Introducing the Plumen Bulb! Plus, a Light Bulb Refresher Course

We Love the New Plumen Bulb

Finally! A compact fluorescent that’s as beautiful as it is energy-efficient. Many of our Industrial lighting options were made to show the bulb, and it’s exciting to have such an artful bulb to show — especially since it’s five times as efficient as an incandescent.

Here’s a little history: The Plumen bulb was developed by a group in the UK and now it is available to sell in the US.  In the UK, this bulb was given The Brit Insurance Design of the Year award in 2011.  It’s no wonder: This 11W, low energy, high output light bulb adds a fresh design element to open or clear shades and bare bulb fixtures.

For example, here it is shown with our new cylindrical shade for our versatile Hood fixture.

Light Bulbs 101

With the changing technologies and the many choices we have today, picking a light bulb can be a little overwhelming.  Here are a few tidbits about what it all means.

 Lumens vs. Wattage

A Lumen is the measure of the total light emitted from a source.  Light bulbs, by law, list their output in Lumens.  The higher the Lumens, the more light output.  Wattage is the amount of power that it takes to light the bulb.

Efficiency is measured in Lumens per Watt.  Think of it like miles per gallon in an automobile.  You might be able to travel 800 miles on a tank of gas, but what does that say about your efficiency?  Does it take 20 gallons of gas to go 800 miles (40 miles per gallon) or 80 gallons of gas (10 miles per gallon)?  There is a big difference and you need to know both total miles and the number of gallons to calculate your efficiency.  Right?

Likewise, with light bulbs, you need to know both Lumens and Wattage to calculate the efficiency.  Two bulbs can both emit 800 Lumens, but knowing how many Watts it took to power that bulb gives you the bulb’s efficiency.  Is it an 8 Watt CFL or a 40 Watt Incandescent?  The CFL produces 100 Lumens per Watt and the incandescent only produces 20 Lumens per Watt.  So, the CFL is five times more efficient.

Color

Color temperatures for light bulbs are measured in units called Kelvin (K).  Most light bulbs for home use are in the 2700K-5500K range.  Higher numbers are called cooler temperatures or colors and have a bluer look.  Lower numbers are called warmer temperatures or colors.  For example, a candle flame is 1850K and moon light is 4100K.

Below is a summary for the four types of bulbs that we carry:

LED

• Color: Warm White at 2700K
• Brightness: 450 or 800 Lumens
• Lifetime: Tested to 25,000 hours
• Efficiency: 56 or 64 lumens/watt

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs- GU 24 or Screw-in

Compact Fluorescent Bulb

• Color: Warm White to Daylight (2700K-5500K)
• Brightness: range from 630 to 1850 Lumens
• Lifetime: most are 6,000-15,000 hours
• Efficiency: 50-68 lumens/watt

Incandescent Bulbs

• Color: Warm White to Daylight (2700K-5500K)
• Brightness: range from 600 to 1230 Lumens
• Lifetime: most are 750-1,000 hours
• Efficiency: 11-12 lumens/watt

Carbon Filament Bulbs

• Color: Warm, decorative glow (not an exact measure, but less than 2000K)
• Brightness: approximately 340 Lumens
• Lifetime: No standard rating
• Efficiency: approximately 8 lumens/watt

New Mid-Century Modern Bath Hardware

Q hole new suite of Mid-Century Modern bath hardware!

This July, we are introducing a new line of bath hardware. The main components of this line — the square backplates and support arms — are modeled after the Hall-Mack Aristochrome bath series. This was a very popular and well-crafted line that saw many style variations over the decades. To the best of our knowledge, this style was introduced in the late 1950s and produced for several years. the dished square shape of the backplate had already been established as a mainstream motif of mid-century hardware in cabinet pulls and fancy door plates (a little foreshadowing here- check back in August). We decided to add a second shape: a star backplate. Our star is loosely translated from a bath product of the 50s and 60s. Since the starburst is the de facto emblem of the era, we thought we would be missing something important by not having that in our bath hardware line).  Here’s a look at the original Hall-Mack line:

So whether your style is simple and understated, flamboyant, or somewhere in between, our new bath line has something for your home. We have designed this line to have a mix-and-match capability: choose all squares, all stars, or add some of each. And this is fun — the square backplates can be turned on their ends to make diamond backplates. Choose from Polished or Brushed Chrome, two durable and period authentic finishes.

Summer Porch Project Ideas

What is that bright orange orb in the sky? UFO? Meteor plunging toward the earth?  No, it s the SUN.  Finally, the days are getting longer and warmer and we are coming out of our winter slumber here in the Pacific Northwest.  The first thing that we notice is the outside of our home needs some TLC.

This is a great time of year to think about the outdoor projects that we all put off during the winter months.  Longer days mean there is more time to get things done around the house, especially outside.

Here are some great summer projects:

Exterior door sets!  Check out our 11 exterior door set options available in up to 6 finishes.  What better way to make a grand entrance than with a grand door set.  Greet your summer guests with a new look.  Here is the Barnes entry set. 

If you are updating your entry sets, don’t forget the coordinating door hinges.  Complete the look with our ball-tip or steeple-tip, solid brass door hinges.

Summer is a popular time for getting houses painted.  A fresh coat of paint usually means new house numbers and maybe a new mailbox.  Check out our house numbers and mailboxes.

Don’t forget the flag holders, doorbell buttons and thermometers!

Two New Ways to Enjoy Hardware

In February, we introduced two new finishes to 20 of our best selling hardware items.  Antique Copper is a rich, aged finish that will look great with other shades of copper or as a complement to other aged finishes.  The gentle  hand-burnishing makes these pieces of hardware look as if they have been around for years.  Brushed Brass is a soft take on brass, but will blend well with any shade of brass. The brushing gives the feeling that these items have been installed, used and polished for generations, but they are sophisticated enough to work in today’s interiors.

Both of these finishes coordinate with two of our lighting finishes to pull together the lighting and hardware in a room.  Check out these two new finishes online, in our new catalogue or in-store.

A Rose City by any other name…

Sometimes we get asked how we come up with the names for our fixtures and hardware.  And sometimes we don’t.  For the dozens of customers who are dying to know, here is a little background information.

For lighting fixtures, we name them after Portland and Oregon streets, neighborhoods and parks.  We have a list of about 2,000 names to reference.  Sometimes the name really fits the fixture.  For example, the Rose City is one of our best selling fixtures.  It just so happens, it was given the nickname of our fine city.  Very fitting, I think.  There are other times when we love a name and wait for the right fixture to come along that just seems to fit.  An example would be the Bullfinch.

The aptly named Bullfinch

Since I started working at Rejuvenation over two years ago, every single time we needed to name a fixture, Tony, our Lighting Product Manager, had that on the list.  Every time he brought it up, we all shot him down.  It just didn’t fit anything we were working on at the time.  That is until we began development of the Gas Cage Family of Industrial fixtures.  Finally, Bullfinch had a fixture that was worthy of the bold, distinct name.  It is also in good company with the Leadbetter, Ironside and Rockwell fixtures in the same family.

But, when it comes to our Mid-Century Modern Lighting, we threw all of that convention out of the window.  We name those fixtures for Satellites.  It just works better.

Hardware, on the other hand, we name after Oregon explorers. I know, I know, you Portlandians know that many of the landmarks and street names in and around Portland are named for Oregon explorers.  So how is this different from Lighting you ask?  Sometimes, unfortunately, it is not.  Meet Davis the light fixture and Davis the interior door set.  Oops!  Lucky for us, one mounts on the ceiling and one mounts on a door.  Both highly useful items, but hardly interchangeable.  But I digress…

A little over two years ago, we decided to introduce a new line of switch plates.  The original series, made from forged brass, did not have a name and we needed a way to easily differentiate the two types, besides just referring to one as forged and one as stamped, a description that does not mean much to most people.  We decided they each needed a proper name.  It was clear to us that it should be a pair of names that go together, like Abbot and Costello (NOT Oregon explorers, by the way).   The obvious choice was Lewis and Clark!  It was obvious for a few reasons.  First, Lewis and Clark were probably the most famous pair of explorers.

Lewis Pushbutton Plates

But a little less obvious and more of an inside reason for our decision was that there was some controversy surrounding Meriwhether Lewis’ death.  Some believe it was suicide and others believe he was murdered.  In either case, we thought it fitting to name our pre-existing, forged- brass switch plate line Lewis and the new, stamped brass line, Clark, because we were not sure if Clark would complement our Lewis collection or kill it.  We are happy to report that it complements it nicely.  Besides, I always thought Clark lived a little in Lewis’ shadow, I mean we never refer to them as Clark and Lewis.