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Choose the Best Lighting For Your Home Office

Holly Honeycutt

By Holly Honeycutt
Published January 23, 2024

Are you creating a home office or making updates to your current one? Good lighting can make an office feel inviting and increase your productivity, while also being beneficial to your health. We'll explain the different types and why it's important to get your lighting right.

A brown modern pine computer desk, a black desk lamp, a small plant and a brown chair.

Benefits of Good Home Office Lighting

A desk with a small plant, a blue cofee mug and a green and brass desk lamp.

Good lighting for a home office is a necessity. Studies have shown that poor office lighting can cause headaches, eye strain, neck pain, back pain and is associated with an increased risk of slips and falls. Bad lighting for offices can also affect your productivity and can even have a negative impact on your mental health.

By layering in different types of lighting to an office, you can benefit from the following:

  • a safer place to work
  • increased productivity
  • less eye strain
  • a cozier, calmer environment
  • an elevated mood

How to Choose the Best Lighting for Your Home Office

An office with a wood desk, an upholstered chair, a black floor lamp and a black desk lamp.

There are numerous factors that you need to consider when selecting the best lighting for your home. Here are a few lighting ideas for an office.

Natural Light
 Natural light should be your first consideration. Is your office usually light and bright or is it located in a part of the house that's darker? Work with what you have. Try to situate your work space as close to the window as possible. This has numerous health benefits because natural sunlight is attributed with better focus and energy levels. Exposure to natural light also helps to establish better sleep patterns, so you'll be well rested to be even more productive the next day.

Avoid Glare and Shadows
 When you're choosing where to put your desk, watch at various times of day for glare and shadows. It can be disruptive and cause eye discomfort. You may need to move your desk a time or two to determine the best location long-term.

Additional Light
 After you've discovered the best location for your desk, consider additional light sources. When the room gets darker, does it help to have overhead lighting or perhaps a single desk lamp? A floor lamp often has multiple lights attached to it, so you can move them around to suit your situation.

Layer Lighting
 Most of the time, a single light isn't the solution. By layering in overhead lighting, task lighting, floor lighting and more, you can create a serene and productive work space that you'll enjoy for years to come.

Types of Lighting and Light Fixtures

An office with a white desk, a wood chair and a wood floor lamp with a white shade.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to good office lighting. Depending on the natural light in your home and what your specific needs are, we'll show you the best lighting options for your space.

Desk Lamps

A white desk with a white modern desk light, a plant, a black monitor and a white keyboard.

Desk lamps are an easy way to illuminate your space. They can sit on your desk or can be clipped on to the side of a shelf or ledge. A swing-arm desk lamp conveniently adjusts to shine on a particular spot. Match your desk lamp to your decor. Styles include: traditional, transitional, modern, modern farmhouse, industrial and more. Here are a few other desk lamps that might work in your space.

Smart Desk Lamps
 A smart desk lamp can operate via voice commands. Tell the light to turn off and on, automate your schedule, set reminders and enable special lighting modes for Circadian Rhythm to improve focus, Chill Mode to relax or Sunset Mode that includes a soft white light and a shutoff timer. Some smart desk lamps also include built-in USB ports to easily charge your devices.

Cordless Task Lamp
 You won't have to bother with messy cords with a cordless task lamp. Easily move the lamp around your office -- or around the house -- as needed for some additional light. They're available battery or solar operated.

Himalayan Salt Lamp
 These salt lamps are dimmable and can change into different color modes. They're known to have health benefits including boosting your mood, purifying the air, reducing anxiety and allergies.

Floor Lamps

An office with a white desk, white chair and black metal floor lamp with a fabric shade.

Floor lamps are beneficial to either cast light upwards, downwards or throughout the room. These lamps can be turned on and off via a foot switch, rotary socket, pull-chain, touch or can be compatible with smart outlets. The most popular types of floor lamps include:

Shaded
 These shaded lamps come with a glass, ceramic or fabric shade.

Arc
 These lamps bend in an arc and can be positioned over the desk to shed light.

Torchiere
 These torchiere lamps are usually bell or dome-shaped and throw the light upwards.

Shelf
 If you're short on storage space, a floor lamp with shelving provides a place to put baskets, books and office supplies. You can also use them for decorative items, plants and framed prints.

Multi-Head
 These multi-head lamps have between 2-5 individual lights that can be pointed in different directions.

Track Lighting

A 4-light matte black dimmable modern track lighting kit.

If you'd like to update your overhead lighting, consider replacing your flush-mount or pendant light with track lighting. As the name implies, it's a string of multiple lights on a track that can be pointed in several directions depending on your needs.

Track lighting usually works best in a modern or contemporary space and comes in several finishes including nickel, bronze, brass or steel. You can also choose from numerous colors to match your office decor. Select dimmable track lighting to brighten or dim your office as needed.

Video Conference Lighting

A monitor with a clip-on LED selfie ring light.

If you're working remotely and spend a considerable amount of time in video conference calls, you'll want to look your best. Purchase a ring light that can either sit on a tripod or clip onto a computer. Select from warm, natural and white light modes and up to twelve levels of brightness. An in-line remote can easily control the lighting. Just plug it in to a USB port to start using it.

Light Strips

An office with a monitor and a computer with colorful lighting.

Place light strips under your desk, behind your monitor or along the baseboards for white or multi-colored lighting. Light strips can be hardwired, powered through an electrical outlet or are battery-operated. They're usually dimmable and can be controlled via a remote or through smart technology.

Smart Light Bulbs

A dimmable smart LED light bulb.

Smart light bulbs can be used in desk lamps, floor lamps or overhead lighting. Use voice control when you're in the office to turn the bulbs on and off or use your phone to control the lights when you're away.

Lights can also be scheduled to turn on and off according to your preferred office hours. These bulbs can change from warm or cool whites to an endless spectrum of colors.

Good to Know

To protect your eyes from the constant strain of using a computer, consider blue light glasses or a blue light screen filter for your monitor. They block harmful blue light, which helps alleviate eye fatigue.