A sofa in the middle of the lounge, and no ceiling rose above it. An arc floor lamp hangs its shade over the coffee table from a base hidden behind the sofa, without a single hole drilled.
Arc floor lamp: measure the reach before the height
The reach, or overhang, is the distance from the base to the point directly under the shade. On this page it runs from 97.5 cm to 2.34 m. Measure at home, from where the base will stand to the centre of the coffee table. Under a metre? That covers an armchair, while the longest arcs clear a sofa. If anyone has to walk underneath, leave 2 m of headroom below the arc.
The base is the counterweight, so buy it heavy
A two-metre arm tips over unless something holds it down. The base does that, in marble on a few models. Its weight is given on the product page; buy the heaviest if children or a cat share the room, and tuck it behind an armrest.
Overreach floor lamp with integrated LED: only if it dims
An arc gives background light, 800 to 1,500 lumens, turned down in the evening. A module of almost 3,000 lumens only makes sense with a dimmer, and an LED sold as non-dimmable stays that way. Integrated LED is the exception in this selection. The others take a standard bulb, E27 where the product page says so, at 2,700 K; the same page tells you whether the bulb is included.
For reading, a bell shade pulled in tight against the armrest
A flared shade lights the coffee table, not a page. To read, you want the light slightly above and behind your shoulder once seated, and only the bell-shaded arc, pulled in tight against the armrest, manages it. Floor lamps with jointed reading arms are among the living room floor lamps.
Decide in this order. Reach measured on site, weight of the base, light source and dimmer, then the finish, black for half the selection and chrome or white for the rest. Our guide on lighting a room without a ceiling light pairs an arc with an uplighter and table lamps. Other dark silhouettes are among the black floor lamps, and the whole family under floor lamps.
If a product page lacks the reach or the weight of the base, +33 9 70 46 66 67 answers Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm UK time; delivery is free in the UK and the European Union, and you have 30 days to change your mind.
