Choosing the right light bulbs for your home can be the difference between having a dark and dreary home, verses a bright and vibrant home. Most homeowners do not give much thought to finding the lighting in their home but selecting the correct light bulbs can enhance the atmosphere, save money on your electric bill, and even help with productivity in your home. Knowing how to choose the correct lighting for your home, can be difficult if you are not familiar with the different options that are available for you.
Light Bulb Recommendations For The Different Areas of Your Home
Choosing the best light bulbs requires a room by room evaluation of your home. What works for one room may not be optimal for another room in your home. Using LED bulbs in places where lights are utilized for long periods of time, can help save energy and reduce your light bill. Here is a quick guide you can use to help choose the best lights for the different areas of your home.
Kitchen
For your Kitchen, you are going to want to choose a brighter bulb, one that has (5,000 to 10,000 lumens total. This will help achieve maximum performance, for food preparation. Another suggestion would be to install recessed fixtures with LED’s are a good choice, and under-cabinet lights with LEDs this will help you achieve maximum lighting in your kitchen.
Bathrooms
When choosing the correct bulbs for your bathroom, it is best to choose moderate or bright lighting. You will want to avoid lights with CFLs in the bathroom because bathroom lights are frequently turned on and off, this causes lights with CFLs to burn out quicker than other bulbs. Lights that double as heat lamps are great choices and help reduce post-shower shivers.
Bedrooms
For your bedroom, picking a bulb that has low to moderate lighting levels are a great choice. Avoiding bulbs with cool tones will help make falling asleep easier for you.
Home Office
In a home office, it is best to install lights with low to moderate lighting levels, with targeted lighting that will enhance your workspace. Cooler toned lighting with a color temperature of 4000k or higher will help you stay focused and motivated when you are trying to complete tasks.
Living Rooms/ Dining Rooms
When choosing a light bulb for your living/dining room areas, low to moderate lighting levels work great! The optimal bulb would have a color temperature around 2,000k to 3,000K for a warm, and soft feeling. For a more elegant look, you can install a chandelier in the room to add a dynamic lighting effect above your dining room table.
Types of Light Bulbs
There are 3 types of lightbulbs on the market today that you should be aware of: LEDs, Compact Florescent bulbs, and Halogen incandescent bulbs. The light quality among all 3 of these bulbs is comparable, while the energy effect performance differs from bulb to bulb.
1.) LED Bulb
The Led Bulb or (Light Emitting Diode) are the newest version of light bulbs to hit the home improvement market. Although they can sometimes be expensive, they are the most energy-efficient option out there right now. An LED bulb emits little to no heat, while only utilizing 6 to 8 watts of energy to produce the same brightness as your traditional 60-watt bulb that you use in almost every area of your home. The benefits of an LED light are not only the appeal of a cost-efficient lighting solution, but they also last 6X longer than the average light bulb, and 30 times longer than an incandescent bulb. While incandescent bulbs and CFLs emit light in all directions, while LED lights are directional.
2.) Incandescent Bulbs
I have been around for quite some time and were the go-to light bulb for the majority of the 20th century. Today, you can buy Incandescent bulbs in a variety of colors and shapes, that will match the mood for any room of your home. Although these bulbs are not energy efficient, less than 10 percent of the energy they consume is able to be converted over to actual visible light. The benefit of these bulbs is they less expensive than other light bulb options. You just must be careful when handling these bulbs, since they emit heat, they can feel hot to the touch.
3.) Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
(CFLs) operate like the tube lights you are familiar with seeing in offices, classrooms, and stores. The only difference between the tube light and the traditional lightbulb is they are designed to have the coils compacted to work in your traditional lighting unit. Energy Star rated Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs use one-third of the energy of a halogen incandescent bulb, while still providing the same level of light, and their lifespan last 8 to 10 times longer overall. Since these bulbs produce heat, if you would like to maintain their lifespan it is not recommended that you use them in glass or globe fixtures due to them having limited ventilation. Their lifespan is also reduced when they are frequently turned off and on, and you will start to notice a lag in their performance or flickering.
Although these bulbs have a reputation for producing harsh light, there are newer versions of these bulbs available in cooler colors that fix that issue. A word of caution, if you decide to use these bulbs, they are sometimes not compatible with traditional dimmer switches, so you will want to check the compatibility before you install them in your lighting fixtures.
Finding the best lighting solution for your home can sometimes be a tough job. Let the experts at Downtown Electric and Lighting help guide you to a better lighting system without the hassle. Call us today, at (719)-428-8245 to schedule your appointment to update your lighting system.
