Outdoor Lamps

More and more, people are thinking of their porches, lawns, and patios as additional rooms of their houses. From outdoor stoves to outdoor couches, homeowners are taking luxury outside. Nowhere is this more apparent than in their lighting choices. Outdoor lamps like their indoor cousins provide a welcome alternative to tiki torches and propane lanterns of the past.

Finishes
When choosing a finish for your outdoor lamp, the sky is really the limit. While many designers favor the weathered look of bronze or copper for the bases of outdoor lamps, others like those at Kenroy Home are creating lovely banana-leaf finishes that would be right at home at the tiki bar. Murray Feiss has manufactured metal bases with the look of rich woods like hazelnut and walnut. Most of these outdoor lamps are rated for use in wet or damp settings. Poolside lighting never looked so good.

Shades
Perhaps the aspect of outdoor lighting that causes the most maintenance anxiety is the shade. It seems impossible that an outdoor lamp could have a shade that doesn't pick up every little stain and show every speck of dust in the yard. But, thanks to innovations in fabric technologies, great outdoor lamp shades are being created in everything from faux suede to washable linen. Some lamps like the South Pacific floor lamp from Kenroy Home even come with two shades, so you can switch one out while you wash the other.

Floor Lamp or Table Lamp
Outdoor lamps come in either floor lamp or table lamp styles, and all of them are UL-rated for use in wet locations. Using outdoor lamps in your living space allows you to create the same kind of intimate areas that you would indoors. Use the Kichler Westwood outdoor floor lamp to light up a corner of your patio while offering a small cabinet to store away bug spray, sun block, or a deck of cards.