I got a new chandelier for our dining nook in our kitchen, and thought nothing of it when I went to the store to grab a light bulb for it.

When I walked onto the aisle with light bulbs, I was completely overwhelmed. There are SO MANY choices for what I thought would be simple grab.

BUT, I did some ground work and now I’m here to share it all!

Different Types of Lighting

I guess when there were less choices for lightbulbs, I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know. When you look at a bulb there are three main things you will see

• Watts
  This is usually recommended by the fixture to be a certain amount, it has to do with the electricity output and actually nothing to do with what the light looks like when in use
• Lumens
  This is the amount of light that the bulb produces, lower lumens will be a dimmer light output, higher lumens will be a brighter light output.
• Kelvin
  This is the temperature of the light, and probably what you notice most when you are using the light. There is a huge difference in the way the light appears based on the kelvin. The lower the number the warmer the light, and the higher the number the cooler the light. Most bulbs range from 2500k-5000k

Adjustable Light Bulbs

I had no idea what kelvin I wanted, so I found the coolest light bulb that you can change the temperature of once it is installed! I brought it home and tried it out in my fixture on several different temperatures to decide which one was my favorite

My Home Lighting!

Ultimately, I recommend trying the different temperatures (kelvin) of light in your home to see what you like most with the amount of natural daylight you have, lampshades, the color of your walls, and how it bounces off your furniture, etc.

I honestly had so much fun learning this and landed on 3000k as the perfect lighting for my home. It’s bright yet still feels cozy!