7 reasons to change from CFL bulbs to CREE LED bulbs

This post is brought to you by Cree Bulbs. All opinions are my own. I will only share products and reviews in this space when I feel strongly about the product and believe it's worth sharing with others.

When news stories started to break about the fact that incandescent light bulbs were going to become a thing of the past, my husband went immediately out to the store and bought boxes and boxes of bulbs. 

It's not that we're anti-energy savings and greener options for our home, it's that we both HATE the way CFL bulbs light up our home. Words like cold and dull come to mind when I think of CFL bulbs. Not to mention the fact that walking into a room and flipping the switch doesn't mean you'll be bathed in warm, beautiful light. Instead you'll be greeted by a dull, grey-cast light that needs time to warm up to full brightness (which, let's be honest, isn't really that bright.)

Dan changing out the kitchen pendant light. Won't have to do this again for a VERY long time.

Yes, I have so many other things to worry about in my life, but I was honestly a little panicky about not being able to find good light bulbs anymore. And I encouraged my husband's over-buying of bulbs.

So when I was contacted by Cree to see if I wanted to try out their LED bulbs, I was pretty quick to sign on. If they could truly do what they said in their email to me--"warm light, instant on, energy-saving", I was more than willing to give them a workout in my big old farmhouse where we secretly hoard incandescent bulbs in the basement. 

We're coming up on 3 months of Cree Bulb use in our home and here's what you should know:

1. They turn on right away. There's no warm-up time. Flip the switch and let there be light.

2. They light the room just like an incandescent lightbulb. They give off warm, strong light that feels inviting and comfortable in all the rooms where I use them.

3. They last forever. The first places we switched over to Cree bulbs were in the most annoying places to change the bulbs. First on the list, the pendant that dangles over the kitchen island. The bulbs have a 25,000-hour lifetime (an incandescent lightbulb has about a 1000-hour lifetime), so one bulb change is going to last us a really long time. No more climbing on the kitchen island and dealing with the fragile pendant? Done.

One of the next places I wanted a CREE LED bulb was at my bedside table. It provides warm, soft light for reading, especially at night before bed. 

4. They use 85% less energy than incandescent bulbs.

5. They are mercury free. The other thing I hated about CFLs was the fear of breaking them and dealing with proper, safe disposal. And because these LED blubs from CREE last longer, they are less wasteful (and less toxic.)

6. They are dimmable. If you're one of those fancy people with dimming light switches CREE's newest 4Flow Filament design will work with most dimmers. It is made from durable shatter-proof plastic but has cross-flow ventilation that cools the LED. (And it can be used inside and out!)

7. They are priced to be affordable. Cree's standard (A19) bulb is under the ten dollar mark at Home Depot. 

So if switching out your bulbs to CFLs makes you feel a little depressed, like it did me, Cree's LED bulbs will be your new best friend. Find out more about the different types of bulbs they offer by visiting www.creebulb.com.

This post is part of a sponsorship with CreeBulbs. All opinions are my own. 

To each her own

Above my kitchen sink are long open shelves made of wood that Dan robbed from the barn when we were remodeling the Woodlawn kitchen. Smack in the middle of those shelves, right above the sink sits four rows of drinking of glasses. We've got all kinds--a few leftover from my wedding registry, colored ball jars, IKEA "we need more glasses" cheap ones, and all the Preakness glasses Dan gets for the girls each year at Christmas. 

We've amassed quite a collection, so you'd think when a person goes to the sink at lunch to grab herself a glass of water, she'd have a whole plethora of glasses to choose from. 

Think again.

My kids have drinking glass issues.

Need some orange juice for breakfast? Grab a glass off the shelf. Come back fifteen minutes later for 3 tablespoons of water to wash down your vitamin? Heaven forbid you use the same defiled glass! Grab another! They're all right there! Easy access! Just prop open the sink cupboard. Stand tippy-toed on the bottom shelf and pull one more glass down from the shelf. There are so many to choose from! Need a morning snack and a glass of milk? Well those glasses from breakfast are disgusting by now. No civilized child would drink from such nonsense. The only polite thing to do would be to get another clean glass from the shelf. 

Maybe, if they rinsed out their glasses and put them in the dish rack right below the shelf, it wouldn't be such a big deal. Or maybe if they opened up the dishwasher right beside the sink and put them in the top rack, it wouldn't be such a big deal. Or maybe it would. Because at the end of every day I'm staring at a rack full or sink full of kind of but not really dirty glasses.

Then, this simple picture from SmallThings popped into my head and I thought, I HAVE FOUND MY SOLUTION.

A few moments on Amazon, a quick trip through the Target "hook" aisle (which is particularly extensive this time of year) and now we have the solution to the using-fifty-bajillion-glasses-in-a-day-problems. 

On the kitchen island, directly behind the sink I hung four "command strip" hooks (so I wouldn't damage the paint on my island in case I decided this wasn't where I wanted them.) On each hook now hangs a coleman camp mug* for each child, with their initial blazoned across the front in gold. If it has a "B" on it, Birdy assumes it's hers. (Note: This applies to all things. Not just mugs.) Big E for Emma. Little e for Elizabeth. M for Mary. The mugs are right at their level. And they fit practically perfectly under the lip of the butcher block counter. 

Need a drink? Grab YOUR cup. Rinse it out! Stick it back on your hook! Need a drink again? Grab YOUR cup. Rinse it out! Stick it back on your hook! Drink until you can drink no more. Just grab your cup!

People. This is working. I am getting to the end of the day and my dishwasher isn't just full of glasses. Even better they are doing it without my even having to ask which means I have reached success level.  

My work here is done.

Woodlawn Update \\ Weekend kitchen projects

If you're reading this through a feed reader, then phew! Things are looking pretty cleaned up and fresh around here. I made the move to the most updated Squarespace version, gave the blog a quick facelift and tried to get all my ducks in a row so that this move would be a little more seamless than the last one. I still have a few kinks to work out, a few things that didn't make the move with me that I need to bring back (like an updated "what we're reading" list!) but overall I'm so happy with the newness. With a week of nursing sick kids, it took a little longer, but I'm back...and I owe you chocolate. That's coming. 

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Woodlawn kitchen: BEFORE. Sometime this summer.

In the meantime, I'm sharing a quick Woodlawn update. It has been so long! 

Dan finally knocked one of those nagging little projects off the to-do list this weekend. When we (and by "we" I mean Dan) were frantically getting this kitchen up and running before our move-in, we left the backsplash decision on the back burner. As Dan was cutting down countertops, he had an extra run of butcher block, so that became our temporary backsplash around the sink. 

Even though it was attached and sealed with silicone, my apparently wild water antics washing dishes (actually I blame it all on the kids) meant that water was still finding ways to get in any possible crack or crevice. 

A few weeks ago, Dan decided to take off the backsplash (on Christmas Eve, I believe. He's always had a knack for timing house projects) before any damage was done to the actual counter tops and we've been drying out and religiously oiling what was left behind. 

With a cold, rainy weekend before him, my "I get a little antsy without a project" husband decided to finally tackle the backsplash project. We went with a simple, white subway tile. I really didn't want to do anything too strong behind the kitchen sink. I didn't want to make a statement, but wanted to keep things looking clean and bright. The project was so easy (for me, the photographer) and finished in just the weekend. 

Tiles went up on Saturday. And you'll notice that we still keep the coffee pot plugged in a ready. Priorities, people. And on Sunday afternoon, by the time I got home from my monster grocery shopping trip at Wegmans, he'd grouted AND cleaned up. 

This was my kind of project. Even though I love progress, it is a well-known fact around this house that the in-progress chaos makes me a little nutty. But this job was painless (for me), budget-friendly (all under $100!), and the results make me so very happy. 

Dan tells me the next things on his list are some hooks under those shelves for coffee mugs and another small set of shelves beside the stove for my jars of pantry staples. But first, we should probably fix that little drip coming out of the handle of the faucet. 

And by "we", I of course mean Dan.