I&#;ve shared a lot of lighting posts over the years&#; in fact, I&#;ve actually covered this topic before, but thought it was time for an updated post, based on the amount of questions I receive on this topic. Good designers are experts in lighting- they know how to layer fixtures, they know how to adequately light a space based on its function, and most importantly- they know what lighting temperatures look best in a room. I&#;ve said it before and I&#;ll say it again- our home feels most magical and cozy during the evening hours, and I credit that solely to lighting. You can have a beautifully designed home filled with gorgeous light fixtures, and the color of a simple light bulb can really damper the overall look and feel. In today&#;s Designer Trick post, I wanted to chat about light temperature&#; how to choose the best temp for your room, expand on the color scale, and share my personal preferences when light bulb shopping. Click through to check it out!
As I previously mentioned, there are two main terms you need to know when choosing a bulb: Kelvin and Lumens.
Easy to understand, right? My personal preference in terms of temperature (or Kelvin) is K. Sometimes I&#;ll even go as low as K. I prefer a warm, cozy light&#; I also think it makes my interior look its best. It&#;s easy on the eyes, never looks clinical, and absorbs nicely.
I do think that your Kelvin preference is dependent on your home and aesthetic. I never use lights during the daytime. Our house gets great natural light and they&#;re really not needed&#; not even in my office or the kitchen (unless the weather is bad). Since I only use lights during the even hours or during stormy weather, the warm light feels like a perfect fit for our home. I even prefer warmer bulbs for our exterior lights (porch lights, holiday lights, etc). I just think they&#;re more inviting! If your house is naturally dark and doesn&#;t boast much natural light, you may want to consider bumping your temperature to Kelvin for a more even hue&#; remember, the higher the Kelvin (K), the cooler the temperature. My K preference looks warmer than a K bulb, which would read a bit cooler. Make sense? When you get into the &#; K, I personally feel like rooms begin to take on a clinical or sterile feel, which isn&#;t my favorite. Again, that&#;s just my personal preference!
Brightness (or Lumens) totally depends on the function and the fixture. Are you using a light to cook? Is it the only fixture in the room? How many bulbs does the fixture contain? Is the bulb exposed or concealed? If the fixture has a shade, does it have a diffuser? Is it on a dimmer? All of these things play into the Lumens (or brightness) you&#;ll want to choose.
I do have a few lighting tips that should help with your lighting decisions&#;
Lastly, let&#;s talk about bulb design and shape. This is a big one for me! I feel like as LED bulbs took over the market (for good reason based on their efficiency), some fast, bad design crept into retail stores. Don&#;t worry- there are plenty of good bulb styles to choose from, but I also intentionally avoid shapes like spiraled bulbs and odd flattened, flood shapes. Why? Unless your bulb is totally concealed in your fixture and you&#;ll never see it, I want the bulb to look aesthetically pleasing. If I&#;m lounging in bed and look up at my sconce or lamp, those little details make me crazy. For fixtures with exposed bulbs, clear globes, or open shades, make sure you choose a bulb shape that looks cohesive with the light fixture itself. I stick to basic white or clear bulbs, standard shapes, round shapes, and vintage shapes (like edison style bulbs). This has nothing to do with performance, brightness, or bulb temperature&#; it&#;s purely an aesthetic decision.
For more posts & resources on lighting, check out some of these below&#;
Additionally, you can find the entire Designer Trick series here. I&#;ve been sharing my industry tips & tricks for almost two years now! I hope these posts are helpful.
Hit me with your lighting or bulb questions in the comment section below! I&#;m happy to help. While it can seem daunting, bulb temperature and brightness is really pretty easy! I think it just requires practical thinking. I hope this updated bulb post makes things a bit easier for you the next time you&#;re bulb shopping! As always, let me know if you have other design questions or topics you&#;d like me to elaborate on in future blog posts. I feel the best posts are always the reader requests. I&#;ll drop a bunch of warm bulbs below (in my preference of K- also called &#;soft white&#;), if you prefer to buy bulbs online&#;
Turn on your JavaScript to view contentEver get hung up in the lighting aisle silently debating warm vs. cool light bulbs? What does light bulb temperature even mean? Aren&#;t newer LED bulbs supposed to stay cooler than the old incandescents? And what about light bulb color? Does that only apply to novelty and holiday lights?
The pros at TCP Lighting just happen to be obsessed with lighting color temperature, and we&#;re delighted to share what we know.
Read on for an explanation of light color temperatures and the scale used to measure them, plus our tips on choosing the best lighting color for every room of your home.
Goto Yunsheng to know more.
We&#;re going to talk a lot about warm vs. cool light bulbs, but we&#;re not talking about heat output. We&#;re not really talking about light bulb color, either. The best lighting color guide to imagine is the color wheel from art class. Remember learning about primary and secondary colors? That&#;s also where you may have learned that blue, green and gray are considered &#;cool&#; colors whereas red, yellow and orange are referred to as &#;warm&#; colors. In terms of home lighting, color temperature echoes that pattern.
So, what is lighting color temperature? It&#;s a measure of how white a lamp&#;s light is, expressed in units of measure called kelvins that are abbreviated by the upper-case letter k following a four-digit number. Higher numbers denote whiter, cooler light, and lower numbers signify warmer light with a yellowish cast.
We&#;ve all experienced how light affects paint color differently in the store than it does in our homes. It may feel like a bait and switch, but really it&#;s just the perception of paint changing color with the temperature difference of, say, Kelvins in a retail shop and Kelvins in your living room.
The upside here is that you can take control of your home&#;s entire ambiance by paying attention to how warm vs. cool light bulbs create different moods and atmospheres. Keep this mini light bulb temperature guide in mind as you relearn how to read a light bulb box when choosing LEDs for your home:
A light bulb in the K to K range will yield a soft, warm light with hints of yellow. This kind of bulb creates a cozy, homey feel that&#;s often the best color lighting for entertaining and relaxing.
Between K and K, light bulb color becomes cooler and brighter, facilitating tasks like reading or food prep. This lighting can lend a more energetic vibe to a room with a clean sense of clarity, thanks to the absence of both yellow and blue tones.
When the kelvins climb above , they denote very bright light that may begin to take on a bluish hue. Daylight clocks in at around K, so anything beyond that is generally reserved for specialty work.
Light up your home with the warm or cool light that suits every moment, from family meals to vibrant celebrations to productive WFH days to quiet nights in &#; and everything in between. Our lamp temperature guide shows you how to choose the right lights:
You need a flexible combination of lighting for bathrooms. Both the guest and master bath require bright, clear task lighting for grooming and a softer, warmer light source for relaxation. Dimmable LED lights are great solutions for this conundrum, allowing a range of brightness levels. Choose kelvins in the - range for a vibrant light bulb color on the brightest setting.
The most popular room in most homes is also one of the most difficult to light, as it hosts activities from cooking and baking to homework to game nights to romantic midnight snacks. Employ the layered lighting principle for the most flexibility. That means starting with an ambient light source from the ceiling, like sleek and sophisticated LED downlights in the neutral kelvin range of to . They&#;re dimmable, so you can have a vibrant look during the day and a softer glow in the evening. Then add focused task lighting, like chandeliers or pendants, over the island or other workstations with neutral color light bulbs. Finally, install under-cabinet lighting to avoid deep shadows and elevate your countertops. These, too, are available with dimming options that allow for a glowing nightlight effect overnight.
Your living room, den, family room and other shared living spaces are where all the good stuff happens &#; movie marathons, family celebrations, friendly get-togethers, even date nights. Opt for a light bulb temperature in the K to K range to achieve a warm and welcoming vibe. These are great settings for showcasing your personality with quirky light choices, like LED bulbs in a retro-inspired fixture. Their filament construction looks old-school, but these LED beauties put out a warm glow without getting hot or burning up your utility bills.
Did we say the best lighting for a home office? Sorry, we meant the best lighting for your playroom-slash-home-office. When the kids no longer need a room for afterschool play but you need a space for working remotely &#; or one room doubles as both on different days &#; your lighting choices get a bit trickier. Start with the commonalities between the two purposes: you both need a bright, neutral light bulb temperature and a combination of ambient and task lighting. Go for a nice mix of ceiling fixtures, floor lamps and tabletop lights to complement the natural light from windows. The best color light bulb in this situation falls in the - K range with a clear, white cast that can help increase productivity.
For over 30 years, TCP Lighting has been committed to helping you save money with energy-efficient lighting while delivering brilliant illumination for any setting. Now that you see how home lighting color temperature impacts every room&#;s look and feel, you&#;re ready to find TCP bulbs at your favorite retailer and start leveling up the light color of your home.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Day Lighting Sheet.