In the LR at the beach condo, I have lamps on either end of the sofa, ginger jar-ish shape, look like they are made of sand. I just bought new shades for then, empire shaped, white linen-look. At a right angle to the sofa but with a doorway in-between is the side chair where I will be putting one of those glass fillable lamps (shells, etc), tall cylinder shape on a table (table to be purchased; that's a story for another day!!!). Haven't gotten the shade for it yet.
Are there any particular lampshade "rules" I need to follow? Since the bases are different, do I need to keep the shades fairly similar? Same shapes? Same colors? There's not a lot of natural light nor overhead lighting, so I can't get to crazy w/ the lampshades (need all the light I can get from them). But I don;t want to be too matchy-matchy/hotel looking either.
The sofa lamps are late 80's style from when the condo was first built, but I like them, or will once they are painted. I plan on painting the base some kind of beachy color. Gotta get some color in there as everything in the place is beige and off-white except for the oak cabinets! Still trying to decide on a wall color, too.
No pics right now, sorry. Thanks for any help you can give. My main question I guess is, do the lampshades need to match or not?