A growing number of us started working from home last year so we can safely say that the home office became the part of the house where we spend most of our time every day.

For some of us, a home office means a dedicated room, while for others, means a built-in study nook. Regardless of what size it is or where you carved it out in your home, lighting is one of the crucial aspects you should pay particular attention to ensure yourself a healthy and comfortable spot to work for many hours in a row.

Natural light is irreplaceable for our well-being, I couldn’t stress this enough, but it changes continuously during the day. It goes from colder light in the morning to warmer light as evening approaches and you need to compensate for these differences with artificial light.

How to light a home office?

When planning the lighting scheme for your home office, you have to give priority to light fixtures that are kind to the eyes and avoid glares as much as possible. Eyestrain can cause fatigue and headaches and that is not good for your health nor your productivity.

My advice is to have at least two lighting spots that assure ambient lighting (for the whole space) and task lighting (a well-defined light source that is specific for your activities).

Today we focus on task lighting and particularly on the best lamps for your desk.

There are many options available on the market and the research for the perfect lamp can be daunting. Let me help you with this: I’m sure you’ll find an appropriate desk lamp among the ones I selected here.

Desk lamps with flexible arm

When it comes to desk lamps I have no doubts: the best are the ones with flexible arms and/or turnable heads because they allow you to adjust the angle of the light beam.

The ideal lamp should be the perfect blend of form and function (with function coming first especially in this specific case).

The desk lamps I’ve rounded up for you are timeless designs that will easily match the style of any home office. Many of them are dimmable: this is a feature I really like because it allows for extra adjustment of the light during the day.

TIP: whether you choose one of the lamps below or not, remember to always check on watts (power) and kelvins (a measure of the color temperature). A desk lamp that supports bulbs of 7 to 9 watts of power and 2700 kelvins works just fine.

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Clockwise from top: Bestlite BL1 (Gubi) // Tolomeo micro (Artemide) // Tip table lamp (muuto) // Cobra table lamp (Gubi) // Marselis desk lamp (HAY) // Leaf table lamp (muuto) // Radon table lamp (Fritz Hansen) // Type 75 desk lamp (Anglepoise) // Fifty-Fifty mini desk lamp (HAY) // AQ01 table lamp (Fritz Hansen)

Photo credits: courtesy of the companies featured

If you are planning on designing your own office space from scratch, read my tips on how to create your ideal home office.