Home lighting simplified: shop for light bulbs like a pro

Are you feeling confused whenever you need to buy a replacement light bulb? Are you staring at shelves filled with various options, unsure what to choose? You’re not alone! Understanding how to shop for light bulbs can be overwhelming, especially with the transition from traditional incandescent bulbs to modern LED and CFL options.

When it comes to home improvement, lighting plays a crucial role in setting the mood, enhancing decor, and ensuring functionality. However, with an overwhelming array of light bulbs available at your local home improvement store, choosing the right one can feel like navigating a labyrinth. Fear not! In this post, you will learn everything you need.

When shopping for light bulbs, first you need to understand and keep in mind these two measurements: Kelvins and Lumens.

Next, you will need to understand how Lumens compares to Watts.

Lumens vs Watts

Let’s begin with Lumen and how they compare to Watts.

Before LED lights were invented, you could tell both the energy used and the light output of the light bulb, by looking at watts measure.

The light bulbs usually came in 40, 60,75, and 100 watts. At that time, the more energy the light bulb used, the more light output it provided. However, after LED lights were introduced to the market, watts became irrelevant as a measure of light output.

So now, when you need to know the brightness of the light bulb, look for the lumens number: the higher the lumens the higher the light output.

Look at Lumens number to tell how bright the lightbulb will be.

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Therefore, if you are used to thinking of watts as both the measurement of the energy used and the light output measure, seeing an 8-watt light bulb is confusing because it doesn’t tell you anything about the brightness of the light bulb.

If you are old enough to remember looking at Watts to guide your light bulb selections, then this chart will help you understand how lumens correlate to the traditional watts measurement.

However, if you are not familiar with watts, this chart won’t tell you much.

In that case, what do you need to know regarding lumens when you are shopping for home lighting? Do not go too bright, stay in the range of 700 to 1100 lumens and your eyes will thank you.

Kelvins

When you hear “Kelvins” think of the color tones of the emitted light or simply put color temperature.

When you hear Kelvins, think light temperature

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I recommend that your lights are between 2700 and 4000 Kelvins. In that range, the light will be soft white to daylight white and won’t have the yellow or bluish tint.

The mistake that I see my clients often make is that they go past 4000 Kelvins and their light feels too crisp and creates that “operating room” feeling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Hope this post helped you find the lightbulb you were looking for. If we can help you with your other design needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.