An opal glass wall light is the surest answer to the problem of glare. Its globe, white and dense, spreads the light perfectly evenly, with no hot spot and no visible filament. This collection gathers 31 models, from the classic spherical globe to more architectural compositions.
Opal glass, a diffusion with no fault in it
Opal glass is not an acid-etched glass. Its whiteness comes from the body of the glass itself, obtained by adding opacifiers at the melt, and not from a surface treatment that wears away. The result is a diffusion that stays stable over time: an opal glass wall light lights a room the same way after ten years. For the eye the advantage is immediate, since the source disappears completely behind the globe. That is what makes these models so well suited to rooms where you meet the fitting at eye level, hallways, stairs and bedheads, and to any low mounting height where a bare bulb would quickly become a nuisance.
The forms in our opal glass wall lights
The spherical globe is the commonest form in this selection of opal glass wall lights: timeless, it suits almost any interior and works as well on its own as in a run down a hallway. The double globe models, one up and one down, light the ceiling and the floor at the same time and suit walls of real height. Then come the more worked forms, flattened domes, vertical tubes and recessed half-spheres. Opal glass takes readily to other materials here: brass-finished mounts for a retro turn, bases in real travertine or solid wood to anchor the globe in a natural material.
Where to fit an opal glass wall light
The hallway is the home ground of the opal glass wall light. Space the models about two metres apart and fit them 160 to 180 cm from the floor: the light then spreads without any alternation of shadows. The bedroom comes next, where an opal globe makes an ideal replacement for a bedside lamp, as long as you set it slightly back from the bedhead. In a bathroom, opal glass has a practical advantage: it wipes clean with a cloth and does not hold mist the way textured glass does. Simply check the bathroom zone rating given on the page.
Choosing well among our opal glass wall lights
The diameter of the globe guides the choice. A globe of 10 to 15 cm suits a hallway or a bedhead, 20 to 25 cm a lounge where the fitting has to hold its visual place. The bulb cap then decides the bulb: a G9 capsule for the small globes, an E27 Edison screw (ES) for the more generous ones, an integrated LED if you would rather never think about it again. An opal glass wall light shows the colour of the light right through when lit, so choose a warm source, around 2700 to 3000 K; a cool tint reads wan behind white glass.
Every product page gives the diameter of the globe, the bulb cap, the materials paired with it and the finishes available. For a comparable diffusion in a rarer material, look at our alabaster wall lights as well.
