Do you need table lamps and ceiling lights?

[lmdbww]

Our old house had no ceiling/overhead lighting except in the kitchen so we had table lamps in every room (the outlets were "hot", so the lamps turned off and on w/a light switch).

In the new house, all of the rooms have overhead lighting. The spare bedrooms have 2 light switches (one does overhead light, one does "hot" outlets). The basement has ceiling lighting but no "hot" outlets. The living room and master bedrooms also have 2 have switches, but they have ceiling fans too so one switch does the fan and the other switch does the lighting (no "hot" outlets). I hope that makes sense.

So what is the point, then, of having lamps? Especially in teh rooms where i'd have to go around and turn them on by hand. (is that lazy of me?)

[kaylie]

We keep table lamps in addition to overhead in the family room and bedroom. In the bedroom it's convenient so that I can just turn it off from the bed if I'm reading; I don't have to get out of bed again. In the family room it's six recessed lights throughout the room and sometimes I just want one light (again, usually for reading).

[emoflamingo]

We have lamps in our bedroom (so we don't have to get up to turn the overhead light off and we can read in bed) and in our living room (so I don't trip over things at night if I have to trek to the kitchen -- I cannot see at all in the dark). I usually use the lamps if I need extra light (reading, sewing, etc.) but generally rely on overhead lighting. Plus, a room looks "finished" with a lamp or two.

[ssmjlm]

We have a fan with light in our family room, but we only use it if we need a lot of light. Otherwise we use the lamps. The light is sort of blinding at full strength (we have it on a dimmer too).

Same with the bedrooms, we mostly use the lamp next to the bed so we can just switch it off and sleep.

I do use the overhead light in the office/craft room.

[Susie]

Lamps are good for lots of things. Reading, making one area of a room bright(er) while not illuminating the whole room (for TV, sleeping, etc.), for not having to get up to turn on/off.

Overhead lighting =/= lighting panacea.

[FoxInFiji]

Like everyone said lamps are good task lighting. Any good lighting design will take into consideration ambient (overhead), task, and accent lighting but it's rare to have accent lighting in a residential home.

Is this a new house? Are you sure you can't wire the switches to be hot on the top outlet? If your electrician used 14-3 to the boxes and daisy chained them to the outlet for power then it's a simple change to make them go off a switch. You just open the box and wire the 3rd wire inside to the outlet (should be capped off unused inside). They would switch on with the rest of the overhead lighting though. Or you could have another switch added. That is how we wired our house.

[emjacobs]

We have lamps in the bedrooms by the bed so that someone (mainly me) can read without having to have the overhead light on.

I have one on my desk in the office because FI likes it dark and I like light so it works for me. We are going to put a ledge on the wall across from the desks and a reading nook that I'll put a lamp in.

Basically we only have lamps in places that we would turn them on by hand because we have overhead in all rooms.

[mrs.jacinthe]

I like lamps as well as overhead lighting, but I'm kinda crazy in that I (not always, but occasionally) want the house lit up like a runway at night. So I'll have maxed out every light in every room. Again, not every night, but it drives me CRAZY when there's not enough light. For example, last night when DH came inside to go to bed, I had 3 lamps and the overhead on in our bedroom. Also the over-mirror lights in the master bathroom. This was maybe a little bit overkill, but it was definitely enough light.

FWIW, this habit drives him CRAZY.