Colorful Lighting and Light Bulbs

LED Lights and Fiber Optics

Thomas Edison's lightbulb is old news. Today's gossip is all about using new lighting technology to add color in unexpected places.

That cool blue-gray color on your bedroom walls may look great most of the time, but on overcast days you may find yourself wishing for a sunny yellow instead. Painting daily on a whim isn't practical, but there is a way to dial up color on demand?with lighting. Today's newest lighting technologies let you choose, often at a moment's notice, a color to suit a special occasion or to create a dramatic accent. Instead of conventional bulbs, fiber optics and light-emitting diodes (LED) make it happen.

LED
Light-emitting diodes may sound a bit scary, but the lights can do some amazing things in your home. LED light bulbs let you change colors. You can decide what mood you want to set that evening, or what color you want to use depending on the season.

A tiny semiconductor chip acts as the light source, which not only provides more color options than standard light bulbs, but also greatly increases the life span. (A typical LED light lasts 10—15 years.)

LEDs can be used as soffit lighting or as colored light in your glass-front cabinets. They can even cycle through different colors for an ever-changing light display.

Fiber Optics
Another technology just appearing in the residential market is fiber-optic lighting. Essentially it is rope with light traveling through it. And one perk for designers is that the small, flexible cable is easy to hide.

Light is generated through a high-intensity halogen lamp, and color filters impart the desired hues. Consider using fiber optics for wash lighting along ceiling coves and soffits, or for lighted water features in pools.