This past weekend, as I was strolling the aisles of Home Depot, shopping and sourcing out flooring for an upcoming kitchen rehab (stay tuned!), I stopped myself from bumping into one of those display boxes filled with these:
GE Stained glass light bulb.
At first, I thought it was a joke…how could all those colors shine through a lamp shade clear enough to actually look like stained glass? My friend and designated shopping cart driver Steve assured me that they do work. So, I thought I’d test it out and share my opinion of the GE Stained Glass Light
The first thing I did was to place it under a shade that was white, but, alas, I only had a cream colored shade. This is how it looked:
Stained glass GE Light bulb under a shade.
As you can see, the affect was not great. It looked more golden with smudges of reds and greens here and there. I certainly wouldn’t say “Wow!” Still, it was a cream, linen shade, so I can’t say this was the best way to show it off. I’m thinking, if I used a smaller shade in white, the colors might be able to come through better. I wanted a true test of its color value, so I thought I’d try removing the shade altogether to see how it might read reflecting off the wall. I remember the deconstructed lamp shade I made for our office, so I scampered off to fetch it. Here’s how it looked the second go around:
Stained glass exposed light bulb.
Ahhh! Much better! The refraction of light was gorgeous and very festive, and, because of the 25 watt bulb, it didn’t burn my eyes. These lights would also be fabulous in an exposed lamp like the one above, a chandelier or repurposed into a fun art piece. So…here is my rating of this GE Stained Glass Light Bulb:
• With a shade = C-
• Exposed (or with a small white, sheer shade) = B+
The GE Stained Glass Light is available at Home Depot ($5.47, on sale) or at amazon.com
Photography by Skaie Knox, HomeJelly
