Everyone loves a beautiful home with lots of natural light… but sometimes light bulbs just have to do! Lightbulbs come in a variety of brightness, types, and colors. Here are some things I thought were most important for choosing lighting. All this information can be found on the packaging

Color Rendering Index (CRI)

First thing to know: the ultimate goal is to mimic the light from the sun! We want as close to a natural color as possible! This comes into play when considering the Color Rendering Index (CRI) of a lightbulb. The coloring is graded on a scale from 0-100. If it is 0—run away and DO NOT try to take any selfies.

*Trick for CRI: the closer it is to 100- the better!!*

So what is the big deal with CRI anyways? The color of your lighting effects the color of everything else you see. A high CRI means the light will appear more natural, and other colors will appear more true to their real color. This is especially important for places like clothing stores or bathrooms. You do not want to see your reflection in a store window and be surprised at the color of your clothes or make up!

Color Temperature

Color temperature is measured in Kelvin (remember when you learned about that in high school science class?). Colors can appear to be more “warm” or reddish, or more “cool” or bluish.

*Trick for choosing lightbulb temperature: people generally look better in warm lighting!*

Warmer colors are LOWER kelvin numbers. A whiter light will be a higher kelvin.

Lumens

Lumens are simply how much light comes out of a lightbulb. This depends on the room or lighting need. Some accents lights you will want to have less light come out so they aren’t a spotlight. Other times, like to light a room in a basement, you will want a lot of light!

Side plug about the LED light trend….

So I think there are some good things to know about LED lights. I think they are pretty cool! First, LED stands for “Light Emitting Diode,” but that isn’t super important. However, LED lights can last around 13 years! That is 13 years you won’t have to worry about buying and replacing your lights. I would say that is a good investment by itself. Another fun thing about LED lights is that they do not attract bugs! Finally!!

But now that we have discussed the type of lighting, note that a lightbulb by itself is not usually a good idea. Exposed light bulbs create glares. That is why we hide the light source with things like lampshades which (spoiler alert!) is the topic of our next post!! So keep following our series… Next up! Types of light fixtures in the home!