• Lampshades have thousands of styles.Simple Lamp with cloth lampshade in bedroom image by nextrecord from Fotolia.com
  
  Interior design has become a multi-million dollar industry over the years with everything from flooring to radiators getting a makeover into a modern style. Lampshades are no different and a wide range of lampshades is now available to create the perfect mood in any room in your house.
  
  

Conical

• The conical shape is a classic style of lampshade that forms a cone over the bulb, offering light to both below and above the lamp. It has become a popular style for bedside lamps and coffee tables as it gives light for reading as well as softly illuminating the room. Conical shades are by no means universally circular. Designed have developed other shapes such as squares, pyramids and octagons.
  
  

Uplights

• Uplighting has become very popular over the years. Lighting engineers used uplighting to illuminate historic buildings at night when downlighting was not practical. Uplights illuminate the ceiling of a room so the floor is not bathed in too bright a light. In wide use as ceiling lights, they are not good for reading as they will not directly illuminate the page and have a tendency to collect dust in the bowl of the shade, meaning they need to be taken down entirely to be cleaned properly.
  
  

Glass Shades

• The 19th century trend in glass lampshades reached its most famous expression with Tiffany lampshades, now seen in trendy diners across the world. Glass and stained glass shades come in many different designs but the most interesting feature is the mixture of colored lights they cast in a room. As the shades are made from various cuts and colors of glass the effect they have on a room is very different to standard lampshades. The different angles create non-uniform illumination, while the different colors add a different element to the concept of lighting.
  
  

Cylinders and Cubes

• Many manufacturers now make cylindrical and cubic shades to counter the traditional conical lampshade's design drawbacks -- a lot of light below the bulb and much less above it. Cylinders and cubes have no bevel on them and offer identical amounts of light above and below the bulb.
  
  

Materials

• Traditionally cloth or paper went into making lampshades but the modern lampshade comes in practically anything. Glass became more popular in the 1950s and was still used early in the 21st century, although in a more artistic sense. At that time grill styles in metal were also popular as they offered a design onto the wall they are nearest to. Various plastics became popular as they reflected the light better and, unlike paper or cloth, would not catch fire. The energy-saving bulbs of the early 21st century made fire less of an issue. Paper's continued wide use was for oriental-style shades which had come into fashion.