I recently went to a friends house and noticed in her bathroom that she had CFL spirals in her wall light fixtures in her bathroom. While this is energy efficient and kudos to her for that, it looked, how shall I say, ‘aesthetically displeasing’.
Maybe she wasn’t aware, that you don’t have to settle for spirals when choosing a Compact Fluorescent Bulb. Nowadays, there is a lot of variety out there.
You can put a normal round bulb CFL, also known more technically as an CFL A-Lamp in bathroom light fixtures. Or if you’ve got one of those big round bulbs, technically known as Globes, you can get CFL Globes to replace the incandescent ones.
If you have a decorative candle style incandescent bulb, you can replace those with a CFL Candle bulb.
Our bathroom has a large panel of 8 Globe bulbs. When we first moved in the house, there were 8 40W incandescent bulbs in there. That place was sizzling, literally!
You didn’t need the heat on in the winter time in the bathroom, the bulbs provided all the warmth you needed. I felt I needed sunblock and sunglasses from all that glare. We have since swapped those bulbs out for 3 CFL (some of the sockets are empty). We get enough light and the room is a lot cooler.
So, unless you really like the shape and look of a spiral, try a more natural fit CFL in your bathroom light fixtures.