If there were one purchase that changed a room more than any other for the money, it would be a single good lamp. Not a set, not a scheme, one lamp in the right place with the right bulb in it.
What a good lamp is
It has weight, so it does not move when the flex is pulled. The shade is opaque at the top and sides and open below, so the light goes down onto a surface rather than into the room. The base is a material that takes age, which usually means brass, ceramic or timber.
Almost every cheap lamp fails on the shade. A pale translucent shade glows and becomes the brightest object in the room, which is exactly backwards.
Where it goes
Not in the middle of a console table facing the room. In a corner, or on a surface next to where somebody sits, at roughly shoulder height when seated.
A lamp in a corner lights two walls by reflection and produces the soft indirect light that photographers spend a great deal of effort manufacturing.
The bulb matters more than the lamp
Around 2700 kelvin, dimmable, and with a high colour rendering index if the packaging tells you. Low colour rendering is why some rooms make everything look slightly grey, and it is the most common unexamined fault in modern interiors.
Buy several of the same bulb at once and use them throughout, because matching temperature across a room matters more than the individual quality of any fitting.
Then turn the big light off
The point of the one good lamp is that it makes the ceiling fitting unnecessary in the evening. A room lit from one warm source at low level has depth, shadow and a sense of enclosure that no amount of even illumination produces.
One lamp is enough to prove it. Most people then buy a second within a month. For the grander end of antique lighting, see antique chandeliers.
