# High ceilings and floor lamps. Help please! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302 "2016-11-18T02:26:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302/1 "2016-11-18T02:26:01Z")
Rearranging some things in my living room and wanting to address the poor lighting issues. For one thing the tri light, standing floor lamp is right beside the tv, ( wall mounted), which is hard on my eyes I’m certain. I’m definitely going to relocate it, when I figure out where. I’ve been looking at it a long while now, trying to figure what to shift where. And I’m beginning to wonder if a 5’6" standing lamp is even right for a room with 9’6" ceilings? Do higher ceilings maybe require a different height floor lamp!? Or is it a standard size? What do they do with really high ceilings I wonder? Perhaps I’ve just been eyeballing it too long, and am losing perspective? Any suggestions? Links to pictures? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302/2 "2016-11-18T02:36:28Z")
Do these lamps point up or down? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302/3 "2016-11-18T03:40:15Z")
Up. Sorry, I should have been clearer! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302/4 "2016-11-18T04:13:27Z")
I kind of figured you meant up, but I wasn’t sure because you think those are hard on your eyes. Maybe the light spreads widely from there so you’re getting a lot of reflection off the walls. So if you’re looking for diffuse light reflected from the ceiling you may need something different. 5’6" seems short to me but we haven’t had any floor lamps for a long time, maybe that is a common height. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302/5 "2016-11-18T04:17:15Z")
I prefer the room lighting to be behind the TV viewer. That is the beauty of floor lamps. They are mobile. Since it is a 3 way lamp you have options. I wouldn’t worry about the height of the lamp. If you want to do some other lighting, you could install some ceiling lights. There is some nice stuff up there. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302/6 "2016-11-18T07:13:02Z")
Figure out a way to bounce the light off either the ceilings or 2/3 - 3/4 the way up on the walls. Get lots of lights and put them on dimmers. I used track lighting in 10’ ceilings, bounced of the walls at about 8’. With different circuits for different sides, and dimmers on everything. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302/7 "2016-11-18T15:10:14Z")
What color is your room painted? Does that color reflect light well? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-ceilings-and-floor-lamps-help-please/772302/8 "2016-11-18T15:22:34Z")
The room is a light green with white trim. I like the up lamps, the way they throw light but I can’t seem to figure where to put them! And now they look kinda dwarf to me. Though I never noticed before. While I am greatly affected by good or bad lighting, I’m not that good at it, to be honest. When I’m at the store looking at choices, I find myself overwhelmed by choices and styles. I inevitably choose badly. We grow older now, and good lighting becomes more important ! There is no spot for a table lamp where the floor lamp currently stands. Brightish light is needed as there is a bench, opens on the top, where all our electronics get recharged. It’s very confusing.