A few weeks ago, SYLVANIA asked us to participate in their Room Makeover Challenge, and we jumped at the opportunity. The goal was to remind everyone of how easy it can be to conduct a weekend room makeover, and to consider how LED light bulbs can play a part.
LED Light Bulbs
We’ve already covered some of the great benefits of LED lighting in the home even as they compare to CFL bulbs. LED’s use far less energy than incandescent bulbs and about half as much energy as CFL’s. LED bulbs feature an incredible lifespan, reaching into decades with average use. It’s a significant investment to convert your home to LED lighting, but these bulbs will save you money in the long run.
It’s important to consider LED’s for your home as Congress has already passed federal legislation that will require bulbs to be 30% more energy efficient than current incandescent bulbs by 2012 to 2014. CFL and LED bulbs are the response to more stringent standards set down by the The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and you can expect LED’s to become common-place (and cheaper) as more manufacturers begin to offer them.
SYLVANIA has a good selection of LED options. I tested out their A-line, 12 watt bulb and was impressed by the light output and color temperature. It’s bigger than the Philips 8 watt version but should fit in most fixtures.
The Challenge
The challenge was to make over a space in the course of a weekend. SYLVANIA armed us with a $500 Lowe’s gift card to purchase supplies and materials for the makeover as well as a supply of SYLVANIA Ultra A-Line 12-watt LED light bulbs. Fred and Kim had a spare bedroom that desperately need some attension, and we decided to convert it into a kids bedroom. Here’s what we planned:
- Fred and Kim’s house has stipple ceilings in every room. Rather than replace their ceiling, they opted to sand down the stipple ceiling to reduce the stalactites. This is a great compromise as it’s easy to perform and effectively opens up the room by reducing shadows.
- A fresh coat of paint can go a long way in making a space look fresh and new. It’s one of the cheapest, easiest ways to makeover a room. We decided to paint every surface- ceiling, walls and trim.
- Pretty Handy Girl recently wrote about the importance of prep work before painting. She states that 80% of a successful paint job is the prep and I agree. This room needed primer, several holes patched, gaps in the window trim filled and a thorough cleaning.
- The window treatments were original to the house and needed to be replaced. Lowes offers Levelor brand blinds that can be cut to custom sizes to fit windows perfectly. We choose room-darkening, cellular style blinds for both windows.
- Replacing electrical outlets, light switches and covers is another inexpensive way to make a room look like new. Many older homes have off-white hardware and we decided to replace them with white fixtures and covers.
This was a lot of work to cram into one weekend but we were excited to join in the Room Makeover Challenge. Stay tuned as we share how the makeover went and the big reveal. If you want to win a Lowes gift card and SYLVANIA lighting products, head over to their facebook page to learn how.
This post is sponsored by SYLVANIA. I received a Lowes gift card for my participation, but the review and opinions are my own.
Can’t wait to see the transformation! Thanks for mentioning my prepping a room for painting post ;-). So glad I’m not the only one that obsesses about the prep work.
While I was working on this room, I was thinking how people have very strong opinions about paint but that proper prep goes a long way to a good finished product. The next day I saw your post!
Cool! What a great opportunity!