I’ve already chronicled my pursuit of achieving 100% coverage in my home’s light fixtures with LED bulbs.

One impediment that has slowed my progress has been cost: when Costco had a great deal on 3-packs of LED bulbs I stocked up, twice.

But LED still isn’t “cheap” per se. So I try to wait for sales before buying more.

Just last week, I elected to replace the brass carriage-style exterior lamps that flank my garage door.

They were original to the house, so almost 20 years old, and they looked it: weather-beaten and corroded.

So, we selected two more modern-looking outdoor fixtures. The fact that the new fixtures use LEDs was a strong factor in their favor.

 

However, as the saying goes, every solution has two problems. Although in this case there was only one.

The bright white light of the LEDs by the garage looks great at night, but the bulb by the entry way and the front door was a soft-white.

Not only was it noticeably dimmer, but more of a yellow-white than bright-stark-white.

The epitome of first world problems, I know.

And of course, in my stash of spare bulbs, I didn’t have a bright-white, high output bulb to match.

That meant I had to go to the hardware store the next day.

That’s when I learned two things:

The first, is that it is possible for me to go to the hardware store and only buy one thing. *GASP!*

The second is that most LED bulbs are moderate-brightness, soft-white.

I did find a high-brightness, bright-white bulb. But it was more money than I expected.

Your basic LED bulb around here now runs about $6. Under five if you get them on sale.

This one was nine bucks. NINE!

Nothing for it, I needed it. So I bought it.

At least now my exterior lighting matches.