What Size Floor Lamp Works Best in an Open-Plan Living Space?

In most open plan living spaces, a floor lamp between about 150cm and 190cm tall works best, with a shade or head generous enough to hold its own against the scale of the room. Arc lamps of 180cm or more are useful for reaching over a sofa from the side, while slimmer lamps suit reading corners and compact living zones. The right size depends less on the floor area of the whole space and more on the zone the lamp is lighting, the height of your ceiling and the sofa it sits beside. In this guide we explain why open plan rooms make lamps look smaller, how to measure your seating zone and match the lamp to it, and how much clearance to leave beneath the ceiling. We also cover arc lamp reach and headroom, using a rug to set the scale, visual weight, when to use two lamps rather than one, base sizes and a simple sizing checklist....