Vintage table lamps are one of the most gratifying vintage collectibles that you can acquire: They are abundant, which means prices can be affordable… they are usually in great shape… you can put a pair in just about every room, so you get to shop a lot… they deliver a double — base and shade — bang-for-the-buck… and, when you get them into the room, they make a huge decorative statement, all retro blingy like. Let there be light — and let there be vintage table lamps. Above: Mystery reader uploaded this last week, said they found the base for $9 at Goodwill, and bought the shade from Moonshine. See all 366 lamps! –>
Upload photos of your vintage table lamps, below… Tips:
- (1) Uploader DOES work but message you get on screen *may be* funky and confusing. Upload ONCE and trust the image it there — I just need to “set new photos free” from my control panel and will be checking throughout the weekend to do so.
- (2) Terms of Use apply. Plus: Keep those toilet lids DOWN!
- (3) If you are taking a room shot and want to improve your photo skills, check out Kate’s tips on taking great room shots.
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I have a thing for Vintage Lamps! Just not enough space for them-They are all so cool!
AnneK from NYC, I’m in love with your double-swirl atomic lamp!
And oops, sorry, Pam, I uploaded a hanging lamp as well as a table lamp. I need to learn to follow directions better.
I’ll let you, this time
Oops Pam, I uploaded mine before switching their orientation…they are sideways! Re-upload or leave as is?
can you reload not sure if i can do it easily in this utility
I LOVE LAMPS! I am a sick, sick woman. Everyone’s lamps are so tasteful and pretty. Leave it to me to bring the freaky stuff! Thanks for indulging me, I hope to see more spaghetti lamps! Lamps… I must have them all!! mwahaha
I’m the Mystery Reader!
I was so excited when I found the lamp at a goodwill.
I’m in awe. This is an amazing display – all should be in the Vance Kirkland Museum here in Denver! Good for all of you for preserving these treasures.
I love them all. My vintage lamps are all at my other house, so I can’t post pics of them. I have two Kron lamps, made here in Texas, two turquoise lamps that I can’t even remember anything about except the color, an amazing teak pole lamp with green and blue inset work in the wood, but with two broken bullets (WAH), and two white and gold Hollywood regency monstrocities that I bought only for the lampshades. They didn’t match the lamps, but they went with the Kron lamps perfectly.
Lamp ADDICT here! I seriously need a twelve step program. I’ve gotten better though, but it’s a real weakness. I’m about to go off to bed so have not looked at all the pics. I’m sure I’ll be drooling with my morning coffee though.
My sick weakness for sure!!!! LOVE everybody’s awesome lamps!!!
Lamps #96 the teal pair looks like they are for sale in a shop. Would you sell those to me? Or anyone else looking to sell a pair of teal lamps- email me at missdolliedeville@yahoo.com.
Thanks!
Pia, those lamps of yours are making me woozy… I’m going to start shopping in Pittsburgh!
Oh MY! I’m in some serious lamp envy! Lamps and lighting is a disease. While I was perusing all this luscious lamp-ness, I made a list of all the lamps I own. Wow, was THAT a mistake. Must check into lamp rehab soon. 41 lamps is what I came up with. This is everything from floor lamps, hanging lamps, table lamps, accent lamps, vanity lamps, TV lamps, mantle lamps, ……ugh! I need help.
Beyond my collection – Thanks Pam for uploading my great percolator lamp and my Saturn ring lamp!
Eartha Kitsch: I’m not a huge fan of figural lamps in general, but your pair are truly outstanding in every way – and the shades are to-die-for!
Pia – wow, a Three Mile Island lamp! Never knew they made such a thing, but it sure is cool.
2 Different Stores, 3 Great Lamps poster: Those are an awesome set….and yes, I absolutely still ADORE your floor lamp with the clock which I can see in the background
John & Vanessa in Sunnyvale – Those are some way over the top cool lamps, and is that an area rug or wall to wall carpet underneath of them and is it vintage to the house, or something you found new (where???) ? I love that pattern! Also if you ever want to go thrifting, I live not too far from Sunnyvale by Great America. You can email me at shinysideup99 AT yahoodotcom (Chutti – if you read this, free to email me also, would love to catch up with you!)
Thanks everyone for sharing all your awesome lamps and to Pam for making it possible!!!
Hey Tami! Thanks for the shout out…To answer your question, the carpet/rug you see in the picture is a large piece of carpet that acts as an area rug. It is vintage, probably from the late 40′s, possibly early 50′s. I had an estate sale business for a few years in the Bay Area and it came out of a bedroom at the first estate I ever did (why it didn’t sell at the sale is beyond me!) The house belonged to the very first mayor of San Bruno and his wife was an interior decorator so I’m sure it was she who chose it for the room!
My husband John and I live right near Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, so you’re not too far from us. Thanks for the thrifting invite-maybe after the holidays calm down I could take you up on that!
Oh, gosh so many fabulous lamps! So sweet that Nadine has her family lamp in a photo when she was a baby…I wish I had something from the family home back then.
I am a vintage lamp kook but mine aren’t sculptural or special…most (I counted 15!) are white milk glass or hand painted boudoir lamps and stored in cabinets ‘cuz lamps don’t mix with kids and dogs.
That tension light with the 3 color cones…ah, I always wanted one…it brings back happy memories of playing in my friend’s basement where they had one set up next to a large bamboo roller shade alongside the staircase. In this little nook was the record player, old records, a ’50s dinette table & chairs…it always felt like we were in some exotic nightclub!
Only Saturday morning and not even light, but wow; all the wild lighting shown here!
ps TY Pam for reposting my parquet ? wood lamp. Paid $23. One of two; I passed on the other; the base was missing.
Oh, what fascinating lamps! Like TammyCA, mine are more the milkglass type or boudoir ones that are not really retro, but more the forties type. I do have a question to all of you with the fascinating lampshades that I can’t even think of the name for. Did you all find these lamps with the original lampshades or did you have the made? I have seen some of these lamps at flea markets but often the shades are disgustingly yellowed by cigarette smoke. So you can tell right away if these lamps belonged to non-smokers. They all look just fabulous though and I wish my house wasn’t a forties cape!
I would love your ’40s Cape. I am most drawn to the homey ’40s, but I love several eras & styles (from ’30s to early ’60s), which is great that I can see everyone’s vintage homes here & on other blogs. Now I would love to see/research the lamps and furniture I grew up with…I’ve never seen it since…a very sturdy blue nubby sofa with built-in white formica? arm rests (it was great to put your drinks on)…black end tables with a “linen formica”? that was three-tiered…and matching sleek black lamps. We also had the Danish chairs (which were not comfortable). I’m just amazed that the furniture and objects we had back then are so popular & $$ now! Unfortunately, all of it is gone.
Anyway, I am diggin’ the individual personality of each lamp…some look like they are gonna blast off, some like musical instruments, some like stylized plant & animal life…so cool.
Need to get all my thoughts in one post, but yes, agree that many of the lampshades are just as fantastic as the lamps!
Oh Pam, now you’ve done it! Be careful what you ask for. I suspect many of us have secret (or not-so-secret) obsessions with lamps. I’ve uploaded some of my favorites from around our house… and I am absolutely green with envy at the wonderful images I’m seeing from other readers! I am hard-pressed to pick out a favorite or two… can’t I just have them ALL?!
yes, this is going to be a record-breaking uploader!
Pam, these wonderful lamps need to be made into a coffee table book! Does anything similar exist now? This is astonishing. Wow!
…and the night is young!
A book is a great idea–lamps though the ages. I also thought a museum just for lamps might be interesting. I had no idea how many interesting and quirky lamps there are out in the world!
…Just not at your local Lamps Plus store.
LarsErik, I thought YOUR lamps were to die for! Those dancer lamps and the Buck Rogers lamp – incredible! And Kelly’s lamp (and those drapes and pictures on the wall), the Japanese lamps with the pagoda roof shades – all just fascinating! And I have almost nothing to contribute as none of this fits in my forties cape! I am so glad so many have posted photos of theirs that I can enjoy!
Oh, thanks Janet, you are too sweet! I’m glad you like our collection of figural lights. Once I started taking photos of our lamps, I realized I have a serious addiction (there are even more I could have posted). But as I looked through the photos other readers have posted… I realize there are many more I need!! There is just something so magical about lamps…
I love Rob and Monica’s telephone/clock lamp. I once saw a green one like it in a store. I believe there was also a cigarette lighter in the phone’s receiver!
Oh my. I always say I have a lamp fetish. These are fantastic. I can’t even decide which ones I like best, they are all great. Thanks everybody for sharing.
THREE! MILE!! ISLAND!!!???!!!
That is INSANE! What a cool find!
There is a photo up there “sideways” and it’s merely labelled Majestic Lamp. I LOVE the drapery fabric, with the black in it, in the background!! (Well, I adore the lamp too; that goes without saying.)
Could the poster kindly tell me if that is a new retro fabric or vintage material…. If new, I would dearly love to know the company, if you happen to know it.
Those drapes are to die for. I’m just now planning some drapes for a room and would love some information if you have a minute.
I am a 50′s/60′s lamp maniac! Love them so much, but living in NYC makes it hard to display all the ones I have. The link attached has thousands of images of mid century kitsch including many 50′s lamps. It is a project I have been compiling for over ten years. Hope you enjoy the beauty of the items. Please also check out my retro inspired photography at http://www.kylesupleyphotography.com and http://www.thekylestyle.tumblr.com
I love all the lamps, especially the ones with the tiered and the dual fiberglass shades. Love all the little people lamp bases too. And all the rest. I am going to see if my time capsule lamps show up in any of the pix.
Wow, even more lamps! I think my heart beat a little faster at Hannah’s cute aqua wavy one. I have a thing for sinuous lines and so many of these amazing lamps have that…oh, I want one badly now.
My aunt had a ceramic black panther on top of her t.v. in the ’60s…don’t remember if it was a lamp or planter.
As LarsErik said above lamps are “magical”. I’ve always loved lamps & have always keyed in on them in all old movies & t.v. shows (well, I’ve always keyed in on backgrounds & miss the story!)..something I’ve wondered about was how they plugged in the table lamps in the nightclubs? Were they battery operated back in the ’40s-’50s?
I’m right there with an earlier poster, there is just NO way to pick a few that are spectacular, because they ALL are. I just love the quirkiness of the style of those days. So creative and aesthetically pleasing on so many levels.
I will say I highly covet a lamp with a shade like Cynthia shows (image 243, if memory serves). I just think that’s so classy and different.
#74/#76 I love that lamp and it would fit in my pre 1930 decor. I have a lamp that needs a home. Can I give it away here? Just for the postage. I will take a picture if it’s ok to give it away here. It’s probaby 30 inches tall. Brown ceramic. I hesitate to post my email…..for obvious reasons!
thanks to everybody who posted this weekend! It has been a blast, looking at everybody else’s unique lamps (thought I was the only one with a lamp ‘can never have too many” happy ones! There are a few posted of mine too & enjoy looking at them. I have refinsihed, redone many lamps, given them funky shades & to me they are like jewlery, change them, it changes the room! Happy weekend all!
Vintage lamps are one of my favorite things, though I am a bit biased… This has been SO FUN looking at all your readers fabulous vintage lamps! Thanks, Pam!
thanks to all for sharing. i think now i can embrace my love of lamps and step tables, the perfect pairing! I really want to find a nice floor or pole lamp. hit many estate sales in the Pittsburgh area, so I think my time will come soon. I don’t think I could pick a favorite, although I am quite partial to all the figure lamps. the pink man and woman that seem to be holding two lamps shades are fantastic. as are the owls, and the velvet lamps and tables. I am amazed that people had enough space to devote to these lamps-you really have to commit some serious real estate to properly display these fabulous objets d’art.
whoever posted the white/gold lamp with the middle black collar – I have that lamp as well. It’s cool, that the black collar is the on/off switch. You have to be careful though, because thru out the use, the paint wears off.
I know I’ve submitted my picture before – so it’s somewhere in the archives at retrorenovation.