its own, you can come up with a work-around — check out our guide to LED bulbs and dimmer switches for some reliable options.
Best overall
Brightness: 220 lumens | Dimmable: Click button with three preset levels
Far and away, the most frequently mentioned and highest-rated fixture among the experts we spoke to is Hay’s Matin table lamp, a light with a square wire base and a pleated cotton shade that comes in two sizes and seven colors. “This little light balances timeless design elements like chrome detailing and a pleated shade with the distinctive quirks Hay is known for, such as rich, punchy colors and a playful sense of proportion,” writes designer and architect Ming Thompson. It’s a favorite of SNL’s Chloe Fineman, who has one Matin lamp in New York and one in L.A.; Liza Curtiss and Corey Kingston, the co-founders of architecture-and-design studio Le Whit; Strategist contributor Chris Black; and social-media strategist Utibe Mbagwu, who named it the best thing she bought in 2020.
When I tested it out at the Design Within Reach store in midtown, I found the lamp smooth to operate — it has an onboard LED fixture that rotates between three different brightness levels via a click button. I loved the texture of the laminated cotton shade. It can live on your desk, but the angle of the shade and the way light filters through the translucent fabric means it works well on a bedside table, particularly for nighttime readers. Evan Dent, the manager of 192 Books in Chelsea, received it as a gift from his girlfriend: “I often like to read a little later into the night than my girlfriend wants to stay up, so she got me this lamp,” he says. “The shade shapes the light pretty well so that you can keep reading without disturbing someone trying to sleep next to you.” (Another reader-friendly quality: The lamp’s open wire base can be used to contain books and other bedside items.) Strategist deals editor Sam Daly has owned hers since 2020, and “I cherish it,” she says. She mentions that the pleats can collect dust, but are easy enough to clean — you can use a microfiber cloth or a can of compressed air.
Best less-expensive bedside lamp
Brightness: Bulb not included; E26 socket | Dimmable: No
For a less-expensive, time-tested pick, consider Ikea’s Fado globe lamp. Its simple spherical glass shade creates a warm, ambient glow, perfect for winding down at the end of the night. Although the lamp doesn’t come with a lightbulb and isn’t dimmable on its own, there are a few workarounds. You can install a smart bulb and dim or extinguish the light via your home hub or an app; you can also plug the fixture into a dimmer extension. (My favorite is below.)
Best sculptural bedside light
Brightness: 4-watt LED | Dimmable: No
First designed in 1951, Akari lamps by designer Isamu Noguchi are “nearly ubiquitous as an accessible design object, and for good reason,” says Herman Miller creative director Kelsey Keith. “They’re relatively well priced and emit an irresistible glow.” The lamp has a washi-paper and bamboo-ribbed shade that diffuses the glow of an LED bulb inside. (Although the lamp doesn’t come with dimming capabilities, you can get around that by installing a dimmable smart LED bulb in its socket.) “I’ve used this specific light for decades,” says Jonathan Marvel, the founder of Marvel Architects. The lamp comes in dozens of styles, including pendants and floor lamps (check out our photo essay of every Akari lamp under the sun to see for yourself), and the petite, nightstand-size 1N earned a place on both the Strategist Home Catalogue and the Strategist 100, our list of our most stood-behind products.
Best globe bedside light
Brightness: 450 lumens | Dimmable: Smooth dimming knob
“The architects I know use this everywhere,” writes Thompson of this Jonas Wagell lamp. The large, oval-shaped bulb contains a warm 450-lumen LED, and a single knob works as both an on/off switch and a dimmer that Strategist senior editor Simone Kitchens calls “the best dimmer on earth.” When I tested it at the Design Within Reach store, the knob turned smoothly, dimming the light from a bright 450 lumens down to the softest glow. The base comes in nine finishes, including Carrara marble, concrete, polished brass, and different shades of powder-coated metal, and there’s also a portable, USB-rechargeable version. Thompson calls it “a classic that can move from bedside to library shelf to console table over the years.”
Best ceramic bedside light
Brightness: Bulb not included; 60-watt maximum | Dimmable: No
My fellow Strategist home writer Lauren Ro uses Anthropologie’s organic-shaped ceramic lamp on her bedside table and describes it as “super-beautifully made,” with a large linen shade that diffuses light well for nighttime reading. Despite its small footprint, it feels “very substantial,” Ro says, and reminds her of more expensive designer lights, like the Eny Lee Parker Oo Lamp.
Best projector bedside lamp
Brightness: Not listed | Dimmable: Yes
This is a style of lamp first popularized on TikTok — it’s a clever design that uses a color-changing LED and a bulbous lens and dichroic film (a material that appears different colors depending on the angle of the light) to create gradients and irregularity in the splash of color it projects on your wall, like a real sunset. (Here’s a video that gets into the details of what’s inside.) There are a ton of these available on Amazon with the same basic technology, which is not incredibly expensive. I chose this one for its good ratings, low price, customizability and dimmability, and its tripod base, which makes it easy to position anywhere in your bedroom. And it also makes a great party light.
Best cottagecore bedside light
Brightness: 1.5-watt LED | Dimmable: No
This cute mushroom-shaped resin lamp is illuminated via an LED lightbulb inside, with cutouts on the mushroom cap that cast a pattern on your ceiling. Former Strategist senior editor Chelsea Peng bought hers about five years ago after seeing one in creative director Lolita Jacobs’s apartment; she reports that it’s still in great shape, with no paint loss. “It’s very sturdy, very German construction,” she says. The mushroom comes in a few different sizes and colors, including a skinnier model, which is useful if you don’t have enough space on your nightstand for its stout base. It’s on the dimmer end of the spectrum and doesn’t cast enough light to read by on its own, but Peng describes it as a “very vibey last light” to turn off before going to sleep.
Best bedside light with swiveling shade
Brightness: Bulb not included | Dimmable: No
Fanny Singer, founder of homeware store Permanent Collection and co-writer of The Green Spoon Substack, uses a pair of these swiveling lamps from the French department store Merci as bedside lights. When I tested it out in person, I was impressed with its solid construction and how smoothly each component turns; you can configure this lamp in a million different ways depending on how much light you want. (Think of it like an analog dimmer stitch.) It comes in three colors — canary yellow, off-white, and Yves Klein blue — and is made of steel and aluminum. A bulb isn’t included, but it takes a standard E27 base. If you want the fixture to have smooth dimming, you could install a smart bulb and dim via a smart-home hub or an app.
[Editor’s note: The price is an estimated conversion of euros to USD.]
Best3-D-printed bedside light
Brightness: 450 lumens | Dimmable: No
Phantila Phataraprasit, a co-founder of furniture company Sabai, recommends Wooj’s 3-D-printed Wavy lamp for its “ethereal vibe” and “dreamy, airy feel.” Strategist staff writer Dominique Pariso also owns one and has “influenced another friend into buying one,” who also loves it. “I’m really impressed by the amount of light it throws off and the quality,” she says. “The lamp is very lightweight and easy to move around.” Similar to Peng’s mushroom lamp, it makes a vibey last light on before bed. “At night, I only have this one and my Pampshade baguette light on,” Pariso says.
Best bedside lamp with patterned shade
Brightness: 2-watt LED | Dimmable: Three-stage dimming
We were tipped off about this lamp by former Strategist senior editor Chelsea Peng, who spotted it at the bar Bad Roman. I love this version with a hand-marbled paper shade, but if it’s not your style, there are 61 other shade options to choose from, including pleated silk and faux vellum.
Best bedside lamp with scalloped shade
Brightness: Bulb not included, max 60 watts | Dimmable: No
These beautiful scallop-shaded lamps come in more than 100 styles, including blue-and-white gingham and Barbiecore pink on pink. The fabric shade softly diffuses light, perfect for winding down, and the lamp has a relatively small footprint, which is perfect for limited bedside-table real estate. The lamp doesn’t come with a bulb, but it’s compatible with a standard E27 fixture.
Best bedside light with tray
Brightness: 6 watts | Dimmable: Yes
This lamp from 3-D-printed lighting company Gantri, designed by Kickie Chudikova, was recommended by designer and photographer Tommy Lei. The oblong, egg-shaped light is dimmable, a useful quality for a bedside lamp, and nests in a small tray that could serve as a catchall for jewelry or other small objects on your bedside table. It comes in three colors — black, white, and persimmon orange.
Best vintage bedside light
Brightness: 40 watt maximum | Dimmable: No
Featured on our list of dozens of tips for buying on Etsy, this cute little flower-shaped lamp was designed by Morten Kjelstrup and Allan Østgaard for Ikea in the 1990s (they were also the designers of the iconic cartoon-proportioned Mammut kids’ chairs and tables, which remain in production). It has a shade that comes in petal pink or fuchsia and a spring green base with a matching green power cord. Many vintage Ikea lamps on the market have EU plugs, but they’re fully compatible with U.S. sockets with an adapter; you only have to worry about blowing out a fixture plugging a U.S. appliances into a European outlet, not vice versa.
Best bedside floor lamp
Brightness: Bulb not included; 60-watt maximum | Dimmable: Yes
“I moved away from doing table lamps at home because I like the adjustability and the flexibility of either a floor lamp or a wall-mounted sconce,” says Lipkin. She especially likes this metal Visual Comfort lamp, which comes in four finishes, including antique brass. “It’s very clean and minimal,” she says, and importantly for a bedside light, it is “so adjustable. You can adjust the height and the direction of the shade so that you don’t have bright light shining on you.” It rotates, and the arm also pivots. And despite its small footprint, it’s not flimsy: “It’s substantial enough that you’re not going to knock it over, but it also doesn’t take up a lot of space.”
Best bedside sconce
Brightness: Bulb not included; 80-watt maximum | Dimmable: No
“I think more people are asking for wall-mounted sconces as opposed to table lamps,” says Lipkin. She imagines they’re popular because they save space on smaller nightstands and feel more luxurious than a table lamp. “People tend to associate them with being hard-wired, and there are really good plug-in options as well,” she says. I love this small steel sconce from Lichen NYC by Alvaro Ucha Rodriguez (the designer of a bunch of other well-designed, reasonably priced steel housewares), which is corded so it doesn’t require any electrical know-how to install. It has one socket for a standard-size E26 lightbulb.
Best high-tech bedside lamp
Brightness: Not listed | Dimmable: Yes
Loftie is best known for its smart-feature-packed alarm clock, which uses both light and sound to gently wake you up in the morning. Strategist tech writer Jordan McMahon also loves the brand’s lamp, which can be paired with the alarm clock to illuminate and dim on its schedule — or just serve as a dimmable, color-changeable bedside table lamp. “It works just as well as a stand-alone light as it does for keeping me in a circadian rhythm,” he writes.
Best splurge bedside sconce
Brightness: Bulb not included; 40-watt maximum | Dimmable: No
For a cozier, more vintage look, Lipkin recommends this sconce from Lostine. It has a wooden backplate with brass hardware and a leather shade that comes in both black and brown. Similar to the Visual Comfort lamp, she appreciates that the lamp is fully adjustable: “You can bring the bulb forward when you need it and put it back when you don’t.”
Best splurge bedside light
Brightness: 450 lumens | Dimmable: Smooth dimming knob
Brooklyn lighting company In Common With’s Alien lamp has a handmade, hump-molded ceramic shade “that looks like it’s still in formation on the pottery wheel,” says Thompson. “The shade’s imperfect indentations and edges are juxtaposed with the sharp, clean metal of the base.” The lamp comes with two LED bulbs and is fully dimmable via a knob at its base.
Our experts
• Chris Black, Strategist columnist
• Liza Curtiss, co-founder of Le Whit
• Sam Daly, Strategist deals editor
• Evan Dent, manager of 192 Books
• Chloe Fineman, actor and SNL cast member
• Brenley Goertzen, Strategist junior writer
• Kelsey Keith, Herman Miller creative director
• Corey Kingston, co-founder of Le Whit
• Tommy Lei, designer and photographer
• Liz Lipkin, interior designer
• Jonathan Marvel, founder of Marvel Architects
• Jordan McMahon, Strategist technology writer
• Utibe Mbagwu, social media strategist
• Dominique Pariso, Strategist writer
• Chelsea Peng, Strategist senior editor
• Phantila Phataraprasit, co-founder of Sabai
• Fanny Singer, founder of homeware store Permanent Collection
• Ming Thompson, architect at Atelier Cho Thompson
More lights and light accessories we’ve written about
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