The Best Bedside Lamps (for Better Sleep, Sex, and Ambiance)

If you’re reading this, you’re a hot person—no doubt about it. What’s not to love about the Carhartt beanie crowning your dome, or the the copy of The Will to Change under your armpit? Two Roman emperor thumbs way up, king. But there is one area in which you need some guidance, and it’s crucial in helping you read better, sleep better, and bone better in the new year. You need a swole new bedside lamp, and you need it STAT. 

The best bedside lamps should bring warmth and relaxation to your daily bedchamber endeavors, from reading to romping to winding down for that REM cycle ride. (Overhead lights = reserved for hospitals and Target.) You deserve to live in a cozy Vermeer painting, or feel like a titmouse in its toasty woodland hovel, sipping an oat milk latte beside the glow of a Murano glass-inspired mushroom lamp while it rains outside. 

Whether you want a touch lamp, a Noguchi-esque lamp, or this saucy 80s Pierrot pondering his orb (!!), we’ve whittled down the best bedside lamps for every pleasure and price range. 

The people have spoken, and declared that mushroom decor will continue to spore its swag all over 2024 design aesthetics. One of the most effortless and chic ways to incorporate a shroom’s curvaceous, ~organic~ silhouette into your home is with a 1970s Murano glass-inspired mushroom lamp; the glass gives off a gauzy, amber glow that’s perfect for reading and making out. 

Riffing on the OG Murano mushroom lamp design, West Elm’s ribbed glass table lamp is a unique take on the classic, and a consistent bestseller from the site; it comes in four different colorways, including three warmer shades and a calming, robin’s egg blue. 

This shroom lamp is a breeze. The cordless, a three-level touch lamp is a more contemporary-Japandi take on the OG mushroom lamp, and it’s so lightweight that one Amazon reviewer writes that it’s portable. “We took it outdoors a few times for dinner.” 

This dusty rose shroom lamp has a little more height, which can be helpful if you want more direct/targeted light when your reading. It’s also the perfect shade of baked-under-the-Taos-sun pink for brightening up your home this winter, as well as black and white colorways if those are more of your vibe.

Isamu Noguchi’s iconic Akari paper lamps are having a design renaissance, because 1) they go with nearly EVERY kind of decor, whether you’re an MCM minimalist or a 70s maximalist, and 2) the rice paper shade gives off a uniquely ambient glow. We’ve whittled down our favorite Japanese rice paper and Noguchi-inspired lamps—or “light sculptures,” as Noguchi called them—in the VICE guide to Noguch’ lamps, but these two delicate nightstand blobs from Amazon deserve a dedicated  shoutout; they’re dead ringers for a piece by the late artist, and cost far less than this $2,500 archive Akari on 1stDibs.    

Urban Outfitters is also home to some excellent Noguchi-inspired options, including these squiggly and zig-zag bedside lamps from the brand Wooj Design. They’re reminiscent of the OG rice paper lamp’s abstract designs, but bring their own delightfully weird silhouettes to the table.

If it’s divine design inspiration you seek, look no further than archive IKEA catalogs and Instagram accounts that pay homage to the GOAT of affordable Nordic decor. No shade to present-day IKEA, but the Swedish behemoth absolutely decimated the competition with minimalist designs that still managed to feel whimsical, such as these vintage donut and Fillsta lamps. 

The culture has been edging Frasurbane decor ever since Y2K aesthetics came back in vogue, and 90s squiggle lamps are one of its best ambassadors. Many of the curvaceous lamps have pleated shades that we’re actually excited about (most lampshades = snooze city), and the Italian brand Oscar Piccolo even makes a stunning squiggly floor lamp. If you’re buying on a budget, peep sites such as Etsy and HAY for aesthetic options.

Maybe you dream about converting an old penny factory into a ceramics studio, or perhaps you’ve taken up weaving to make yourself a new, monochromatic capsule wardrobe. If so, congrats: you’re probably a Brotalist, and your patron saint, Ricardo Bofill, would likely approve of this stately marble bedside lamp from AllModern.

Here’s what you do: Put a Brutalist lamp in one color so people know you’re a creative and a tough guy, and a wood or rattan lamp in another corner so they know you want forehead kisses. Article is the mid-century modern-inspired brand behind one of the internet’s favorite leather sofas, and it also makes a Googie-legged rattan lamp that deserves a place in Don Draper’s office. If your monthly rattan lamp budget is under $50, however (understandable) this woven bamboo lamp from Amazon looks like it costs thrice as much as its price tag, and will pair perfectly with just about anything.

We know, we know. TikTok won’t stop talking about the mob wife aesthetic, but that’s because it slaps. What’s not to love about animal print coats, French tip manicures, and a bedside lamp that looks like it was stolen from Bamonte’s? The years will comes and go, but this fringed number will hold its own.

Stay cozy, kings. 

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.