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Home design trends come and go with each season, but lighting trends tend to change more subtly and slowly. Lately, it seems like exposed light bulbs are everywhere. While we love the look of a bare bulb, it's a tricky one to pull off -- you can't just take all your lampshade off your lights to embrace the trend.
Use bare bulbs minimally for a maximum impact! Photo: Desire to Inspire
Here are some tips to try the bare bulb look in your home:
1. Pay special attention to the bulb itself.
When working with bare bulbs, the actual bulbs that you use are incredibly important. Opt for a low wattage in an etched or frosted glass so as not to overwhelm your room with bright spots of light lights. "Edison bulbs" and silver-dipped models are particularly popular choices.
2. Install a dimmer switch.
You can either hard wire a dimmer in place of a regular light switch or you can buy an affordable plug-in dimmer. Trust us; your optometrist will thank you if you dim those babies.
3. Use exposed bulbs sparingly.
Bare bulbs are best when used in moderation -- one or two in a room is fine, but you'll want to use them as an accent, not your sole source of light for the room
4. Consider the fixture.
Don't just take the glass shades off your lamps: An exposed bulb will call attention to the fixture, so it should be one that is designed to reveal the bulb (like those from West Elm and Anthropologie below) or one that is attractive enough in its own right.
These fixtures are designed to show off the bulbs within. Photos: Anthropologie, West Elm
Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)
Now that is just precious. Make a "fashion statement" about using an energy-pig lamp and an energy-pig dimmer in a vastly overpriced "simple" fixture. This goes of-a-piece with the "Rally for Hummer" planned for Chicago.
ReplyAh, well. In the immortal words of H.L. Mencken, Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”
Looks like my Great-Grandmothers kitchen. So the 1930's look is back again.
ReplyLooks like someone has been looking at George Booth cartoons.
ReplyLooks like the Depression........... just dumb.
ReplyI've been stock-piling incandecent light bulbs to sell to people after they are banned. By 2012 I'll have a garage full!
ReplyThat was very stylish & hip in the late 60's & early 70's.
ReplyI have these light bulbs in my bathroom. They are in the light over the vanity and they look very trendy. It was a quick & inexpensive update to my bathroom. It was an easy refresh to my upstairs bathroom. I love the look.
ReplyThese would be way too bright and not easy on the eyes at all! I couldn't stand being in the room for more than an hour. I'd have a migraine! They might look cool if they had colored bulbs in them.
ReplyWell, it didn't take long for the first idiot to show up.
ReplyI've always burned at least one incandescent bulb per room when changing over to florescent lighting to lower wattage use. It helps to maintain a steady non-flickering light source that is more natural to the eye and brain. I also still play my Vinyl albums for its continuous sound, versus the bit and piece output of digital, that feels to me like start and stop jerkings. Chop Wood and Carry Water, for your mind and spirit and just to be cantankerous.
Replywell, if you are a responsible individual you would properly recycle the bulb and the mercury wouldn't go into the atmosphere. Also, why aren't you concerned with all the mercury you are ingesting every time you eat meat, or concerned with all the mercury the coal power plants are putting into the atmosphere (you are putting a lot more into the atmosphere by using incandescent bulbs than is contained by a single cfl), by the way, if you don't break any bulbs, you don't have anything to worry about.
Replyi'm guessing about 21 years old, voted for obama.
i HATE a bare bulb. over a vanity in the bathroom...OK, but pendants or lamps without shades are just plain awful, no matter HOW "stylish" the bulb is.
ReplyI remember this idea from the mid-to-late 60's ?!? So what goes around comes around again?!?
ReplyI wonder what Geek thought this one up..???..It was used fifty years ago...it was ugly then and its uglier now
Reply