# What color light bulbs do you use at home?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-light-bulbs-do-you-use-at-home/606619>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 18, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-light-bulbs-do-you-use-at-home/606619 "2011-12-18T05:02:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-light-bulbs-do-you-use-at-home/606619/21 "2011-12-20T17:05:36Z")

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> [@gotpasswords](#):
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> Most of our bulbs are GE Reveal incandescents, so they’re definitely “warm.”

Those are great, I have quite few of them, other then that clear (so you can see the filament) and soft white.

I also suspect there is a ‘natural’ tendency towards fire as the light pattern we like to light up things artificially. I even considered putting in gas lighting at one time as a way to light and provide some heat during the cold dark winter months.

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**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-light-bulbs-do-you-use-at-home/606619/22 "2011-12-20T17:13:48Z")

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> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#):
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> Actually i know why it looks that way. It’s a lot like the way a photo gets darker when you take a picture of a scene that has a bright spot in it. The bright fluorescent spot on the ceiling is right in your field of vision and therefore causes your iris to close-up, which makes it harder to see whatever amount of feeble dim light manages to actually reach the table or whatever surface you’re trying to illuminate.

I always thought it was because CF lighting was not a full continuous spectrum, but discrete bands of intense light that simulated white light. But since it is not full colors producing the while light there just is not the spread of colors available you get with IC bulbs. Basically you are ‘missing colors’ when you look at things, things appear dull and off.

What you have put forth does not seem to explain why a IC bulb makes things look ‘better’ then a CF bulb. (I say ‘better’ because I agree with your point).

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**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-light-bulbs-do-you-use-at-home/606619/23 "2011-12-20T21:55:56Z")

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The problem is that most of us are putting CF bulbs into lenses and shades that are meant for IC bulbs. The lenses for CFs needs to diffuse the light differently in order to work properly.

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-light-bulbs-do-you-use-at-home/606619/24 "2011-12-21T03:11:27Z")

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> [@Chimera](#):
>
> Blacklights. It makes my entire living experience surreal.

My bedroom has been lit by backlights for more than 25 years now. Srsly. Most of the art I’ve made, including my pottery, paintings and some furniture, is painted with Day-Glo or other “fluorescent” paints.

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