Light Bulbs — Stop Lighting Aisle Confusion

I love antique lights, and most other old things. As usual, the boyfriend puts a kibosh on anything that I need to spend my time to redo, especially electrical … probably because it would require his assistance. And that my friends, is how you can get your husband to disappear to the shop (and not to fix my funky light I found at the junk store either!).

When we remodeled our current house, I really wanted a big chandelier over our dining room table, and some small ones over our large island. I think that the BF probably had a slight coronary when he saw how many light bulbs that would need to be furnished and replaced on a regular basis. Not to mention, I kept pointing to spots and would say, "Oh, and a can light there, please!". Needless to say, we have quite a few light bulbs.

(Side Note: He HATES that I don't have a vent fan, which, ok -- not the best idea. Watch for a future post on installing one!)

Always looking for a way to save a buck (or two), boyfriend would casually bring home some of the new LED light bulbs and try to sneak them in. This meant he would replace my current bulbs in random lamps, ceilings lights, bathrooms, etc., with these new ones. I don't know about you, but I love that soft glow that comes from incandescent lights. If I wanted the house to look like an office with fluorescent fixtures, I would have chosen those in the first place. (So THERE BF!)

I allowed this sneaking to happen and didn't really comment much. Then he did this.

Be honest, if I invited you to dinner you would probably leave wondering what the heck sort of crazy juice we were on. I know! After my verbal disapproval, boyfriend assured me these LED lights would last longer and were more energy efficient (when he was actually thinking MONEY SAVING!).

After he realized that there was no way I would let this most recent LED covert operation happen, he informed me that there was another option. The first trial purchase was the "Daylight LED Bulb" that was in the blue spectrum. This version almost blinded us at dinner time and the kids certainly voiced their grumpies.

He explained that the "Soft Light LED Bulb" would be closer to the traditional look of the incandescent bulbs I loved.

Finally, he was right … just don't tell him I put that in writing! I was never a girl who thought I would be happy having a house full of LED light bulbs, but my problem was that I didn't know about the different temperatures of Kelvin that cause the bulbs to appear different colors. (Well, technically I learned all of that during college in my graphic design classes, but I needed a refresher.)

The morale of the story is to not be intimidated by the lighting aisle at your local hardware store. Here is a great place to learn about light bulbs (insert gov web link) before you go since there are so many options.

Take a few notes before:

• Base - know your base size (medium, candelabra, etc.).
• Watt - the maximum wattage can usually be found on a sticker on the bulb socket. You may choose if you would like less than the max, but it's not recommended to go over what's listed.
• Dimmable (3-way or other specialties) - do you need dimmable or another option? (If you aren't sure about dimmers, we can talk about that in another post because I LOVE them!)
• Color - check for your favorite color (Soft White, Bright White, Daylight. Lower Kelvin numbers mean the light appears more yellow; higher Kelvin numbers mean the light is whiter or bluer.)
• Shape & Size - The letter indicates the shape of the bulb and the number relates to the diameter of the bulb in eighths of an inch. Here is a chart! (Link)

I hope this helps you navigate the next lighting aisle that you visit. Be bold, try something new! Who knows, you may just like it!

Thanks for reading. — Cassie