Decorate with vintage-style LED Edison light bulbs

Do you enjoy the appearance of the old-time incandescent or classic Edison light bulbs? Well then, not to worry. The old, inefficient incandescent bulb may have gone, but the style remains, updated to include cutting-edge LED lighting technology. These beautiful nostalgia-inspired bulbs contain the best of both worlds, then. The elegant, old-fashioned look of the vintage Edison light bulb and the energy efficiency of up to date LED technology. Here are a few tips on how to decorate with vintage-style LED Edison light bulbs.

The glow of the filament

It is this more than anything that makes the Edison bulb so unique. The wire or filament inside them that casts it’s warm, squiggly glow. So when decorating with your Edison style LED bulbs, it’s important to put their best features on best display. Don’t hide your lights behind a lampshade, for instance! And make sure your LED bulb has a filament that truly replicates the classic Edison style one. Another tip: to display your vintage-style Edison bulbs to best advantage, ensure they remain dimmed. That way, they will produce a much warmer light, that actually accentuates the filament’s wavy, electric glow.

Color temperature

Vintage-style Edison bulbs emit that trademark cozy, golden light that you all remember from your childhoods. The reason: their color temperature. Color temperature is measured in Kelvins, and for the majority of bulbs ranges from 2700 Kelvins to about 6500 Kelvins. Soft white incandescents have a color temperature of around 2700 Kelvins. Vintage-style Edisons, however, are down around the 200 Kelvin mark. Generally speaking, the lower the color temperature, the more yellow the light, so always remember to check how a light is rated in Kelvins before selecting what you think will be a vintage-style Edison LED bulb. Their classic yellow glow is one of the most iconic and distinctive features of these bulbs, and are a large part of what gives them their unique, decorative charm.

Use these lights for what they are best suited: ambient lighting

Vintage-style Edison LED bulbs are not really suited to task lighting purposes, like reading and studying. They are most appropriate as ambient and accent lights, which contribute to the overall atmosphere of a setting, and highlight it’s best features. This is part of what makes vintage-style Edison bulbs such a lovely decorative option for your home! With their warmer light, they are also very suitable for night time lighting – the reason: being exposed to too much white colored, ‘daylight’ light during the evenings can ‘trick’ your body into thinking it is daytime, and thereby interfere with your sleep patterns. Warm, ambient lights like the vintage-style Edison LED light bulb will, by contrast, help you wind down and relax. Use the bulbs for the purposes that best fit them.

Where should you place them?

In order to create a warm, soothing ambiance in your home, where is the best place to position a lamp that contains a vintage-style Edison LED light bulb? As mentioned, you probably won’t be relying on this sort of bulb alone to light up an entire space so you can read and carry on other activities, so you are thus better off placing them lower down in the room rather than higher. Warm light placed in a low position replicates the cozy feel of sitting around a fireplace. Place your vintage-style Edison LED lights in a low position, and reserve other lighting fixtures for positions higher up in the room. That way you will achieve some truly versatile home lighting that is at once both functional and pleasing to be around.

Choose the Cranky Lamp

The vintage-inspired table lamp is a creation of the American home furnishings line, Roger, and Chris. Many of their products feature and are designed to complement, vintage-style Edison light bulbs, and this is one of them. Their adjustable-height, table lamp known as Cranky is a customer favorite and goes just beautifully with vintage-style Edison LED light bulbs. It’s a fine option to purchase if you want to decorate your home with this style of bulb. And because you can adjust the height, you can place it on many different types and heights of tables, and still achieve the low placed, ambient lighting that vintage style Edison lamps do best.

Some styles you can enhance using the vintage-style Edison LED light bulb

Here are a few themes and overall home decors that the Edison style bulb, updated to incorporate efficient LED technology, will fit right into:

• Warehouse Industrial Style: this style stems from conversions of factories, warehouses, metal structures and the like into livable homes, restaurants, and bars. Bare brick and steel dominate in this style due to these being the materials present in the reclaimed buildings. As were exposed, Edison style filament bulbs and lack of any shading
• Traditional style: furniture and decoration can vary quite a lot with a more traditional, conservative style, but lighting is one thing that does not. The Edison style filament light bulb is the ideal, traditional looking light for this style
• Scandinavian: minimalistic design requires a simple bulb, and none is better than the vintage-style Edison light bulb
• Rustic design: this style also has a vintage, authentic feel to it and is thus suitable for Edison style lighting fixtures and bulbs
• Steampunk: based on the concept of an alternative age in which industrial style and technology are still in place. Makes use of lots of Victorian pieces and furniture – including the lighting.
• Bohemian: reflective of a carefree, relaxed lifestyle that is happy to make use of various influences, including many vintage items – like the Edison style light bulb
• Gothic: dark, luxurious surroundings requires equally grand lighting, that also counter-acts the darkness of the style, usually cast or wrought iron candelabras and chandeliers work best here. The Edison style filament bulb fits in just perfectly here

There you have it, then! Who said the Edison style filament bulb was past it’s used by date? Retain the classic vintage look of yesteryear while updating the technology to modern and efficient LED lighting, and decorate your home with style.