Showing posts with label home improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home improvement. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Popular Brands of Energy-Efficient A-Shape Bulbs

A-shape CFL bulbs look almost like the standard incandescent bulb. They come in different sizes and wide range of brightness. A-shape bulbs are most suitable for lamps, ceiling fixtures and fans, recessed can fixtures, wall sconces, track lighting fixtures, and hanging pendants.

Here are popular brands and makers of energy-efficient A-shape bulbs:

11-watt Soft White A17 (General Electric)
Size: 4.4 inches long
Brightness: 400 lumens, equivalent to a 40-watt incandescent bulb
Use: This bulb is for home use. Its warm white light and low brightness are perfect for ambient lighting
Life expectancy: 10,000 hours

15-watt Soft White A19 and A21 (General Electric)
Sizes: 4.7 inches and 5.4 inches long
Brightness: 825 lumens, equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb
Use: This bulb is good for home use. Its warm white light and medium brightness particularly suit hallway and room lighting.
Life expectancy: 10,000 hours

20-watt Soft White Biax A23 (General Electric)
Size: 6.1 inches long
Brightness: 1,125 lumens, equivalent to a 75-watt incandescent bulb
Use: This bulb is good for home use. Its warm white light and medium brightness particularly suit hallway and room lighting.
Life expectancy: 10,000 hours

13-watt A-Style (Maxlite)
Size: 4.3 inches long
Brightness: 800 lumens, equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb
Use: This bulb is good for home use. Its warm white light and medium brightness particularly suit hallway and room lighting.
Life expectancy: 15,000 hours

20-watt A-Shape Soft White (Westinghouse)
Size: 6.58 inches long
Brightness: 1,000 lumens, equivalent to an 80-watt incandescent bulb
Use: This bulb is for home use. Its warm white light and high brightness are suitable for reading
Life expectancy: 6,000 hours

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Choosing the Right Colors for Your Home

Colors enrich our world. When we are surrounded by colors, we are able to create a particular atmosphere that suits our needs. This article lists four tips on choosing colors for your home.

We can harness the strength and benefits of colors when we use them to enhance our home. Blending colors successfully can help create a harmonious environment that is calm and relaxing or lively and energizing. Here are four tips on how you can enhance your health and well-being by choosing the right colors for your home:

Sumersault Window Valance- Geo Girl

1. Let the yellow sunshine in 

When you are designing your home environment, consider the amount of sunlight that enters each room. Make sure you get enough glow from the sun’s beams. When sunlight is received into your mind and body, it will give you a feeling of purification. Allowing sunlight to flood into dark corners also rids a room of its staleness and kills some bacteria.

2. Choose colors that heal and inspire 

When you are decorating, think about the effects of color on the room itself and its future inhabitants. How will the room be used? Who will occupy it? Will their problems be alleviated or worsened by your color choices? What are their ambitions and aims? An orange room, for example, will instill cheerfulness into its occupants.

3. Match color with size

Before choosing colors, consider the size and shape of each room. The stronger the color, the smaller a room will appear. Small rooms tend to look more spacious when decorated and painted in pale colors. In larger areas, colors may appear to be more intense. Avoid using a strong color for a big room as it can cause claustrophobia. For dark narrow rooms use light, clear colors.

4. Light and shade 

Before using white, check how much daylight the room receives. A bright white room can be tiring for the eyes and cause frustration. Deep colors may look good with a room that gets plenty of sunshine. When deep colors blend with sunlight, they become several shades duller at night, but can look cozy on firelight or candlelight. If you are painting only one wall in a different color, do not choose a wall where there is a door or window as this dissipates the color energy.