craftroom lighting

I have a brand new craft room and I need lighting suggestions for my workspace.

Ott Lights are the way to go. If you have fixtures in place try and see if you can find natural lighting bulbs to go in them. Like the light therapy ones. That's what I put in my craft room.

Daylight bulbs really make a difference.

I bought Ott lightbulbs at Michaels or Joanns and put 4 of them in our ceiling fan fixture - really bright but there is so much light it has a blueish tint. If you are outside at night it almost looks like that room is glowing bluish. We need to take out a few of them.

I want to try the daylight bulbs - that sounds interesting.

Daylight bulbs are less expensive than the ott but also put off a bluish tint, but they have helped my mom to see so much better when she is reading.

I have 2 light fixtures at my ceiling and they have daylight bulbs and I LOVE them. LOVE LOVE LIVE them. These bulbs do not distort colours and when it gets dark outside I have to notice by looking out the window....LOL

Also, they help with seasonal affected disorder that is also called the winter blues, it's depression linked to not having enough daylight.

Where do you get the daylight bulbs?

Are the blueish tint one's LED? LED are like that.

Are you saying yours are not blue? What brand are they? Would love to know. Thanks!

I agree with those recommending daylight bulbs or lamps. Mine are not blu-ish. I have two desk lamps that are both Verilux brand from Bed Bath & Beyond. They are just as good as Ott but half the price, and the bulbs last FOREVER.

I haven't event changed a bulb yet. I thought I needed to and bought one, but it was just loose in the socket, and once I pushed it back in tight, I still haven't had to replace it, so I now have a replacement bulb on hand.

You can get them at the hardware store as well.

I have an OTT portable light that is great for putting light right over a project. For the rest of the room (and our entire house), I use daylight bulbs. I love them.

Congrats on your new room!

As everyone has said, OTT/Daylight bulbs are the way to go. But it's not the only thing to look at. I got daylight bulbs and was so sad at how dark it was in my room because my light fixture was high up and the bulbs didn't produce enough brightness. The daylight is referring to the color of the light, but the brightness is indicated by lumens. YOu can get daylight bulbs that are 650 lumens or 1300 lumens. I prefer super super bright light, so I get the highest lumens possible, which only come in those compact fluorescent (corkscrew looking bulbs). But my light fixture always burned out one of the bulbs no matter what because it couldn't handle those types. Hubs got it to finally work for me and now I have a combination of bulbs.

I only tell you this so that if you get ott/daylight bulbs and they aren't as amazing as they are made out to be, there could be some other factors involved.

Great to know about verilux at BBY thank you!

I have daylight bulbs in the ceiling and additional bulbs in the vertical floor lamp - one of the bulbs is daylight white and second is the usual yellowish tint. I like the light quality b/c it's annoying to have the bluish-white tint on the photos - my camera sets the white balance way better when it's not medicine-white.

Mine were labeled Ott but really do have a bluish glow. I can use them to work but not to match colors - I have to do that in the daytime using the sunlight coming in. The bluish tint throws me off.

So Ott and daylight are the same thing only with different lumens?

Which bulbs give the whitest light? That is what I want. Are daylight bulbs the same as Ott lights? I'm really not clear on that. It sounds like there is something out there a lot better than I have. Mine are the curly ones and I really would like a good bright light without the blue.

Maybe 1300 lumens fluorescent curly bulbs are what I want for the ceiling fan fixture.

Henri, if you go to home depot or lowe's, they have displays in the lightbulb section and they have a sample of each type of light so you can see how it looks. I think they have daylight and then bright white. I can't remember which one has less blue. But this will be the best way for you to tell what kind of light you like. I think all the big hardware stores have this kind of display now. They have a spot for you to hold your hand in the light to compare the colors, but you could bring a piece of colored cardstock or a photo and use that to decide.

You are awesome Vae - I didn't realize they would do that! Perfect answer, what I will do because my mind does not compute scientifically and the tech talk goes right over my head!

Henri Jean,

I believe that Ott lights are a specific brand of lamps for which they make special bulbs. I was surprised to read that you used Ott light bulbs in a standard fixture because the ones I have are not the standard size. But I was thinking maybe they make the bulbs for standard fixtures too because I would consider them for my room. But this thread has taught me that I can get daylight bulbs at the hardware store, and I'm pretty happy to hear that.

~ Jane

Jane, I've had that same exact question about Ott lights. I like my lights and don't want to buy an entirely new lamp.

I need to get to the store and check out daylight bulbs. I've heard good things about them from non-crafty people who just like the light. The trick will be finding ones that are incandescent or LED; I won't use CFLs.

I'm positive Doreen - I bought them in Michaels and they are very clearly marked "Ott" but were unbelievable expensive.

I found a very helpful article about lighting and the effects of it on the colors - with the kelvin scale showing the temp of light and the appearance of the color.
http://www.stanprokopenko.com/blog/2009/06/choosing-light-bulb-art-studio/
basically, OTT lights are at 5000K, and one of the commenters note that 5000K seems bluish to many people, and recommends to use bulbs with 4500 K which will give a little softer daylight.

Thank you Olesya - that really does help!

I use the Ott ones in my regular fixtures too. Henri, I think I learned that from you.

I use the OTT lights in my regular fixtures as well. HOWEVER, the same lights at the hardware store are much cheaper. to be fair, i replace an OTT light like once every 3-4 years.....

I have TERRIBLE lighting in my craft room....I never want to do much in there at night...
I think tomorrow, I will have to go in search of daylight bulbs or at least some alternative for the light fixture. Thanks, everyone!

DH put the light fixture up and just put in regular (low wattage) bulbs because he doesn't even think about poor little ol' me working in here at night!

I have 4 ott lightbulbs which is too much, I think I want to find 2 daylight bulbs to replace the other two and I think it will balance out - still bright enough to work with but not so much blue!