I love house tours–Design Mom’s Living with Kids series or Design*Sponge’s sneak peeks are a few of my favorites. And without a doubt, I never tire of looking inside the workspaces of famously creative people.  It’s like peeking inside their minds–orderly, bright, minimalist, chaotic, maddening, messy–I love seeing every range of the spectrum.

I have similar feelings when I step inside my husband’s den. When we first walked through Woodlawn and I saw that room, there was no question that it would be his, that he would love it and that it would be taken over by books.

My husband is a man of many books. Many, many books. (He would also tell you that it’s impossible to have too many books.) But his den is like peeking inside his brain and getting a glimpse of the things he’s studying and pondering. The things he enjoys, the things he’s always wanted to learn. The things he purposely leaves out on the stacks in hopes that his daughters might pick them up and start thumbing through the pages.

Our winter evenings usually consist of dinner, dishes, putting the kids to bed, some soccer on the television and then he disappears into his den until bed.

On the weekends, the kids are always drawn into the room. The pull of books and a comfortable sofa and the quiet–it’s usually the place I find them right after they complain about how utterly and ridiculously BORED they are. The best ideas come right after boredom, I believe.

But if there’s one thing about Dan’s den that isn’t so great it’s that it is also one of the darkest rooms in the house. And like a classic old farmhouse, the only light source comes from lamps that we have around the room. The lack of light is both lovely and cozy, but also impractical for the amount of reading and studying that goes on in the room. And while I definitely want to add more light to the space, I didn’t want to lose the warmth and mood of the room. The wooden furnitures built by my husband with the help of this great supplier and also with some other websites (https://kitchenhome.co.uk/best-scroll-saw/), helps create the ambience which matches perfectly with the light emitted by the lamp. 

You may remember that when rumors started to fly around about the disappearing standard light bulb, Dan began buying them up in bulk. We both detest the cold, dull light that comes from CFL bulbs and I found myself feeling a little panicky about that being my only lighting option of the future.

But hallelujah light lovers, there’s a much better option out there. Over the past 6 months I’ve been really excited to be working with Cree Bulb to try out their LED lights and slowly switch over our home to LED bulbs. I’ve been sold out from the beginning and even as my “test drive” has continued, I’m still impressed by the quality and warmth of the light. AND, I’ve yet to change any Cree Bulb in my house since November. They use 85% less energy than an incandescent bulb and have a 25,000-hour lifetime. (Incandescent bulbs generally last 1,000 hours.) And my favorite feature besides the warm light that they give off is that they turn on instantly. There’s no wait for full light.

In Dan’s den they have been perfect. Since this room gets most of it’s action after dark, the Cree Bulbs provide consistent light that is easy to read by and still give off a cozy, inviting warm light.

Whether you’re a lover of light, or more of a tuck into a dark corner with a lamp and a book–I’ve found the Cree LED bulbs to be the best solution in both situations. Six months in and still happily giving them my stamp of approval.

You can find Cree LED bulbs at Home Depot and read more about how they work and the different types of bulbs available at Cree.com.

This series on CREE bulbs is part of a sponsorship, however, all opinions are my own, honest reactions and experiences to testing out the bulbs.