Ahead of the launch of my second book, Bright Ideas for Lighting Your Home, I wanted to share a little sneak peek of what you can expect to learn about lighting for your home.
While the design of your light fitting impacts hugely on the look of your space, the type of globe itself can have a massive effect on the colour of your room. In this chapter, we look at the types of globes and their colour skew.
Incandescent light globes work by heating a filament to a certain point that it begins to glow and create light. They were historically the most commonly used globes in homes around the world, however because they generate light by generating heat, they’re extremely inefficient and create a light with a yellow tinge.
Halogen light bulbs create light by using electricity to ignite the halogen gas that effectively creates the light. They’re more energy efficient than ordinary incandescent globes and the light is crisp and clear, so halogens have been extremely popular. However the major disadvantage is they generate a lot of heat (roughly 220 degrees C).
LED (light emitting diode) light bulbs are one of the most energy efficient bulbs on the market, using only 1/10th the electricity of an ordinary incandescent bulb, while producing the same amount of light.
As the new technology kid on the block, you’ll pay more for an LED but the benefits are the light is crisp and clear, it’s very energy efficient even when compared to a compact fluorescent light (CFL), it doesn’t take time to warm up to a ‘white’ light, it has a really long life span before you have to replace the globe and it doesn’t heat up the way a halogen does. The cost to buy is still coming down and the cost to run is considerably less. Another advantage is they are now available in ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ white.
Fluorescent tubes are filled with a substance called mercury vapour that poses a serious risk of harm to the environment, children and pregnant women, and so can be difficult to dispose of safely.
Worldwide, compact fluorescent lamps (CFL’s) are very rapidly becoming the most common light used in the home as they use one-fifth to one-third the electricity of an ordinary incandescent bulb and currently cost less to buy than an LED. However they still contain mercury so don’t break the glass.
TIP 1: Check the type of globe base your light uses before making your purchase i.e. Bayonet, small bayonet, Edison screw, small Edison screw, halogen downlight with bi-pins (with transformer) or halogen downlight with GU10 fitting (no transformer). Are these readily available or will you have to hunt them down at a specialist lighting store every time you need a replacement?
TIP 2: For all types of globes, ask your lighting supplier whether your preferred light fitting is dimmable.
Nowadays globes come in a range of ‘whites’. The colour of ‘white’ may have a major effect on your room’s colour scheme and how your skin looks too.
Warm/soft white has either a yellow/orange tint so will strengthen warm colours (2500 – 3600K). ‘Cool white’ has a blue tint and will strengthen cool colours (4000 – 4200K). ‘Daylight white’ is the whitest, can look very stark and will strengthen cool colours (5000 – 5500K). Note the strength of the tint may vary between manufacturers.
Before you can settle on the colour ‘white’ you prefer (and this may differ from room to room depending on the its function and colour scheme), you’ll probably have to experiment.
If you need a little extra help in choosing the right lighting for your home, feel free to call Jenny on 0416 190 792 or email [email protected].
*Some artwork courtesy of Veronica Graphic Design
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Very informative article. I always get confused when I go to a lighting shop, so this helps.