How to Take Advantage of Colored Lighting

With the recent start of the NFL football season and the holidays right around the corner, there’s no shortage of events to decorate for in the upcoming months. What better way to set the mood for these occasions than with colored light bulbs? Even if you’re not a sports fanatic or you consider yourself a holiday grinch, colored lighting can be a great way to add some flair to everyday scenarios. Let's take a look at four ways anyone can use colored lights in their home.

General Lighting

Did you know that standard shape bulbs come in a variety of colors other than clear, white, and black-light blue? Using colored household bulbs in general areas such as the living room or bedroom can set the mood for any kind of atmosphere you desire. Colored general lighting can be used to enhance certain psychological effects (blue is calming, purple is romantic, and red is emotionally intense), or it can be used simply to represent a theme or event (pink lights in your daughter’s bedroom, or green lights while you’re hosting the Packers game).

However, it would be wise to limit using colored lights for general lighting as it can easily become overpowering and tire out your eyes. If you’re considering using colored lights in a room for longer than the course of an event, it is usually best to use opaque lights, which emit softer light with less glare than transluscent options. A particularly well-liked option is using opaque pink lights in the bedroom because they emit light in a comfortable warm hue while giving off enough useful light to see with.

Outdoor Lighting

Colored light bulbs can also be used outdoors to add drama to certain architectural features in your yard. They’re especially popular in the deep end of swimming pools, landscape bullets, and in patio light fixtures. Reflectors are the most common type of outdoor bulb, and we carry MR-, R-, and PAR-type lamps in colored options. You can read our post on identifying reflector bulbs for advice on what kind of bulb you need for your fixtures. However, when using light bulbs outside, it is important to make sure that they are water-proof or outdoor rated – this applies even if you’re just using colored string lights for an outdoor event.

Accent Lighting

LED - Pink - Rope Light - FT2-L120PI12150

Accent lighting is perhaps the best way to implement colored lighting in your home. Accent lighting is used to highlight points of interest in your interiors such as architecture, artwork, or any other features that can’t be made more prominent with just ambient lighting. Using colored reflectors in track lights or spotlights is one way to add interest to focal points in a room, but you could also use tape light or ropelight to add backlighting behind computer monitors, in cabinets, on stairs, or underneath furniture. RGB color changing tape light is particularly festive addition to a kid’s room, and colored rope light is a fun, versatile option for indoor or outdoor use.

Decorative Lighting

10 ft. Stringer - (50) Mini Lights - PINK - CMS-50ML3PKW

When colored lighting is used for decorative purposes, string lights or rope lights are popular options because they are easy to set up as well as take down. Decorative string lights are (of course) used during the holidays such as for Christmas and Halloween. However, there are many year-round events you can decorate for using colored lighting, too. Breast cancer awareness month is a popular reason many people purchase pink lighting, and sports-watching parties from Football to Fútbol are other reasons people prefer colored lighting as well. Many people even enjoy colored string lights in their bedrooms, basements or family rooms for background illumination while they watch their favorite shows. When it comes to using colored lights for decoration, your options are wide and varied.

So how do you use your colored lights? We’d love to know! Share your thoughts in the comments or on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest!