Swag Lamps Are Back in Style!

By Rudy Goodman

It is quite easy to include swag lamps in various rooms of your home. Frequently, people envision the use of swag lighting over the dining room table. The vintage Tiffany style design is still a popular choice for dining room lighting. Online auction site, antique stores, and estate sales are good source for vintage lighting. You can find very attractive reproductions at affordable prices that will look great in your home.

Swag lamps are a good choice of lighting when you are designing a cozy nook in a family room. A comfortable chair or chaise combined with a accent table and accentuated with a swag lamp becomes a favorite place of retreat in a room. You can create this oasis of tranquility in a bedroom or in the corner of a living room. The type of lampshade you select can influence the mood of that area. In a living room, a neutral colored drum shade would keep the area sophisticated and relaxing. When creating your place of relaxation in a bedroom, you might want to select a drum shade in a pastel color and possibly one that is embellished with beads to make it dainty and attractive.

If you have a sun room or an indoor patio that you have made an extension of your living space, a swag lamp would be a great addition to that room. You can create a coastal vacation atmosphere in that area with a wicker swag lamp added to the decor. You can find wicker shades in many colors or simply paint one to specifically correlate with your color scheme.

Teenagers love the opportunity to express themselves. This type of lamp could be placed over their desk area or in any area of their room that needs a little brightening up. Choosing a Tiffany style lampshade that depicts the logo of their favorite sports team would please almost any teenager. This type of lighting could also be incorporated into a game room.

Rudy Goodman writes articles about Home Decor and Lamp Shades Design. You can learn more about home lighting and Swag Lamps at his website.

Swag Lamps Are Back in Style!

By Rudy Goodman

It is quite easy to include swag lamps in various rooms of your home. Frequently, people envision the use of swag lighting over the dining room table. The vintage Tiffany style design is still a popular choice for dining room lighting. Online auction site, antique stores, and estate sales are good source for vintage lighting. You can find very attractive reproductions at affordable prices that will look great in your home.

Swag lamps are a good choice of lighting when you are designing a cozy nook in a family room. A comfortable chair or chaise combined with a accent table and accentuated with a swag lamp becomes a favorite place of retreat in a room. You can create this oasis of tranquility in a bedroom or in the corner of a living room. The type of lampshade you select can influence the mood of that area. In a living room, a neutral colored drum shade would keep the area sophisticated and relaxing. When creating your place of relaxation in a bedroom, you might want to select a drum shade in a pastel color and possibly one that is embellished with beads to make it dainty and attractive.

If you have a sun room or an indoor patio that you have made an extension of your living space, a swag lamp would be a great addition to that room. You can create a coastal vacation atmosphere in that area with a wicker swag lamp added to the decor. You can find wicker shades in many colors or simply paint one to specifically correlate with your color scheme.

Teenagers love the opportunity to express themselves. This type of lamp could be placed over their desk area or in any area of their room that needs a little brightening up. Choosing a Tiffany style lampshade that depicts the logo of their favorite sports team would please almost any teenager. This type of lighting could also be incorporated into a game room.

Rudy Goodman writes articles about Home Decor and Lamp Shades Design. You can learn more about home lighting and Swag Lamps at his website. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rudy_Goodman

A Swag Lamp For Every Style

By Rudy Goodman

Swag lamps are a space saving tribute to the 70's and 80's when their popularity was at an all time high. Hanging from a chain, these lamps were a great direct lighting source for kitchen counters, pool tables, even dining areas. Today these lamps are still popular, and can be found for any location in the home or business.

There are many unique styles of swag lamps and lamp shades today, including contemporary, retro-modern, painted glass, and silk.

Some of the more common are plastic retro-modern lamps. These lamps are often vibrant, glossy colors, or may be embroidered or painted, and can be purchased in specialty lighting stores everywhere.

The term swag is frequently applied to chandeliers that are in fact just chandeliers, with multiple light arms hanging from a chain. A swag chandelier may hang closer to its lighting target however, as a chandelier is designed to cast light over a broad area. The other advantage over a typical chandelier is that a swag lamp is usually a direct plug-in, and does not need to be hardwired into the ceiling.

Some of the most beautiful swag lamps are fitted with silk shades or other elegant fabric. These shades combine with the poetic looping of the swag lamp chain to create a cozy spot in a room. The light will cast a glow influenced by the color of the shade used.

This type of lamp is a common fixture in diners or restaurant decor. The glass may be stained or carved, and the close proximity of the lamp provides for an intimate table light. Some even introduce a unique lamp shade or swag lamp for every table in the restaurant.

While swag lamps add en eclectic touch to an old diner, club, or entertainment room, there are also variations that will add a rich elegance to a more traditional decor. These higher-end swag lamps often have velvet wrapped chains, and hand-painted glass; or their silk lamp shades are adorned with beaded trim, and even crystals.

A growing trend in these lamps is the variety of colored lamp shades available. Often in the shape of an umbrella or ball, the endless variety of colors can create amazing lighting effects for any occasion. For as little as $20 and as much as $100 or more, lamp shades are available for these types of lamps in all colors, shapes, and sizes.

Convert an Old Chandelier into a Swag Lamp in 6 Steps

If you want to install a Chandelier in your home, and don't want to run wire up in to the ceiling or install a new breaker, you'll need to convert your new chandelier into a swag lamp so that it can use a standard plug-in cord and be plugged into an electrical outlet. Converting a standard chandelier into a swag lamp involves no complicated wiring or tools. Kits to convert chandeliers to swag lamps are sold at most home improvement stores, and include everything that you'll need to make the conversion. Here is a guide to show you how to do it.

What You Will Need:

• A chandelier
• Swag lamp kit
• Wire stripper
• Electrical cable wire caps
• Cord cover or decorative chain
• 2 ceiling hooks

Step 1 - Install the Electrical Cord

• Using your wire strippers, strip about 1 inch of the wire cover coating from each of the two wires that lead out of the chandelier.
• Take notice of any special markings on the wires or the coloring of the wires to make sure that you connect the correct wires to the new electrical cord.
• Connect the wires for the chandelier to the electrical cord that came with your swag lamp kit.
• Use wire caps or electrical tape to secure the connections and insulate them properly.

Step 2 - Install the Cord Cover

Place the cord cover over the electrical wires, and make sure that none of the electrical wire is visible. You will need to thread the cord through the chain or covering that came with your swag lamp kit.

Step 3 - Install the Ceiling Hooks

• Locate a stud or ceiling joist and screw the hook into a stud or joist so the weight of the chandelier will not cause the hook to simply pull out of the ceiling.
• Install a second ceiling hook in the ceiling closest to the wall where the electrical outlet to be used is located.

Step 4 - Hang the Chandelier

Hang the chandelier from the first ceiling hook that you installed, and make sure that the hook adequately supports the weight of the chandelier.

Step 5 - Drape the Electrical Wire

Before plugging the chandelier in, drape the excess cord, chain or cover over the second ceiling hook. When draping the cord over the hook, make sure that the chain or cover does not hang too low.

Step 6 - Plug in the Electrical Cord

Plug in the electrical cord to the outlet, and test the chandelier by turning it on. If the chandelier light does not turn on, you'll need to check the connections that you made from the chandelier to the new swag lamp kit electrical cord. Make sure that you connected the wires correctly matching colors or matching positive to positive and negative to negative.

How to Make A Swag Lamp

Whenever we talk about the any topic that include a discussion of swag lamp, a thing comes to our mind that this was one of the old methods of using electricity in order to lighten up the entire space available for any individual. But the time of the swag lamps has come all over again. The stylish as well as truly very attractive swag lamps are set again to rock the world of interior decoration of the houses of millions of people who are having an intention of decorating their houses in a way that it is able to attract a great lot of people towards itself. The idea of using a swag lamp is a matter of wisdom as it is one of the easiest as well as one of the most cost effective ways for decorating the houses of the people all over the world.

Talking about the way of making of these swag lamps, we can say that it is a really very easy process and it can be made perfectly in home too! All a person has to do is to take a vessel of the shape of a bowl. The bowl should be metallic in nature. The bowl must me made to have a hole in the middle of approximately 1 inch in diameter and in that hole, a rope or any other kind of connecting material is fixed which is necessary for the fixation of the lamp to the ceiling of the room. The electric socket is also inserted along with the rope that connects the lamp with the ceiling so as to fix a bulb in the socket. After all this is done, you are ready with an exciting swag lamp which is ready for use for home purposes. Now for the matter of decoration for the lamp, the upper bowl can be very easily decorated by hand painting and other kinds of crafts.

How to Hang a Swag Lamp

By Sarah Bradburn
eHow Contributing Writer
Swag lamps are a quick way to add light to any space. It requires no wiring or other electrical work and it plugs into any wall outlet. Another added benefit is that the lamp can be placed virtually anywhere additional lighting is needed, regardless of whether or not the ceiling is pre-wired for a fixture.

Instructions

1. Step1

   Determine placement of lamp. Use a stud finder to locate a stud in the ceiling as close to the desired spot as possible.

2. Step2

   Drill starter hole into stud with electric drill.

3. Step3

   Screw the swag hook into the starter hole until completely inserted.

4. Step4

   Hang lamp onto hook by the decorative chain. If hanging above a table, the lamp should be installed 30-36 inches above table top.

5. Step5

   Install a second hook near corner of ceiling above the wall outlet where the lamp will be plugged in.

6. Step6

   Run the chain along the ceiling and hang on second hook. Plug lamp into wall outlet. Decide whether you want the chain tight against the ceiling or draping.

The Final Word: A room filled to the rafters with memories

By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY

Like many childhood bedrooms, mine was redone as soon as I went off to college.

When I was growing up the walls were yellow, the floors were hardwood, and I had the obligatory college pennant (Syracuse) hanging over a chest of drawers.

Across the room was my twin bed and a bed stand that held a rudimentary lamp that I made in wood shop. It's true. I got a C.

There was a desk, complete with one of those gooseneck lamps, where I was supposed to do my homework but never did. I did that downstairs on the living room coffee table, sitting on the floor, leaning up against the sofa. I don't have a clue why.

But the minute I went off to college, my mother "decorated" my bedroom. I remember coming home for Thanksgiving, going upstairs, and finding a room wrapped in what appeared to be, well, miles of flowered wallpaper.

To make matters worse, there were matching bedspreads on what were now two twin beds, and the floor was covered with wall-to-wall shag carpeting that picked up one of the colors in the wallpaper. Orange.

(My mother should be given some slack here. It was the late '60s. Good taste was as rare as good sense in those days.)

While I appreciated her nod to my Syracuse Orangemen, I hated what she had done to my room. I have lived with it this way now for 42 years, and I don't sense a change coming anytime soon.

But it is still my room and always will be.

It's small. Not much bigger than a box, really. Maybe 12 feet by 12 feet, at most. It has one window that faces north, and it sits under the eaves, so the ceiling slopes down above both twin beds. I learned early on never to rise and shine quickly.

Despite its size, it has always been a popular gathering place during the holidays. When my niece and nephews were growing up, it's where they wanted to be. And sleep.

So, between the twin beds that held me and my partner, Jack, they slept on the floor. There were five of us — plus our dog — snug as bugs in a very orange rug. There are photos to prove this.

Now the nieces and nephews are married and sleep in other parts of the house, their spouses evidently not taken with the old sleeping arrangement, which is fine. Jack and I and the dog now luxuriate in our floral wonderland alone.

We will be there again this week, listening to Santa, who wanders but a few feet above our heads. Just as he always has.

Merry Christmas.

E-mail cwilson@usatoday.com