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Light Bulb Buying Guide


To help you navigate the many differences in shape, size, and style of light bulb that are available today, we’ve created the short guide below. If you need additional help choosing the perfect bulb for your Schoolhouse fixture, feel free to stop by one of our stores or contact our Customer Support team.

Type of Bulb 

During the past couple of decades, several types of light bulb technology, including incandescent, compact fluorescent, LED, and others, were competing to become the go-to light source in homes around the world. Today, that competition is mostly over and LED technology is the clear winner. With that said, the type of bulb you choose will depend on your personal preference and aesthetics. The three main types of bulbs are: incandescent, LED, and integrated LED. Each group serves a different purpose, and each group has a collection of fixtures that are best suited for each type of bulb. 

Incandescent bulbs provide a warm, ambient glow and are perfect for decorative use. While LED certainly represents the future of lighting technology, there is still a place for incandescent bulbs. These bulbs come in a variety of unusual shapes and sizes for which you won’t find an LED equivalent. While many LED bulbs are dimmable to one degree or another, incandescent bulbs tend to have a broader spectrum of dimmability. If your lamp or light fixture has an exposed bulb and is used primarily for ambience rather than utility, an incandescent bulb can be a good option.

LED bulbs are energy efficient and use about a tenth of the electricity of an equivalent incandescent bulb, saving you money on your power bill and reducing the environmental impact of lighting your home. Where in the past, the light from LED bulbs was considered harsh and unpleasant, evolving technology has allowed their color temperature to become softer and warmer. They also last much longer than the standard incandescent bulb, and the technology has become much, much cheaper than it was previously. In recent years, new innovations in LED technology has taken over the market. From remotely turning your light on and off to adjusting the color temperature of the bulb from your phone, smart bulbs allow automation in a way that is convenient and user-friendly. When you look at the upsides, it’s pretty clear that LED should be the standard for most lighting tasks.  

Integrated LED has the perks of an LED Bulb, with the added benefit of being built into the fixture. Depending on how much the fixture is used, you may not have to change the Integrated LED module for decades to come. As an added plus, this system is better at controlling the temperature of the LED module, which improves the system’s lifespan compared to its LED bulb counterpart. While a filament LED bulb may only last 3,000 hours, an integrated LED module can be expected to last about 50,000 hours. 

Color Temperature 

Color temperature, uses the scientific unit, Kelvin (K), to measure light color or how light appears to the human eye when a bulb is illuminated. In short, the lower the Kelvin rating, the warmer the light will be. Keep in mind that the color temperature you select for a room depends on functionality. For example, most people feel comfortable with warmer light (2700K or lower) for relaxed settings such as a living room or dining room. In areas where you need task lighting such as a kitchen or laundry room, it's best to stick closer to neutral lighting that is around 3000K.  

Shape and Size

Light bulb manufacturers use a specific code of letters and numbers to indicate the shape, size, and base of bulbs. We keep bulb shopping simple by designing all of our fixtures (with the exception of the Integrated LED fixtures, which don’t require bulbs at all) to use an E26 base. It's also important to consider the light bulb’s dimensions. When buying bulbs for a fixture with a shade, the bulb will have to fit inside the shade. You'll find the height and width of the bulb on the product page. 

 


Brightness

As a general rule, the more activity that takes place in a space, the brighter its lights need to be. Kitchens function best when they have plenty of light to reach into dark cupboards and illuminate work surfaces. Spaces like offices and living rooms, however, tend to benefit from several types of dimmable accent lighting. Most of us grew up thinking about the brightness of a light as measured in watts. Watts measure how much energy is required to illuminate a bulb, whereas lumens measure the actual light output. Since lumens are a far more accurate way to measure brightness, it’s worth retraining yourself to think about lighting in terms of lumens per square foot. To figure out how many lumens an area will require, take the square footage of the area and multiply it by the number of lumens suggested below. 

 

 

Dimmability 

Dimmers allow you to adjust the brightness of the light fixture with ease. All of our light fixtures are dimmer compatible, but not all LED bulbs are compatible with all dimmers. To find out if your dimmer works with a specific bulb, you can either look on the product page or check with the manufacturer of the dimmer. Most major dimmer manufacturers have a downloadable pdf of which bulbs work best. 

Style

Exposed bulb fixtures give you the opportunity to transform the look and function of your fixture. Decorative incandescent bulbs like the Radio BulbEdison Marconi, and Edison Beacon bulbs are ideal for providing an ambient glow. Gold and silver tipped bulbs give a bright metallic flash that’s perfect for chandeliers like the Satellite 6, or in sconces like the Alabax. Our porcelain LED bulbs add refinement to fixtures. Chandeliers like the Vega come alive when paired with the Oval Matte Porcelain LED Bulb, no shade required. 

 

For the full Light Bulb Buying Guide, please click Here.

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