9.26.2012

{renovate} a lesson in kitchen lighting

I had an interesting lesson in lighting this weekend that I thought I'd share with you all. We had our electrician wire recessed lighting in the kitchen and needed to actually install the cans and lights. Have you guys ever tried to pick out lighting at HD or Lowe's? It gave me such a headache! The display has about 50 lights, all turned on and you're supposed to pick your favorite. I couldn't tell the difference and they hurt to look at after awhile! So, we brought a couple different options home to play try.


The top one is 85 watt soft light. The bottom is 65 watt day light. I was completely shocked at the difference between the two.

The Phillips -soft light - actually turned the walls GREEN. Ew.

The Ecosmart - daylight- kept the walls the greige they're supposed to be (they look a little on the pink side in this photo, but that wasn't the case in real life).

I know you're supposed test paint under different lights for this reason, but I didn't think about it reversed. We needed to test light for the paint we chose! :) We talked to our electrician and he actually recommended the day light as a more true-to-light option in rooms. So, your quick tip of the day is that the type of light bulb plays a huge difference in the colors of your home. If you have a color that is off a little, try a different bulb. It might actually make a huge difference! 

For more information about our kitchen lights, here's the post about our lighting plan.

9 comments:

  1. We are slowly moving all our lights over to the GE Reveal light bulbs. The light it produces is so natural, and looks great in the house. But they are expensive - 10 bucks apiece for a regular light bulb!

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  2. It's incredible what a difference a bulb can make! I've always been picky about light bulbs, and am actually studying it in my design class now. Fun fact of the day: the technical term for what we call a bulb is actually "lamp." :)

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  3. I love daylight bulbs. They're especially helpful when taking indoor photos at night.

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  4. There are way too many options for light bulbs and I despise going to pick them up at either of those places because they all look the same. The daylight does look much more true to life and calming.

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  5. great tip!! we had our bathroom painted this amazing yellow that looked terrible under our many lights.. lesson learned

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    lesleykim.blogspot.com

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  6. Weird!! Would never have thought of that, thanks for the tip, Jenn!

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  7. i've been so annoyed that my lovely grey walls look green at night with the lights on... methinks this might be the issue. thanks for the tip!

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  8. What a great tip! In person our living room and dining room is a great smoky, moody blue but with the lights on it photographs almost a royal blue and I hate how it sometimes looks in pictures. Methinks it might be our lights to blame.

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  9. I've been trying to solve a lighting mystery in my new apartment for a while now. If I ever actually figure it out, I will be doing a victory lap on my blog.

    In the meantime, the house is way too dark.

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