Anybody else like bright white light bulbs?

[Thomas Veil]

...as opposed to soft/warm white or daylight?

Years ago I tried out one of those then-new daylight (5000° K) light bulbs in a bedroom closet, and while the light was a little too bluish for me, I noticed instantly how much brighter and more alive the colors of our clothes looked.

So when they came out with bright white light bulbs, I decided to give them a try in actual living areas like our family room...and found them quite pleasing, a nice balance between warm white (3200°) and daylight.

Yet if you're shopping at Home Depot or Lowe's or anywhere else, bright white light bulbs can be hard to come by. If you're lucky you might find some CFLs, but virtually nothing in LED. And dimmables are almost impossible.

So I'm left trying to find out if I'm the only one who likes this color of light, or if the industry is just underserving us. Does anyone else care for this color temperature?

 

[heehee]

I don't like it in a home, for office / commercial space, it's fine.

Edit: I can't live without LED / HID / Xenon lights for cars though.

 

[AlliFlowers]

When the option is available, I always go for the bright white. I'm looking for light in my living space, not mood.

 

[Huntn]

I prefer lights "of color". Seriously I like the new LEDs.

 

[D.T.]

I'm kind of a nut for lighting, I hate stark, bright overhead lights that cast shadows, I like indirect, softer, mellow lights (unless I'm doing something very specific that requires intense lighting).

 

[bunnspecial]

I prefer the ~3000K of tungsten for general use and especially reading

 

[Tomorrow]

I first tried GE Reveal bulbs about ten years ago. Before then I thought my walls were a yellow-ish vanilla color. I never realized they were actually very nearly white.

After getting used to them, regular soft "white" bulbs make a room look dirty to my eyes. I like the brighter white.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I first tried GE Reveal bulbs about ten years ago. Before then I thought my walls were a yellow-ish vanilla color. I never realized they were actually very nearly white.

After getting used to them, regular soft "white" bulbs make a room look dirty to my eyes. I like the brighter white.

This is where I am with lighting. Bright white made me look at my house in a whole different way.

In the rooms where I put them in, it did take a few days to get used to. But now it seems perfectly normal and yes, soft white tends to look a little dingy to me now.

 

[zhenya]

Nope, outside of specific work environments I prefer 2700k. I have had a number of neighbors over the years who have replaced their front porch/entry lights with 5000k or so bulbs and to me it is very off-putting and uninviting. The majority of them have switched them out for lower color temperatures in pretty short order. I've tried a few even 3k or 3200k bulbs when nothing else was readily available for specific locations and they've all gone back.

 

[Menel]

No

The color tone of the Reveal lights are nice though

 

[samiwas]

...as opposed to soft/warm white or daylight?

Years ago I tried out one of those then-new daylight (5000° K) light bulbs in a bedroom closet, and while the light was a little too bluish for me, I noticed instantly how much brighter and more alive the colors of our clothes looked.

So when they came out with bright white light bulbs, I decided to give them a try in actual living areas like our family room...and found them quite pleasing, a nice balance between warm white (3200°) and daylight.

Yet if you're shopping at Home Depot or Lowe's or anywhere else, bright white light bulbs can be hard to come by. If you're lucky you might find some CFLs, but virtually nothing in LED. And dimmables are almost impossible.

So I'm left trying to find out if I'm the only one who likes this color of light, or if the industry is just underserving us. Does anyone else care for this color temperature?

A lot of it is going to depend on the color of your walls, floors, clothes, etc. Our house is entirely muted greens, light browns, and light beiges (and a rich red media room). It would look awful with 5000k lamps. We do not have a single 5000k bulb in our entire house. I can't stand them. I prefer much softer 2700k-3000k lamps, and I much prefer some sort of tungsten dimmable over anything else. Most of our lights are on some sort of dimmer.

When the option is available, I always go for the bright white. I'm looking for light in my living space, not mood.

Wow. Exactly the opposite from me. At work, I want light. At home, I want mood. In fact, our kitchen is usually dimmed down to about half, and in the living room, we'll have on one stand lamp and one table lamp, both with 50w bulbs.

I imagine you're like my mom. Every lamp and light socket in her house is filled with the highest-wattage bright bulb she could get her hands on. Even the bedside lamp was like 150w. It literally hurts my eyes to be in her house at night. In fact, one time, we were playing a card game and I had to wear a hat because the lights overhead were killing my eyes. It was like looking into car headlights.

Nope, outside of specific work environments I prefer 2700k. I have had a number of neighbors over the years who have replaced their front porch/entry lights with 5000k or so bulbs and to me it is very off-putting and uninviting.

True. I find 5000k bulbs to be extremely uninviting, and almost uncomfortable, outside of laundry rooms and garages. Plus, they're rarely dimmable.

 

[LadyX]

I don't like bright white bulbs. I prefer warm, yellow lighting.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Personally, I dislike strong overhead lighting, and I absolutely detest bright fluorescent lighting, as I seem to be one of those people who can see it flickering.

The strategic placing and use of light sources - and the types of light sources used - is something that fascinates me in art, painting, - the art of both the Low Countries in the 16th and 17th century and Impressionism in the 19th century is a masterclass in the study of the control and use of light - photography and in real life, both at home and in offices.

Thus, while I love accent lighting, and focussed task lighting, I am also a very big fan of mood lighting.

To answer the question asked in the thread title, no, I don't like 'bright white bulbs', above all, not overhead.

 

[a.guillermo]

I prefer soft, yellow lighting. And not overhead; if possible, lamps all around would be great.

 

[Artimus12]

I tried 5000k and found them to be too cold and stark no matter how low the lumens. I prefer 3200k in utility rooms and dimmable (but powerful) warm 2700k in living\bedroom.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Haha!! I'd say it's an age thing, but I've always been like this. I can remember when I bought my first house back in the early 80's, one of the first things I did was show my (then) husband how to do some basic wiring and remove the little kitchen lights and replace them with fluorescents so that I could see what I was cooking, and make sure everything was really clean, and not just hiding in shadows.

Wow. Exactly the opposite from me. At work, I want light. At home, I want mood. In fact, our kitchen is usually dimmed down to about half, and in the living room, we'll have on one stand lamp and one table lamp, both with 50w bulbs.

I imagine you're like my mom. Every lamp and light socket in her house is filled with the highest-wattage bright bulb she could get her hands on. Even the bedside lamp was like 150w. It literally hurts my eyes to be in her house at night. In fact, one time, we were playing a card game and I had to wear a hat because the lights overhead were killing my eyes. It was like looking into car headlights.

 

[samiwas]

Haha!! I'd say it's an age thing, but I've always been like this. I can remember when I bought my first house back in the early 80's, one of the first things I did was show my (then) husband how to do some basic wiring and remove the little kitchen lights and replace them with fluorescents so that I could see what I was cooking, and make sure everything was really clean, and not just hiding in shadows.

Dear God...not a single fluorescent lamp in my house, except a couple of warm, low-wattage compact fluorescents in lamps. When the house was built, we paid an upgrade fee to not have any fluorescent.

Personally, I dislike strong overhead lighting, and I absolutely detest bright fluorescent lighting, as I seem to be one of those people who can see it flickering.

To answer the question asked in the thread title, no, I don't like 'bright white bulbs', above all, not overhead.

Ha! That's funny. When we come home and have babysitters, we always walk in and say "Oh...I forgot we even had a light up there" referring to the overhead ceiling light in the living room that they always seem to turn on. In the ten years we've lived in this house, I'm not sure we've ever turned it on. I absolutely hate single-source overhead lighting in living spaces.

My career is in lighting, so the thought of bland bright light kills me!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Dear God...not a single fluorescent lamp in my house, except a couple of warm, low-wattage compact fluorescents in lamps. When the house was built, we paid an upgrade fee to not have any fluorescent.



Ha! That's funny. When we come home and have babysitters, we always walk in and say "Oh...I forgot we even had a light up there" referring to the overhead ceiling light in the living room that they always seem to turn on. In the ten years we've lived in this house, I'm not sure we've ever turned it on. I absolutely hate single-source overhead lighting in living spaces.

My career is in lighting, so the thought of bland bright light kills me!

I find lighting fascinating and love looking at light - and lamp - design.

Indeed, I cannot remember a time when I did not loathe bright overhead lights, - either at home or in an office - especially the horrid flickering florescent ones.

However, in any room that is my own space, there will be elegant task lamps, and mood lighting. One of my favourite lamps is an old gas lamp that my father converted to electricity - it came from the 200 year old house where he grew up. The globe (one has to be quite careful with it) gives a lovely warm glow.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Something that looks weird to me is when people have an open design main floor, and the color temperatures vary from room to room. I guess one of the reasons I redid the living room in bright white lighting is that that's what we had in the kitchen, and looking across from a room with yellow lighting to a room with white lighting just seemed off-kilter to me.

I also used to use those tall torch lamps more, but the second time my grandkids knocked one of them over and broke them, I gave up on the idea and went to table lamps.

 

[rhett7660]

Bright white here. I went through and re-did my can lights with all LED's. 5000-6000K depending on the room.

 

[FX120]

Depends on the time of day. In the morning and day a good dose of blue-heavy (5000K-6500K) light that more closely approximates the suns natural spectrum on a clear-sky day, which will help suppress melatonin production in the brain and help wake you up and keep you alert. In the evening you want dim light sources, low in blue spectral output which will signal the brain to secrete melatonin and allow you to relax and sleep better.

I really miss the red-shift you can get by dimming down a tungsten source to a very low output, it's something you cannot achieve with any modern LED bulb I've found.

 

[bobob]

I prefer the warm-white to the morgue-white.

 

[Arran]

I detest bright white at home.

That said, I have Phillips Hues in my office and always the bright white "concentrate/energize" settings while working. It's actually pretty good. Surprised me.

I switch it over to a warm yellow-orange/white combo in the evening.

 

[Arran]

I really miss the red-shift you can get by dimming down a tungsten source to a very low output, it's something you cannot achieve with any modern LED bulb I've found.

Yeah, I love that red shift too.

I did see some led bulbs in Lowes last year that supposedly replicate the effect. Called something like "sunset" bulbs or something?

GE product perhaps? Can't remember exactly and haven't seen them since. I meant to buy one to experiment, but I've gone all Philips Hue now and prefer to keep things compatible.