See the Light: Household Light Bulb Trends

For as long as I can remember, light bulbs have just been another random meaningless piece of adulthood. If a bulb would burn out, I would unscrew the old one and bring it along to pick up another at the store. My focus was always on the size of the connection. Good old-fashioned lamps used normal-sized bulbs. The fancier lights in chandeliers and dining fixtures were one size, bathroom bulbs another and recessed/canned fixtures yet another. Watts? Whatever. I would try to read the writing on the end of old the bulb or check for engravings on the casing. Usually I would purchase 60w since it was kind of the gold standard for light bulbs, but if I wanted more light in a room, I would install a 100w. As for type, I didn’t pay much attention to “Soft White” or whatever the other choices were because, honestly, they all kind of seemed the same.

Then two things happened. First, we added Philips Hue lights to our lives and viola, I saw the light. Not all lights are the same. I started realizing that I didn’t like the yellow tint that the “soft white” lights let out. If I wanted color added to my room, I wanted COLOR! Read how we used Philips Hue bulbs to add color to rooms. Second, my eyes decided they are old. Don’t get me wrong… I’m not old. Nope. But my eyes didn’t get that memo. I’m not kidding when I say I need sunlight to see well – or at a minimum, really bright lights.

I obviously voice my concerns and annoyances loud enough that Scott took action. When we needed to replace some of the recessed lights in the kitchen, he asked if I wanted to try out daylight bulbs and I said, “Sure.” If I didn’t like them, we could put the old working ones back and would purchase more to replace the burned out ones. But something amazing happened… I fell in love with them. As a result, we’ve started replacing all the lights throughout the house with two types of bulbs that I see as current lighting trends. First and foremost: Philips Hue. Creating a connected home is fantastic and light bulbs are part of that equation. When we find opportunities to install Philips Hue lights, we do. Everywhere else, we’ve been adding the daylight bulbs. While we were at it, we gave the girls the option of replacing their light bulbs as well. They don’t even bother to turn their lights on most of the time so I was sure they wouldn’t want to change. To my surprise, they BOTH wanted daylight bulbs in their rooms AND closets THEN mutually agreed they wanted a daylight bulb in the bathroom. We currently have them in bedrooms, closets and hallways.

LED Light Bulbs

If you’re going for basic light bulbs, make sure you purchase LED bulbs. They use less energy than traditional bulbs and last a lot longer. While Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) take a little time to warm up, LED bulbs turn on immediately. The daylight bulbs seem bright at first, but once you’re used to them you’ll realize how dim the soft white lights are.

Connected Light Bulbs

There are a number of smart light bulbs on the market, but we’ve been very happy with Philips Hue. We’re able to turn lights on and off using our Amazon Echo, adjust them while we are away from home, put them on timers or even set special criteria with IFTTT.

We spend a great deal of our time in our homes so we should make it a place that is comfortable from the time we get up until the time we go to bed. Something as simple as a light bulb can make a huge difference – even if we never give thought to it until they burn out. Now that we have lights that make us happy, I appreciate that this random piece of adulthood isn’t as meaningless as I once thought.

What types of light bulbs do you use?