Credit: architecturaldigest.com
The first step to boosting any home’s ambience is a quick scan of the best lighting stores online or in your area. Some new flush mounts or wall sconces (well, maybe not the overhead lighting—just kidding) can do a lot to make your home feel less dimly lit, enhance the aesthetics of that selfie, and heighten the coziness, whether you’re moving into a new space or making some select upgrades. And though you won’t get a feel for the light source the same way you might in a showroom, online stores do give you a range of lighting options to choose from, easy shipping, and some killer lifestyle photos just to give you an idea.
Ahead, an AD-approved list of some of our primary lighting store destinations for modern table lamps, sculptural floor lamps, crystal chandeliers, lighted ceiling fans, desk lamps, and more—all with plenty of personality to spare.
Shop Our Top Picks for the Best Lighting Stores:
As their name implies, Lumens—which recently merged with YLighting—specializes in all things illumination, and it should be your first pit stop for anything from floor to ceiling lights (though it sells lots of furniture and other decor where that came from). Their lighting designs span metal, wood frames, and even silhouettes made from delicate woven textiles, with plenty of recognizable names on its roster such as FLOS and Herman Miller. You can even find landscape lighting for your entryway, backyard, and any other outdoor spaces that needs to be brightened up.
For deal hunters and people fixing up their starter apartments, Wayfair has much to offer in the way of a truly massive selection of affordable lighting. From bathroom light fixtures and mini pendant lights to table lamps and living room flush mounts, there’s something for every room of the house. We lost ourselves (in a good way) among all of the track lighting, in case you want to finally say goodbye to that dated set hanging over your kitchen island. With frequent clearance sales, this is also our go-to for saving big on practically anything for your home.
Schoolhouse takes classic lighting shapes—pendants, circular flush mounts, tree-shaped table lamps—and punches them up with fun colors and functional improvements. For example, a simple wall pendant might get a makeover with a plug-in functionality and style inspired by Shaker designs. The brand is a great option for anyone into midcentury modern, Bauhaus, and similar design styles, but they’re not so trendy that you’ll want to swap them out after a few years.
Castlery’s selection of lighting is small but mighty, offering table and floor lamps that are perfectly suited for minimalist or Scandi-inspired interiors. You’ll notice lots of marble, ceramic, and wood bases, which make any room feel more natural. And while the lighting is certainly on the trendy side, we appreciate that each feels timeless thanks to the neutral hues and smooth silhouettes.
Like many other retailers in the design space, Rejuvenation is something of a generalist, but its decor and lighting is where it really shines, whether you favor natural, ceramic materials, or smooth metals. You’ll also find a great variety of outdoor lighting, if you’re looking to imbue some farmhouse-chic style into your exterior, or lighting accessories like shades and smart LED light bulbs. Because many of Rejuvenation’s pieces come with a higher price tag, we recommend shopping here for large statement-making pieces that you intend to make the focal point of your space.
Hidden in Ssense’s Everything Else section are a bunch of fashionable lamps certainly worth adding to your shopping haul. You’ll find architectural lighting from designers like Los Objetos Decorativos and Curves By Sean Brown, classic makers like Flos and Louis Poulsen, as well as minimalist silhouettes like the Bellhop and this arched Muuto design.
If you’ve been sleeping on Urban Outfitter’s home line, consider this a wake up call. The retailer’s light category has some of the chicest designs around. What’s especially nice is the selection doesn’t skew a certain age or design aesthetic. We could certainly see these lights sitting in a midcentury-modern lover’s living room, a Japandi collector’s bedroom, or even something like this Star Wars lightsaber desk lamp for the kid’s workspace.
If you’re aching for something modern (but not rent-check-level expensive) Article has an approachable selection of lighting that feels sophisticated-on-a-budget. Each piece, whether it’s a modern sconce or pendant to replace the ugly boob light that once was, will add warmth and elegance without overpowering everything else in its vicinity.
If your taste leans vintage, ornate, and slightly bohemian, Anthropologie’s stunning lighting options should be your first stop. Rather than looking at lighting as a finishing touch to your home aesthetic, the retailer makes focal point-worthy lamps, sconces, and chandeliers that you might just center your whole room around.
There is a world of ceiling fan designs out there, and Lamps Plus is a great retailer for upgrading yours, among many other lighting situations. The options lean more sculptural and will add a solid dose of texture and intrigue to your home decor. Now that’s what we call lighting design: not just choosing yet another run-of-the-mill ceiling fan.
One of the quickest ways to add visual interest to your living room or dining room is to incorporate an unexpected texture into your lighting design. Serena & Lily has a lot to choose from in this department, from woven wicker pendants to scalloped hanging lights. Their aesthetic skews more bohemian and beachy, and it’s a great place to find a statement piece to help anchor your room.
Lulu & Georgia has a chokehold on many design lovers we know, and for good reason. Each piece of furniture and decor is thoughtfully designed to make your space feel warmer and cozy. Their lighting options span categories, but you’ll find common themes, like dark wood bases and accents, rattan shades, and sculptural and organic shapes. The pendants and chandeliers are particularly striking over a dining table or bed.
Come to Gantri for the bold pops of color, perfect for livening up a dining room or a kid’s nook, stay for the sustainable plant-based materials that eschew landfill-worthy plastics. Spanning table, floor, and wall lights, this retailer wo1srks with designers around the world to inject a burst of personality into its cute and quirky designs—perfect for the young at heart.
Partnering with designers like Athena Calderone and Jake Arnold, Crate & Barrel always seems to have its finger on the pulse of what’s new and happening. Its lighting in particular runs the gamut from traditional metal and glass styles to brighter, younger silhouettes among its baby and kids sections. We’re loving the retailer’s new rattan and woven floor lamps that lean into the crafty basket light trend.
Your home’s lighting should be fun; that may mean mixing and matching various materials…or opting for vanity lighting with a fun shape. Mitzi covers all of the bases, from simple sconces to pastel-hued chandeliers, and you can trust that they know a thing or two because the brand specializes in lighting. It even regularly partners with buzzy designers like Eny Lee Parker on capsule collections that expand upon its core line.
Greenrow offers some exceptional cottagecore options for those who can’t stop thinking of the Cotswolds. Their sconce shade collection is particularly cute, and we can’t get enough of their pleated lampshades. And, though it might not be a lamp, the extending taper candle holder is a real standout on the site.
If you consider yourself a person with classic taste—classic, neutrals, nothing fussy, nothing loud—McGee & Co is worth a deep dive. Their offerings span reasonable price points for both quality materials and stylistic longevity. The beauty of a classic look is that you’ll never tire of it. A wicker pendant is always going to look right above the broad kitchen table in a beach house, and the tasteful Mollino Semi-Flush Mount will always suit a foyer. And if you’re just looking to spruce up a side table, they have an ample table lamp collection, which we’ve featured in our dedicated roundup.
If affordability is your main concern but you still have an eye for excellent design, Joss & Main does the practically impossible and combines budget-friendliness with chic pieces. The styles styles are similar to what you’ll find at West Elm and CB2, with lots of metal shades, brass accent lighting, arched silhouettes, and versatile shapes.
The stock at West Elm is constantly updated, but you can always count on finding high-quality lighting options with a few quirky bursts of color thrown in, just for fun. We love West Elm’s lighting designs because it’s easy to stick to a color theme while switching up the shape and form of your lights from room to room. This is also a great place to look for items with a midcentury-modern feel to them. And for more guidance through the process, you can book an appointment to meet with an expert (virtually, in a store, or at your home) to talk through your lighting plans and any other home design decisions.
Our devotion to Branch as a source for great ergonomic chairs and other practical office accessories is well-documented, but just know the brand also carries a selection of chic desk lights to spruce up your work from home situation. We’re particularly big fans of the Alumina lamp by Tala, which can sit comfortably on a flat surface or be affixed to the wall as a wired sconce. The Shore lamp is another standout, with a base blown from recycled glass and a modern globe silhouette that makes a statement, not a fuss.
While you might think of Maisonette as a go-to to outfit the kids’ space, we’re here to shine a light on the brand’s surprisingly good selection of lighting solutions. We found sophisticated fixtures from Teamson Home that are great for more mature ages—like this tripod floor lamp that can live comfortably in general spaces. Shoppers can also peruse through chic Safavieh lights, with some lamps available in sets for a double lighting moment, and there’s an unsurprising amount of adorable night lights to ward off night terrors.
CB2’s curation of lighting focuses on big, bold, sculptural shapes. Large floor lamps, striking marble outdoor sconces, and brass pendants promise a dramatic but tasteful addition to your home. It’s a great middle-of-the-road option in terms of affordability, and because there are hundreds of lighting options to choose from, you’re pretty much guaranteed to find something that perfectly suits you.
Soho Home’s selection of lighting leans towards a more minimalist design approach—perfect for conservative decorators looking for thoughtful fixtures that are still filled with personality. Shoppers can scroll through a robust inventory of sculptural glass chandeliers, mixed-material lamps in a variety of sizes, and metal pendants to find their ideal silhouettes for just about any room. The brand’s Ashdown floor lamp is a real stand out, with a chrome and wood base that’s offset by an angular lampshade and exposed stitching.
Vintage lighting aficionados should flock to Chairish, whose stock includes one-of-a-kind finds sourced internationally. The only warning? Don’t be surprised if you find too many splurge-worthy buys. Our personal haul would definitely include this Danish find with an interesting silhouette (just look at that pleated shade!), and this streamlined floor lamp that would be a chic addition to a home office or next to your sectional sofa.
Forever our affordable Scandinavian design favorite, IKEA has a wealth of options to share when it comes to lighting design for your home. The retailer has designs for each room, spanning low-light floor lamps for an ultracozy ambiance to superbright LED options for work spaces. Within this category, you can find everything from classic lighting options to more off-the-wall, statement-making styles—all for surprisingly low prices.
This lighting brand takes the idea of visual appeal literally, offering lamps of all stripes for high-end customers. If you’ve dreamed of having an AD100 Hall of Famer like Kelly Wearstler style your apartment, beeline right here for her line of modern sconces, table lamps, and chandeliers, or something left-field like AD PRO designer Paloma Contreras’s flying-saucer-like flush mounts. Who said overhead lighting has to be boring, after all?
If you’ve read our stories before, you know we’re suckers for Design Within Reach (also known as DWR). From the retailer’s stock of Eames chairs to their array of midcentury furnishings, we can’t get enough. Lighting-wise, luxury wall sconces, sleek ceiling fans, and unique table lamps are among the wide selection of lighting options available. The options available are as unique as they are timeless, and you can find something for nearly any corner of your home.
The best-selling pieces from the Nelson Bubble Collection, including this pendant ceiling light, are made to create a soft glow in any room. You can find several contemporary designs—for lighting, furniture, and more—like these across Herman Miller’s site.
If you prefer your lighting to have more of a handmade feel, we’d steer you in the direction of LA’s Humanhome. The brand sells the kind of beautiful handcrafted wooden and fabric lights that you’d never come across at a big box store, ones that often take shape in organic and sculptural forms. We’re partial to its line of sconces and flush mounts in particular, with their accordion-like folds and boxy structures.
It wouldn’t be an article on lighting if Isamu Noguchi’s iconic paper lanterns didn’t make an appearance. While there are a million dupes circulating the internet, we wouldn’t trust the quality or avant-garde designs of Noguchi from anyone except his namesake museum shop. Akari 1A and Akari 7A are classics, but his canon includes playful shapes and colors at work for the more lighthearted space, too.
Classic, modern, Bauhaus, maximalist… 1stDibs has any style you’re looking to add to your home. Heavily featured in our Open Door series, this retailer is a near-and-dear resource for interior designers searching for authentic vintage pieces. If Etsy’s a resource for everything you can think up, 1stDibs is a resource for everything you couldn’t begin to fathom—like this flush mount butterfly chandelier or these serpentine Fiori sconces.
