Making Your Home's Interior Merry & Bright

When it’s cold outside we tend to spend more time inside. This makes winter a good time to tackle indoor home improvements. Upgrading interior lighting is one of the most immediately impactful and least disruptive projects to undertake. Especially, during the holidays as we ‘deck the halls’ and ‘trim the tree’ with colorful and festive lights.

Updating indoor light fixtures and replacing light bulbs can dramatically change the appearance and mood of a room. In addition to choosing the light bulb shape and base type that fit your fixtures, consider other features as well.

Energy Efficiency – According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 90% of the energy used by incandescent light bulbs is wasted as heat. Newer light bulb types use less electricity, measured in watts (W), to produce the same amount of light. Energy-efficient options include halogen incandescent, CFL (compact fluorescent light), and LED (light emitting diode) bulbs. LEDs are the most efficient, versatile, and generally longest-lasting bulb type. A 10W LED can replace a 60W incandescent bulb without sacrificing light output. Both emit about 800 lumens.

Brightness – Light output is measured in lumens. Light requirements vary by room type, size, and use. In a living room or bedroom, 10-20 lumens per square foot is common whereas 70-80 are desirable for a bathroom or kitchen. Calculate the lumens needed by multiplying the number of lumens desired by the room’s square footage.

Color Temperature – CCT (correlated color temperature) is measured in kelvin (K). Low temperatures (2000-3000K) appear “warm” and yellow-orange. Higher temperatures (3100K-4500K) appear “cool” and more white. Warm light helps set a relaxing ambiance while neutral and cooler temperatures are better for workspaces.

Color Rendering – CRI (color rendering index) measures how faithfully an artificial light source reveals the colors of objects as compared to natural light. Rated on a scale of 0-100, a CRI under 80 is considered poor and makes colors, like black and dark blue, harder to distinguish from one another.

Be sure to check the compatibility of new light bulbs with existing light fixtures and switches, especially with regard to dimmers.