We recently switched to compact fluorescent light bulbs in all of our lights. One lamp in the living room had a navy blue shade and with the new bulb it didn’t let out a lot of light. In fact, my daughter turned it on one evening and burst out laughing because it didn’t help her see what she was trying to read.

I thought of buying a new lamp or lamp shade when I remembered I had a lamp of the same size in the TV room downstairs. The floor lamp in the TV room has a black shade on it so there is no glare on the TV. This smaller lamp with the navy shade would also stop the glare.

So I switched them.

I could not believe the difference. The navy lamp with the silver base shows up nicely against the paneled walls in the TV room. It was lost against the gray walls in the living room.

The black iron lamp with the white lampshade looks great against the gray walls. It was lost against the paneling. I now have a bright lamp to read by in the living room.

Total cost – $0.00!

It looks like I bought new lamps for both rooms, when all I did was switch them.

The next time you need something different, look around. You might just need to do a switcheroo!