Antler lamps are wonderful for enhancing western home decor. So much more than average home lighting, antler lamps bring character to your room. If you own a rustic cabin or southwestern home, the elegant character of antlers with their unusual shapes and variations in natural color will give your area the distinctive rustic design you love.

Rustic home owners as well as those constructing more sophisticated houses have chosen antler lamps for many years as the must have rustic lighting to complete their ranch style home style. Because of the natural curves of antler lamps and chandeliers there is a natural beauty inherent within the antlers that wonderfully compliments any variety of southwestern furniture. There is something distinctive about antler lamps that pulls every element together and creates a sophisticated rustic look within the area. Antler lamps have something special about them that definitely creates rustic beauty in any environment.

Antler lamps also accompany many other western accessories in home decor. In the Northwest or "north woods" antlers may be attached to snow shoes and adorned with rawhide lamp shades to create beautiful wall sconces. The light wood and rawhide lacing of the shoe, in combination with the leather binding and warm glow of the rawhide shade, make it a beautiful combination. Weather you decide to adorn your antler lamp with rustic light rawhide shades or country style dark rawhide lampshades, the decision is yours and the outcome will be amazing.

Smaller antler chandeliers are sometimes made from whitetail deer antlers while larger chandeliers sometimes have several tiers of huge elk antlers. Weather your area is large or small an antler chandelier will bring the old west home.

In a small town in Wyoming, the town square is adorned with arches created from Elk antlers. It is truly one of a kind and you can design the same look with antler lamps. Small lamps are fashioned from whitetail deer antlers while larger light fixtures such as chandeliers may have tiers of elk antlers with rawhide lampshades. One of the most popular lamps is created with moose antlers, unmistakable with their great dark palms and dark rawhide lamp shades.

Every year, clubs and organizations such as the Boy Scouts will go looking for the prized sheds. If you ever find antler sheds outdoors, it is an amazing experience. Antler lamps bring that same look in your home and can change your home's ambiance in a unique way.

Antlers are acquired in different qualities that are graded like rare coins. The highest quality is given an "A" grade. The grading criteria, indirectly, has to do with the how much time the sheds lie on the ground before they are found. The more time they are left in the wild, the more they lose their quality. Newer antler sheds will be dark brown in color. Sheds that are not found soon will begin to wash out in the sun until they become a chalky white. Another reason they loose their quality is because of chew marks from small animals and stains from wet ground or moss.

There are also different forms of making the antler lamps themselves. Some lamp makers use glue to hold the antlers together. Others may join them together with rawhide string for a western look. And some of the most appealing antler lamps may use a combination of glue, screws and lacing, with the holes closed up for a natural look. Quality lamps will almost always feature rawhide lamp shades.

Each antler is somewhat varied than any other, so each antler lamp is especially unique and is great for rustic lighting. Try antler lamps with rawhide lamp shades in your home to create true rustic charm and to give it that warm, inviting look and feel that everybody loves.