If you are living in the USA, floor lamp vs. ceiling light curiosity might have crossed your mind.
We mean, most American rooms don’t have overhead lighting.
A few houses don’t have a pre-built ceiling fixture, in fact.
So, debating on buying a floor lamp or ceiling light when remodeling or shifting to a new home is common.
Let’s cut the chase and tell you that you will get your answer today.
Below we have discussed floor lamp vs. ceiling light in detail under the fact of lights and proof. For us, a floor lamp is a champ.
Read till the end to know why we give floor lamps the upper hand and better decide which of these fits your bill.
Floor Lamp VS Ceiling Light
Installation
Installation is the first thing where the floor lamp wins.
Out of the box, floor lamps are very easy to set up. You just need to put the pieces together as directed by the manufacturer and viola.
A manual comes with floor lamps that walk you through the process of putting a floor lamp together.
On the contrary, the ceiling lights are challenging to mount.
Perhaps a DIYer can fix it to the ceiling, but if you don’t have good wiring know-how, you cannot.
In the latter case, you need to call an electrician, fix an appointment, and babysit him until he screws the ceiling light.
Honestly, that’s a time taking and tiring process.
Variety
While there are a lot of options in the ceiling light category, they are still few as compared to the floor lamps.
Floor lamps have a catalog of types.
They come in different themes, colors, and sizes. Some are even made for specific rooms. Put simply, the versatility and diversification of floor lamps entertain everyone’s choice.
If we consider ceiling light, you get very few options, and there is a long process to filter one of your kinds to fit the room.
Beauty
If you don’t know, floor lamps are a benchmark of beauty. They lift the spirit of your boring room and make it a style statement.
One of the reasons they blend in the rooms and go along with the furniture is the variety they have to offer.
You get a lot of colors, shapes, sizes, and styles on your plate, and it gets easier to pick a floor lamp for a particular corner of your room.
Now, if you head on to a ceiling light, it’s kind of boring.
The same spherical shape with a light bulb in the center, which doesn’t really pull our interest, right?
Safety
If you have heard that floor lamps tip over, you are right!
The thing is that the bases of some floor lamps are not made heavy, which makes them fall over.
This is a huge concern of parents having little kids and naughty pets, and we understand that.
We still don’t say that floor lamps are completely unsafe for the house with children.
The reason for saying this is that you can glue the floor lamp on the floor. Not kidding; folks out there are doing that to make the floor lamp baby-proof!
Especially if you are going to place your floor lamp in the nursery, you should buy a heavyweight floor lamp and put it behind the furniture to keep your baby apart from it.
Speaking about the ceiling lights, they are absolutely safe. Since these lights are mounted against your ceiling, there’s no way tipping over an accident can occur.
Purpose
Both ceiling light and floor lamps are made to address your light requirements but for different purposes.
Floor lamps are made to add a twist to your living room, bedroom, hallway, or dining room.
Not only this, but you can also read, do needlework, or do puzzles under floor lamps. In summarizing, floor lamps are used for the task, ambient, and accent lighting.
Here’s the thing: the right type of floor lamp is the key to making the most of it.
A cozy and inviting atmosphere is created with the help of floor lamps. But, unfortunately, you cannot achieve this much with a ceiling light.
Mounted against the ceiling, they direct light straight down. This permits you to task easily, but we agree it’s not as easy on the eyes as floor lamps.
In our opinion, it also initiates headaches sometimes since the color of light is white mostly.
Position
There are a few specific rooms you can place your floor lamp in.
Living rooms, bedrooms, hallways, and dining rooms, for instance. Floor lamps add a layer and balance the lighting needed in your room.
Here the ceiling light gives you the freedom to place them anywhere in the home.
Still, you’d observe them in the kitchen and bathrooms mostly.
Depending on the light requirement, and the room you are placing one in, you can pick one between a floor lamp and ceiling light.
Space
Safe to say, floor lamps occupy a good room in your home.
On the flip side, ceiling lights don’t demand you to spare a room to position them.
You can simply mount them to the ceiling of a room you want to place them in.
Ceiling lights are the choice of people having low ceilings.
You’ll also find them in a small or packed room which you cannot overcrowd by placing a floor lamp.
However, the good news is that floor lamps don’t always have to be big or space-occupying.
There are a lot of minimal designs or two-in-one options. Floor lamps with table, for instance.
In fact, floor lamps for low-ceiling homes are also available now.
Usability
Granted that ceiling lights are simple to use. All you need to do is flick the button on the wall and light baths your rooms.
Let’s not forget the long list of switch options that floor lamps have to offer.
Manufacturers of floor lamps know where a floor lamp will be placed. Keeping that in mind, they integrate a button in a floor lamp.
You’ll find some floor lamps with a toggle switch for traditional on and off, while a few with footswitch or pull chain design.
These pull chain floor lamps are extremely gorgeous since the chain is made delicately and adds beauty to the overall design.
So, you can go for a floor lamp with a button type of your preference.
Brightness
The reason people state that overhead lighting initiate headache is the brightness.
Ceiling lights have white-colored, bright lights. This creates an atmosphere just like in the offices.
It keeps you from relaxing in your home and gets in your eyes which also causes strains.
Unlike ceiling light, floor lamps have a different nature.
Most of them come with a dimmer so you can pick a better brightness level to suit you and your environment.
And, if one doesn’t come along, you can plug a dimmer yourself, which is no big deal.
Electricity Usage
Now comes an interesting part that you might not have paid heed to earlier.
Does a lamp use more electricity than a ceiling light?
Well, YES and NO.
Usage of electricity with a floor lamp and ceiling light is directly proportional to the wattage and type of bulb one uses.
If your lighting source comes with an incandescent and fluorescent bulb, there’s a good chance of high monthly electricity bills.
Thankfully, the majority of floor lamp comes with an LED bulb or are LED compatible. This way, there’s a significant drop in your electricity bills using them.
As an estimation, an LED bulb will cost you only $30 for using it for 25,000 hours or 15 years of 24/7 use which is WOW.
Cost
Other than electricity bills, you can also save a few bucks on the buying and installation cost with a floor lamp.
Since floor lamps are simple to assemble and don’t require an electrician, you’ll save a few pennies.
In contrast, buying and installing a ceiling light is equal to the cost of a dime, and everyone can’t afford it, right?
Let’s do simple math to understand it.
Installing a single ceiling light will cost you $180 to $460.
Add in here the cost of a ceiling light, roughly $30 for one ceiling light.
For instance, if you have a 240 square feet room, you’ll need 6 pieces of ceiling light to illuminate the entire room.
So, $30 into 6 pieces turns out to be $180.
That said, the buying cost + the installing cost (if we take $180 per unit) makes $1260, which is insane.
On top of that, you’d have to schedule time for installation and clean up the installation mess.
This appears to be a lot of work and betting a good amount of bucks.
So, a floor lamp is a win-win in the column of cost, of course.
Conclusion
Today, we have a follow-up on floor lamp vs. ceiling light.
The reasons why floor lamps are our hands-down choice are their versatility, simple installation, the beauty they add to your room, the variety they have to offer, and above all, affordable cost.
On the contrary, ceiling lights cost a lot of bucks and time for installation. They provide white light, which keeps you from relaxing at home. However, the ceiling light is safe if you have babies around.
Quick reminder, you can also glue the floor lamp to the floor. So, make sure you buy a floor lamp to level up the essence of your home and cut the cost.