This Thing Rules
I'm obsessed with this viral TikTok mushroom lamp
Its soft glowing light is as comforting as it is welcoming.
With all the time we’ve been spending at home, it’s likely you’ve indulged in some sort of home improvement. Some of us kept it practical, leaning towards home office spaces or three-month-long DIY projects. Others, like me, collect unnecessary decor — my poison of choice is vintage planters.
Before the pandemic began, I often coveted jewelry and clothing, but never really eyed any furnishings (mainly because my apartment was tiny). But now, with my room serving as an office, bedroom, club, and replacement for pretty much every social setting ever, I needed to make it a space I could enjoy.
A TikTok scroll about a month ago pointed me in the direction of the perfect accent. Unfortunately, that direction was Ikea, and living in the suburbs, getting to Ikea is — excuse me — a bitch and a half. As fate would have it, however, I had a doctor’s appointment later that week, located in the same town as the closest Ikea. It was meant to be.
As a lover of funky and retro design, this mushroom-shaped Ikea lamp filled me with joy. So much so, that I bought both the bigger $8 size and its smaller $6 companion. The battery-operated LED lights, both formally labeled as HÖSTFEST, now decorate my shelves and provide ambient lighting amid the horror of daylight savings.
The plastic lights, each taking three AAA batteries, can be placed anywhere thanks to their lack of wires. They can also turn on and off manually or automatically. With a built-in 24-hour timer, the lamp will remain on for six hours after you flip its switch, then automatically turn off until the same time rolls around again tomorrow. While I shift the time I have my lamps turn on, I mostly have them light up around 5 pm, when the sun begins to set — then I bask in the soothing light of the mushroom lamps.
But like most products featured in TikTok videos, the HÖSTFEST lamp sold out pretty quickly, and both the bigger size and its smaller counterpart were removed from the Ikea U.S. website. As of now, the wider lamp is still available internationally for € 12.95, and strangely enough, the petite version is on Walmart’s website for the increased price of $23.99.
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Although I paid the initial, cheaper price for my mushroom lamps, I would still purchase again at a higher rate. They’ve brought me so much light — literally and figuratively — during the dark pandemic, and enjoying the lamps’ luminescence is priceless. I mean, it’s a mushroom and a lamp. What more could you want? (Editor's note: Rechargeable batteries would be nice!)
