I think I’m going to replace the light fixture in the piano room. Right now it’s a drop-down light (I’ll add photos below). I suppose I could just raise it up, but I think I want something more or less flush with the ceiling. Separate from that, there are two ceiling fans (one in the primary bedroom, one in a guest bedroom) that have those candelabra bulbs which I hate because they are never bright enough.

So I’ve been googling around looking at light fixtures and ceiling fans and the options are not great. Esp. because so many lights now have only built-in bulbs…

The last time I bought a light fixture, I got one of those that has all the super small LED bulbs, you’re supposed to never have to replace the bulb. Sounds great, until you realize you have far less control over the amount of light.

And many, many ceiling fans have those built in leds, which are like 600 lumens. I prefer three bulbs, 60 or 100 watt which gives you something like 800-1600 lumens, times three bulbs.

Anyway we’re going to Lowe’s today to check things out in person. Maybe we’ll have to try to go to the big city and find a lighting store..

Btw here’s the current light fixture in the piano room:



Here’s the fixture in the piano room in our rental house:



I would be happy with something like that, i wonder if this kind of light is still available…

Also, am I the only one who thinks that ceiling fan fixtures are incredibly ugly? There are some new designs that are ultra modern, which aren’t too bad, but I don’t think they would fit with the style of the house and might be even worse than the current ones.

Here’s the ceiling fan in the primary bedrooom:



I think the one in the living room is the same, but it’s a vaulted ceiling so you don’t really notice it. The ones in the bedroom are much more noticeable.

We just went through this in the last two weeks.

I have the same issue. Can’t stand the built-in LEDs. I want to be able to replace a bulb, and I want more light from the fixture.

Try build.com. At a minimum, it will give you ideas.

We bought many lighting fixtures for the new house, many varieties. Not one is a built-in LED. Most came from build.com; one each from Amazon, lampsplus and HOUZZ.

Quirt, glad I’m not the only one who hates those built in LEDs!!

I haven’t looked at (or even head of rally) build.com, Lamps Plus or Houzz, I’ll try there today. Thanks!

We have similar fixtures in our house, I just changed all the bulbs out for super bright led lights and that helped a lot. We had a ceiling fan in the vaulted ceiling of our living room in Washington, but the blades were white so it blended into the ceiling. It was nice to be able to get the air to circulate in there sometimes.

What is a built in led?

We have a lot of those canned lights that are recessed into the ceiling, and those are my favorite.

The led light source is built in to the fixture and can’t be replaced. If it stops working you throw the whole fixture away.

I’m not a “fan”.

SK, the easiest way to bring your ceiling fans closer to up to date will be to change the glass shades to something more modern. There are 100s of styles out there. You can also paint the blades white (sometimes you can just turn them over) to blend more with the color of the ceiling.

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Originally posted by Steve Miller:
The led light source is built in to the fixture and can’t be replaced. If it stops working you throw the whole fixture away.

Well that’s dumb.

Hundreds of fixtures, lamps, art and decor pictures.

https://www.lunawarehouse.com.

Not big on overhead lighting in our house for general use, definitely nothing on the fans. Too claustrophobic in a house with 8 foot ceilings. We have recessed fixtures in the kitchen that we only seem to use when we drop something on the floor and can't find it.

We find task lighting (undercabinet fixtures in the kitchen) and decorative lighting (up and down lighting in soffits) to be more our thing. And table or floor lamps for indirect lighting.

Flush mount fixtures in the upstairs and downstairs halls. And a chandelier over the dining room table. But even there we have table lamps on the sideboards in the dining room. Really rounds out the lighting.

Good advice from Steve on swapping out the shades on the fan. Can completely change the style. Also might be worth considering replacing some of the fans that are really dated. There are a lot of cool new styles, and they're not that expensive.

Won't buy fixtures with built-in LEDs.

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the blades were white so it blended into the ceiling.

quote:

SK, the easiest way to bring your ceiling fans closer to up to date will be to change the glass shades to something more modern. There are 100s of styles out there. You can also paint the blades white (sometimes you can just turn them over) to blend more with the color of the ceiling.

Steve and Jodi, thanks! White didn't really occur to me but it's great idea. I have been looking at brown ones since that's what's there, and I was sort of thinking "that's what matches" but the ceiling is white, and something in white would be much less noticeable compared to brown, which probably matters more in the guest room because it's a smaller room overall.

I can see if any of the ones at the new house are reversible,. But for the ones I definitely want to replace, the base is brown (and clunky and ugly) and the bulbs are the kind I hate, so those are just going to go bye-bye.

Also Steve, thanks for mentioning the glass shades, that's a kind of easy update (and pretty inexpensive). I'll see what's available.

Also thanks for the rec of Luna Warehouse. Is that where you got stuff for your ABBs?

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Not big on overhead lighting in our house for general use, definitely nothing on the fans.

WTG, I know a lot of people don't like overhead lights in living rooms or dining rooms. I am the opposite, I love a good bright overhead light and would prefer to have one in every room. And of course in the piano room, it's essential.

At our old house, there was no overhead light in the piano room. I ended up with three floor lamps to brighten it up and in the end it worked out well.

But in the new house, since there's already an overhead fixture, I'm just going to swap it out.

I do like floor lamps, and if you have an overhead fixture plus lamp you have more options.

And re built-in LEDs, well all the WTFers are in agreement.

Who even likes them?

Oh, and Jodi, beside the stupidity of it, the thing that makes me crazy is the lack of choice of brightness and color tone. Even the ones that say they're adjustable give you fewer options than having an actual bulb.

Just in case...
A spinning ceiling fan in a piano room makes for a strange wobbling effect in the sound. I try to warn owners when I see one in the room before they call me back to say the tuning doesn't sound right...

And I guess built-in LEDs were a good idea when people thought they would last decades before needing replacement!

Yes, we could not run the ceiling fan in our Washington living room when we played the piano! It makes it sound super weird!