Sperg about lights/lighting options - ITT we combat our sensorary difficulties

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So, I had a quick browse for threads specifically discussing lighting options for home decor but found nothing appropriate.

I'm wondering if anyone here uses any cool/funky lighting to compliment their living spaces. We're talking basic salt lamps/candles, all the way to expensive 'smart' lighting options.

Do you have sweet lighting set-ups for gaming or relaxation?

Have you shelled out for a Nanoleaf or similar type of smart/integrated lighting?

What do you enjoy and recommend, what can't you live without?

Personally, I've been looking at smart lighting options to showcase some rooms in my house and compliment my viewing/listening/gaming experiences and pretty up my chill spaces.

Discuss your methods of lighting your own spaces and why they help you to improve your mood or general setting.
 
I once pranked my roommate with those dark lightbulbs you get at Spencer’s. He was not pleased.
 
It all depends on how much light you prefer. I personally use window sunlight during the day and small dampened desk lamps at night because I don't like bright lights.

I recently bought a Topelek mini lamp that's very useful for reading books at night. I also use an app called Flux to add an orange tint to my computer screen so my eyes don't get strained.

I've heard good things about blue-tinted light if you want to create a relaxing environment.
 
The Nanoleaf is certainly a cool product, but I just cant bring myself to pay that price point yet.

That said, I have a couple of basic rgb led strips installed in my apartment providing under lighting for my coffee table in the livingroom, and backlight/under lighting on my computer desk. It does the job well enough.

Now, none of it is 'smart', so it doesnt give a shit what's on my monitors or whatnot, because one again, the price just isnt worth it to me.
 
I've got a cheap RGB strip as backlighting that spans the arms of my triple monitor stand. Usually run it in green. Looks pretty good.

Other than that, I hate light and almost always sit in the dark.
 
My parents once switched to halogens for our family room when we had the old house renovated but those bulbs were a nightmare to switch out as they were very difficult to remove from the socket due to them being fully inserted (so you had to hope that your finger and thumb tips could generate enough friction on the flat side of the bulb just to start rotating it out) and, if the bulb just burnt out, you had to turn the lights off at least half an hour or so for the dead bulb to cool down enough so you don't scorch your fingers trying to replace it.

That was before LED bulbs were widely-used, though. I just use LED's for everything now, the quality of the light is so much nicer than those migraine-inducing CFL bulbs and they use below 10% of the energy of comparable incandescent bulbs.
 
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Wow what a coincidence of a thread. I literally built this today. My plan for tomorrow is to dismantle it and finish polishing the brass, brush, sand, paint and coat the base, oil the wood and reassemble.
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I've got two orange salt rock lamps in my room that stay on most of the time, they make for some pretty excellent mellow lighting late at night or pretty much anytime you wanna take it easy on your eyes but still be able to see. Apart from that I mainly use a plain old goose-neck type desk lamp pointed at one of the walls, the light reflects all over the rest of the room and it's quite nice compared to the overhead lights.
 
I had green light bulbs through middle school and high school, they saved my ass. By that I mean my mom would just turn all the lights in my room to get me up in the morning, didnt work so well when they were dark green lol. They were so easy to fall back asleep with.
 
Ido said:
I had green light bulbs through middle school and high school, they saved my ass. By that I mean my mom would just turn all the lights in my room to get me up in the morning, didnt work so well when they were dark green lol. They were so easy to fall back asleep with.
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My experience with lights during sleeping that in high school, I started experimenting with naps being taken with the light on, and that eventually turned into a point where I could sleep for a full "night" with the lights all on.
 
I switched every light I own to LED, if only because halogens get hot as fuck and I know my cat would knock over a very hot lamp.
 
I know a pretty good amount about lighting because :powerlevel:, so here I sperg:

Personally: I have LEDs overhead but mostly use lamps since they're less intense. I understand the appeal of smart lighting, but am a Luddite when it comes to "smart" stuff and have none of it.

Nowadays, LED bulbs are the way to go for pretty much every application imaginable, and especially in the home.

1. They're much more efficent, so you save money on running the bulbs themselves. In contrast, incandescent and halogen bulbs are massively inefficient and have lots of energy that is released as heat; this is fine in cooler climates, but in hotter ones this just adds to the cooling bill. You're instantly saving money on the electricity bill by saitching to LED.

2. LEDs have much longer lifespans, with some being rated as high as 23 years in conventional bulbs and 50000-100000 hours in commercial uses. Granted this is under ideal conditions, but you'll still save money not having to replace them every year or so. Even better, some places have warranties on the bulbs should they fail prematurely.

3. LEDs turn on instantly. The lag on CFL bulbs coming on was a very common complaint, and LEDs fixed this entirely.

4. LEDs have different color temperatures. This allows them to be used in different applications for different uses, commercially and in the home.

5. LEDs have no mercury. Supposedly CFLs only have as much as a can of tuna in a bulb, but minimizing heavy metals in the environment and around children is always a good thing.

6. LEDs have fallen dramatically in price. Five years ago, it was common for a single LED bulb to be 10-20$, and some were as much as $60 dollars or more. Now they're much more reasonable, with multi-packs retailing for 5-15, depending on wattage equivalents, brand, color temperature, and what not.

TL:DR: buy LEDs.

If anyone has lighting questions or wants a treatise on color temperature and possible uses, let me know and I'll see if I can sperg helpfully.
 
I use Alexa and some Slyvania smart bulbs connected to a bridge to control most of the important lights in my house.

It usually works well, but every now and then (I'm guessing when they make some kind of Alexa update) they stop working and I have to uninstall and reinstall/program everything all over again. Otherwise it's totally worth it.

Oh, and Amazon's tech support customer service is filled with idiots. Don't ever bother asking them anything.
 
My new place has no lights in the bedroom and I still haven’t bought anything more than a desk lamp to brighten it up.
 
I havent payed my share of the electricity bill for months so I don't remember what the lights look like in the outbuilding/garage I live in. The lights in this Starbucks are nice though. They hang from the ceiling and have this opaque amber glass that filters the light very nicely.
 
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