SFGate

JWinteriors If you have access to the basement ceiling, you can run a floor outlet in the area(s) needed. You are right about running them under area rugs. An electrician will tell you not to do it.

eztia Home Depot sells conduits for running electrical cords across floors. You might want to check there. Find out if a rug can be laid on top of the conduit.

feeny Floor outlets are great (and crucial) for open floor plans and large rooms.

nononanna Two years ago we built a new house with lots of electric plugs, but my husband wanted only to plug his computer and stuff into the floor. I had purchased a beautiful oriental carpet for his office, and he actually cut a hole in it to accommodate the plugs in the floor. What's more, he lost the piece he cut out of the rug, so that now when I want to use it in another room, I have to make sure there's a chair to cover the hole!

But in general, I think people ignore the warnings of danger and just run the cords under the rug from the table to the wall.

DIAspoton someone recently sent me a utube how-to on converting lamps to cordless. they said it was very easy to do so you mght google it.
modern lantern and neoz have cordless lamps.

nononanna Oh my gosh, that would be so fabulous! I'm going to youtube this instant.

susane3962 Thanks all for your thoughts. I Google-d 'converting corded lamps to cordless' and found the clearest instructions in the eHow site. I'm going to try it!