I just finished a project where we changed a whole house of lights. The lights were from the late 80’s, lots of brass and fixtures that were too small for the room. When you look at lights from that time period, the light is dull and yellow in color. Lights and lighting have changed so much in the last 5 years. LED lights in particular, have changed everything. Let’s take a peek at how they can change your world.
The styles of lights alone have dramatically changed. Lighting is not so swirly and tight in the amount of light bulbs on the fixture. Fixtures are open and the bulbs are spaced apart. Look for lighting with 4-6 bulbs for a dining room, and think about a dimmer to set the mood for the room. Not all tables need to have a chandelier. Look to a semi-flush mount light over a table, especially if the table does not sit perfectly centered underneath.
While working with the electrician, I learned a lot about the compatibility of lights and bulbs and dimmers. If an LED bulb does not pull enough watts to the dimmer, the light will flicker. There are a couple of solutions to this problem. One temporary fix is switching out one of the bulbs for an incandescent (this is your traditional bulb) which will stop the flickering. The flickering usually occurs because there are less than 4 bulbs in the light. For a permanent fix, a special dimmer will need to be installed to stop the flickering.
I know this is a lot of technical chatter, and an electrician can really help with getting you the answers you need. So… if you change your light bulbs to LED and they flicker when you adjust the dimmer or turn it down low, check the number of bulbs, watts and age of your dimmer switch. One or all may need replacing.
