A Guide to LED Lighting Options for Every Room

In 2023, government regulations finally ended the long, distinguished career of the incandescent light bulb. That cemented LED lighting as the primary option in every home, office, and commercial building. However, that doesn’t mean every home has fully transitioned to LEDs. You may still have an array of halogen, fluorescent, and even incandescent bulbs lighting your home. Before you can replace them all, you must understand how LED lighting works so that you can choose suitable new LED lights. Here’s a complete guide to LED lighting options for every room in your home.

LED Lighting Types

Choosing an LED light can be a challenge because there are so many options. LED lights come in various form factors beyond standard screw-in bulbs. Here are the primary types of LED lights you’ll find.

Standard Bulbs

If you’re looking for one-to-one replacements for your existing incandescent bulbs, standard LED bulbs are what you want. They feature screw-in bases that work with the standard light fixtures and lamps you already have. Bulb-type LEDs typically feature a circuit board with an LED driver chip and multiple board-mounted individual LEDs. They also include a heat sink to keep the LEDs cool, and the plastic dome of the bulb serves as a lens and diffuser. The result is a bulb with a familiar shape that mimics the light output of the old bulbs you’re used to.

You can also find bulb-type LEDs with the same form factors as other common light types. For example, you can find LED floodlights in varying sizes and base types. Basically, there’s an LED bulb equivalent for virtually any existing non-LED bulb in your home. That makes upgrading all your home’s bulbs to LEDs possible without replacing any fixtures.

LED Strips

You can also find LED strips, which work well for highlight and task lighting applications. These electrical lighting solutions consist of long, flexible strips with LEDs affixed along their length. The strip itself carries power to the LEDs. Most LED light strips have external power supplies that include the LED driver circuitry.

LED Panels

LED panels come in almost any size, and you can mount them on ceilings or walls. For example, you can use them instead of drop ceiling panels to provide ample lighting for a room. You can also use them for accent lighting, as they’re available in multiple colors and styles. Some LED panel lights even feature app-based control and can change colors as necessary.

Understanding LED Light Output

One of the biggest challenges you will face when you look for LED lights for your home is understanding their light output. For generations, homeowners have understood bulb light output as a function of wattage. For example, you can probably imagine the light output of 60, 75, and 100-watt incandescent lights with little difficulty.

LED lights, however, are far more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs. And there’s no exact efficiency standard you can use as a reference. For example, you can find LED bulbs ranging from 18 to 30 watts that emit the same amount of light as a 100-watt incandescent bulb. For that reason, you’ll need to start understanding light output in lumens. It’s a universal scale you can apply to any light source.

Here are some common lumen values to get you started:

• 200 Lumens = 25-watt incandescent or 2- to 4-watt LED
• 400 Lumens = 40-watt incandescent or 6- to 8-watt LED
• 600 Lumens = 60-watt incandescent or 10- to 15-watt LED
• 800 Lumens = 75-watt incandescent or 13- to 20-watt LED
• 1200 Lumens = 100-watt incandescent or 18- to 30-watt LED

Recommended Light Levels for Common Household Spaces

Knowing how much light a given LED emits is helpful but only if you know how much light you need. Fortunately, most people find some commonly agreed-upon light levels comfortable in major household spaces.

Living Rooms

Most people aim to have between 1,500 to 3,000 lumens in living rooms. That’s enough to comfortably relax in your living room without it being too dark or bright. Of course, the light output you need will vary a bit based on your taste and the size of your living room. You can also achieve the total light level you need using direct and indirect lighting. For example, you might choose a ceiling LED panel light to provide baseline brightness for the room. Then, you can add lamps to augment it where necessary.

Dining Rooms

The average dining room, by contrast, typically needs between 3,000 and 4,000 lumens. That’s bright enough to make eating comfortable and to create a welcoming atmosphere for guests. Most of the time, it’s best to use primarily indirect lighting in dining rooms. The one big exception is that you can opt for direct lighting above your dining room table. Today, vintage-style LED filament bulbs are popular choices for dining room lighting. They mimic the look and color temperature of old-school clear incandescent bulbs.

Bedrooms

In your home’s bedrooms, you’ll want a light level similar to your living room, or between 1,500 and 3,000 lumens. However, you likely want some or all the lighting in your bedrooms to be dimmable. That’s important to note because standard LED bulbs don’t offer dimming ability. You’ll need to purchase bulbs intended for use with a dimmer. You may also need to install new dimmer switches to replace existing ones. Conventional dimmers typically can’t control dimmable LED bulbs.

Kitchens and Bathrooms

Finally, kitchens and bathrooms require incredibly bright lighting. Most people aim for between 7,000 and 8,000 lumens in each. Typically, you’ll want a mix of direct and indirect lighting. You can use either an LED ceiling panel or a conventional fixture with LED bulbs in kitchens. Then, you can install LED strips or puck lighting to light countertops. That ensures plentiful light on work surfaces. Bathrooms call for a similar arrangement. The key difference is that you’ll want ample lighting over your bathroom sink and surrounding mirrors.

Understanding Color Temperature

Another thing you’ll need to understand when you select LED lights is color temperature. The standard measurement of color temperature used for bulbs is the Kelvin (k) scale. Most incandescent bulbs fall between 2,700k and 3,500k. That’s the range known as warm white. White LEDs, however, come in color temperatures ranging from 2,700k to 6,500k. The higher you go on the Kelvin scale, the bluer the light becomes. For reference, sunlight has a color temperature of around 5,000k.

In general, you’ll want LED bulbs in the lower color temperature range for spaces where you relax. For task lighting, you’re better off with color temperatures between 3,000k and 4,500k. We perceive those color temperatures as brighter, clearer light. Be aware, however, that higher color temperature bulbs may create glare issues if used indiscriminately.

Local LED Lighting Experts

Whether you want new LED fixtures installed or need help converting existing fixtures to LED, Black-Haak is the place to turn. Our electrical services experts can handle any type of lighting fixtures and even make lighting design recommendations. We’ve served homeowners in Fox Valley, WI since 1956. We were around in the early days of residential electrification and now work on the cutting edge of home electrical services. We treat every customer like family and offer honesty, integrity, reliability, and trust in all we do.

So, when you’re ready to upgrade your Fox Valley home to LED lighting, call Black-Haak immediately!