Bedside & Table Lamp Height Calculator

By a bed or by a sofa, measure the table and the seat. You get how tall the lamp should be, where its shade’s bottom sits, and the shade’s height.

The lamp goes
in
in

Lamp height

A 27″ lampits shade’s bottom 20″ over the nightstand, 45″ off the floor · a shade about 6½″ tall

From the side, to scale: the table, the lamp and where your eyes are
    Size its shade →

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    Quick answer: by a bed, the bottom of the lamp’s shade goes about 20″ above the mattress (Lamps Plus), so a 25″ nightstand by a 25″ mattress takes a 27″ lamp. By a sofa, the shade’s bottom goes no higher than your eyes when you sit: about 48½″ off the floor by an 18″ seat, so a lamp up to 33″ on a 24″ end table. The shade is about a third of the table-to-shade distance.

    How to use the lamp height calculator

    1. Pick where the lamp goes: by a bed, or by a sofa or chair.
    2. Measure the table, floor to its top, and the seat: the top of the mattress, or the sofa’s seat cushion.
    3. By a sofa, say who sits there. Eye height is what decides it.
    4. Read the lamp’s height, where its shade’s bottom sits, and the shade. Size its shade takes the numbers to the lamp shade calculator.

    The rules behind the numbers

    By a bed: 20″ over the mattress

    Lamps Plus: “For bedside table lamps the base of the shade should be about 20″ above the top of the mattress. A table lamp that’s 26″-28″ tall (including the shade) usually fits the bill perfectly.” That puts the shade’s bottom about 10″ under your eyes as you sit up to read, so the light falls on the page and the bulb stays out of sight.

    By a sofa: no higher than your eyes

    Lamps Plus again: “On a side table in a living room, the base of the lampshade shouldn’t be higher than your eye-level when you’re sitting down”, and “you should never be able to see the neck of the lamp or the bulb”. Your eyes sit your seat’s height plus your sitting eye height. The US Army’s ANSUR II survey measured it on 6,068 adults: a median 31.7″ above the seat for men, 29.4″ for women (the calculator uses 30½″ between them for “anyone”).

    The lamp’s height

    Lamps Plus’s method: sit beside the table and “measure from the surface you are placing the lamp to eye level. This is your base measurement”; the shade is a third of it, and the lamp the two together (their example: 18″ + 6″ = 24″). The calculator measures to where the shade’s bottom goes: 20″ over the mattress, or your eye by a sofa.

    Bedside lamp height by nightstand and bed

    NightstandMattress topLampShade
    22″20″24″6″
    24″25″28″7″
    25″25″27″6½″
    26″25″25″6½″
    28″25″23″5½″
    28″28″27″6½″

    A taller nightstand means a shorter lamp: the shade’s bottom stays 20″ over the mattress either way.

    Three worked examples

    A 25″ nightstand by a 25″ mattress. A 27″ lamp: its shade’s bottom 20″ over the nightstand, 45″ off the floor, and the shade about 6½″ tall. Inside Lamps Plus’s 26–28″.

    A tall 30″ nightstand by a low 21″ platform bed. Only a 15″ lamp: the shade’s bottom belongs 41″ off the floor, just 11″ over the nightstand. A lower nightstand would take a larger lamp.

    A 25″ end table by an 18″ sofa seat, for a woman reading. A lamp up to 30″: her eyes are about 47½″ off the floor, and the shade’s bottom stays under them.

    Common lamp height mistakes

    • Buying the lamp before measuring the nightstand. The table’s height decides how tall the lamp can be.
    • A shade above your eyes. You see the bulb and the glare instead of the light.
    • A lamp too short by the bed. The light lands on the nightstand, not on your book.
    • Matching lamps on unmatched tables. Two nightstands of different heights want two different lamps, or the same shade height.

    Next, the shade: the free lamp shade size calculator gives its width and the harp. The nightstand and headboard calculator sizes the table itself, and the free 2D room planner lays out the bedroom.

    Size the shade

    Read next

    Lamp height questions

    How tall should bedside lamps be?

    Tall enough to put the shade’s bottom about 20″ above the mattress (Lamps Plus): usually 26–28″ on a nightstand about as high as the mattress. A taller nightstand wants a shorter lamp.

    What size lamp for a nightstand?

    Measure the nightstand and the mattress top: the lamp is about 4⁄3 of the distance from the nightstand’s top to 20″ over the mattress. A 25″ nightstand by a 25″ mattress takes a 27″ lamp with a 6½″ shade.

    How high should a bedside lamp shade be?

    Its bottom about 20″ above the top of the mattress (Lamps Plus), which is about 10″ under the eyes of someone sitting up in bed.

    How tall should a lamp be next to a sofa?

    Short enough that the shade’s bottom is at or under your eyes when you sit (Lamps Plus): with an 18″ seat and a 24″ end table, up to about 33″.

    How tall should a nightstand lamp be compared to the nightstand?

    It depends on the bed, not on the nightstand alone: the shade’s bottom belongs 20″ over the mattress. By a 25″ mattress, a 22″ nightstand takes a 31″ lamp and a 28″ nightstand a 23″ one.

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