So often, lighting bulbs are what we often ignore. I am wondering if this is mainly because the lighting fixtures always come without bulbs. What really frustrates me sometime is that vendors couldn’t provide a complete specs sheet specially for LED bulbs. Meanwhile, consumers don’t really think that these light bulbs are that important. But in reality, they are. Just think about it, by just flipping a switch, your mood changes immediately. Also, with LED starting to dominate the market , it is a little bit complicated to choose right LED bulbs than the traditional lighting bulbs in terms of color temperatures, dimmability and compatible dimmer options. Today, I am going to share 5 tips to choose right light bulbs.
1. Focus on fixtures and function
Number 1 rule is to always make sure the shape and base of the bulb fits into your fixtures. Also understand the purpose of lights: general /ambient lighting, task lighting, accent lighting, entertains lighting …etc.
2. Understand two terminologies: watts and lumens
Every package has codes on it for the amount of lumens and watts the bulb emits. Lumens are the amount of light emitted from a bulb. The more lumens, the brighter the light. Watts are the amount of energy a bulb uses. In general, the lower the watts, the less energy used.
3. Invest in LEDs
Although I mentioned at the very beginning that choosing right LED bulbs can be little bit complicated than traditional lighting bulbs but LEDS are 70 to 90 percent more efficient than traditional light bulb technologies and last more than a decade. It can be a few dollars a piece, and you can end up saving $80 or more over the life of each bulb in energy costs versus a comparable incandescent. As designer, what important to me is the great design flexibility provided by LED lighting such as indirect lighting, sculpture lighting , back-lit etc.
4. A simple guide to specify a good LED lighting for residential application
a. Soft white—(2,700k -3,000k)
b. CRI > 90. As a rule, a CRI of 90 or more is considered high and anything below 80 is considered mid-range to low. You can click here to read more
c. Dimmer-ability without flick.
5. Think smart lighting. If you have different layers of lighting and more than 5 lighting fixtures in your home, wouldn’t be nice you can just turn on lights without extra hardwares with an ease. Smart lighting bulbs have a sensor on them and usually require a hub setup. I will talk about this more in a separate blog.
If you are like me and have some hard time to find good chanderlier bulbs, here are my recommendations:
In case you want to get to know a little bit about smart lighting system, here is Lutron’s Caseta bridge system.
Here are some led chandeliers you may be interested in:
Have a Wonderful Tuesday
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