1. Choose Your Brightness

Most LED bulbs available to the consumer are labeled with an equivalent incandescent bulb wattage, such as “60-watt equivalent.” This can be quite helpful, as you simply need a higher or lower number for the wattage equivalent if you want more or less light. As a basic guide, a 60-watt-equivalent LED bulb should have about 800 lumens, a technical measurement of the amount of light leaving a bulb. Lumens can be a handy comparison but should not be the sole factor you consider.

It makes a big difference where you put a lightbulb, and that impacts brightness or lumen choice as well. In this airy living room built by London Bay Homes, low-lumen bulbs in the chandelier keep glare to a minimum, while higher-lumen bulbs in the ceiling downlights push light where needed.

If a lamp is needed for soft ambiance at night, like the table lamp in this pool house bedroom by TR Building & Remodeling, choose a lower-lumen bulb. Too many lumens in a small fixture can be uncomfortable to the eye, so save the high-brightness bulbs for large fixtures and recessed downlights.

2. Choose Your Color Temperature

A bulb’s lighting facts will use the term “color appearance,” which is another term for “color temperature.” This helpful metric is measured in degrees Kelvin, with lower color temperatures being warmer, or amber, and higher color temperatures being cooler, or blue.

I recommend color temperatures based on two factors: the colors of the space and the time of day the lighting will be most used. Homes with natural warm timbers, stained flooring and wood furnishings look best with best with bulbs that have a color temperature of 2,700 degrees Kelvin (warm light).

A crisp white color palette and light-colored furnishings will keep spaces looking cool and bright. In those spaces, 4,000 degrees Kelvin may look good in the daytime but can have negative effects on sleep patterns if used after dark. I lean toward 3,000 degrees Kelvin, a slightly more neutral white, for this family of colors.

3. Check the Facts

Understanding the lighting facts label that’s present on most LED bulbs is similar to understanding nutrition labels or medication facts. It may not be much fun to decode these facts, but a little knowledge can guide you to a better choice.

Typical LED bulbs will state 13.7 years of life, based on three hours of use per day, while a few will list 22 years or more. Longer-life bulbs will require replacement less often, saving you money in the long run.

The estimated yearly energy cost should be low; that of a typical 60-watt equivalent is less than $1.15. Purchase prices vary widely, but a 60-watt-equivalent basic LED bulb should cost less than $1.50. Expect to pay more for longer-life bulbs or specialty bulbs.

4. Think Like a Designer

Designers go beyond the lighting facts label and look at color rendering, dimmability and direction of output, each of which can have a major impact on the quality of light in your home.

Color rendering, or CRI, is a metric that helps reveal how true, or realistic, colors will appear when lit by the bulb. Bulbs that list a high CRI, 90 and above, will be the best of the lot and reveal the beauty of your furnishings, flooring and finishes better than the average LED bulb. Homes with subtle variations in color and mixtures of natural materials will look best with bulbs that have a CRI of 95 or above.

Direction is not listed on the label, though many manufacturers put tags on the packaging that read “omnidirectional.” Check the shape of the lamp; if it has a solid section for heat sink or electronics, the bulb will push more light in one direction.

“Warm dim,” “warm glow” and “sunset dim” are a few of the names given to bulbs that shift color temperature when dimmed to mimic incandescent bulbs. This means the bulb can change from 2,700 to 1,800 degrees Kelvin, giving your home a pleasant candlelight-style glow that is perfect after dinner and into the evening.

5. Use Your Eyes

Your eyes are unique, your home is unique and your brain is unique, and with all the LED bulbs on the market, it should be no surprise that personal tastes differ. Once you have completed the steps above, buy a bulb, put it in your lamp and see how it looks. If it does not look good to you, if it puts more light on your ceiling than on your book or if it buzzes in a distracting way, return it to the store and try something else.