I use uplights on my mantel. It is 6' tall and pretty long, so to avoid the "lightbulb" sighting, the glass shades face up. We are pretty traditional so they work perfectly!

Blessings,

J

I am so envious of those of you who can use lamps/lighting on your mantels! Do you have hardwiring for them built-in or a close enough place to plug them in? My walls are all very thick, solid adobe and so I'm stuck with just using candles (or an oil lamp). If only I would have planned for hardwiring when this place was being built!

Lynn, it didn't even cross my mind to have an outlet put in above the mantel, which can't be seen because it's going sideways. It was only after they finished I noticed it. I was so happy!

We have a ceiling light aiming at the mantel which looks nice, but I'd rather do a lamp or two.

I don't have a picture of it, but our mantle holds a 'craft' my mother in law made. It's a blue wine bottle with a string of little Christmas lights stuffed into it, with a grape cluster (purple disks and artificial leaf) hot-glued to it. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it's colorful, kind of cute, and reminds us of happy times. The man who built this house in 1940 included two outlets set into the top of the mantle itself -- for a pair of lamps? a clock? holiday lights? I wonder what.

In winter, I like plain white artificial candles for a touch of friendly light.

mine are small blue ralph lauren lamps from homegoods. I know tvs above a fireplace is frowned upon here but there is very little wall area in my house built prior to tv's invention.

Thanks for the pictures. I'm thinking of looking at lamps on Ebay, I'd love a lamp with a figurine as the base.

I have two sconces hardwired. I had an electrician do the wiring. Worth every penny because I have tipped over lamps placed on mantels a number of times. I have sconces that are uplighting, in a half-bowl shape, and they are made from white alabaster (real, not the fake alabaster) which has a beautiful translucence.