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Do you find yourself working from home more than usual for some reason? Huh. Wonder why that is… well regardless! In all this time you’re spending working from your home office you’ve probably found the light lacking. You need more, better quality light, but how do you know which is the best light for your setup? We’re here to help! Here’s a handy little guide with just a few of our favorite options for lighting your desk.

Natural light

Maybe it would surprise you that our favorite source of lighting is sunlight when we manufacture LEDs, but we love natural light as much as anyone. Sunlight is the best light for your workstation. As you’re finding space for your home office, consider putting your desk where the sun can shine into your work surface for the majority of the day. If your window faces east, consider placing your desk perpendicular to it so you’re not staring at the rising sun in the morning. Of course there are going to be days when it’s cloudy or storming or perhaps you work better in the evening and the natural light may not be enough to fully illuminate your space.

Traditional desk lamp

A traditional desk lamp, whether it be the kind that clips to the edge of your desk or that sits on your work surface, is a tried and true method for lighting your workspace. They typically have opaque shades and direct light down on the desk, ensuring that the glare from the bulb isn’t directly in your eyes.

Swing-arm wall lamp

Another option for those who want to keep their work surfaces clean (or for those whose work stations are overly cluttered) a swing-arm wall lamp is a great alternative to a traditional desk lamp. These also typically come with opaque or semi-opaque shades to help direct the light at its intended target and keep the glare out of your eyes. While this kind of light is commonly used as a bedside lamp, it can easily be used to illuminate your home office space. Many of these lights mount simply to the wall and come with a power cord to plug directly into a standard wall outlet. These handy lights can be moved to different parts of your home in case you need to relocate your home office and take up little space.

Hanging pendant lights

Another option for keeping your desk less cluttered with objects is a hanging pendant light. A pendant suspended over your workstation approximately twenty-eight inches from the surface of your desk and slightly to the right of you if right handed, or slightly to the left if left handed is the perfect placement for a light like this. Obviously a pendant fixture is a more permanent fixture than a movable plug-in wall sconce.

Floor lamps

Don’t discount the utility of a good floor lamp to accomplish the same goals of other kinds of lighting for illuminating your workspace. They help keep your desk uncluttered, are movable, can be stylish, and provide excellent directional light.

The perfect bulb

Our favorite bulbs for just about any desk lamp are our A19 and ST19 filament bulbs. These bulbs look fantastic and give off nice, warm, inviting light. If you prefer a cooler color in your bulbs, SunLake’s standard A19 in either 9W (60W equivalent) or 12W (75W equivalent) are also excellent options and are available in cooler temperatures that may help keep you alert while putting in extra hours at your desk.