VIDEO: Inhabitat Lighting Makeover – Inhabitots Editor Julie Seguss Gets a Money-Saving Light Bulb Overhaul

We headed over to Brooklyn to give a light bulb overhaul to the managing editor of<a href="http://www.inhabitots.com"> Inhabitots</a>, our very own <a href="http://www.inhabitots.com/author/julie/">Julie Seguss</a>!

Julie is going to be a new mom in just a few months, so saving money is of the utmost importance right now, but she still wanted to keep her Park Slope home illuminated with a warm, bright glow. In just a few hours, the Inhabitat lighting makeover crew (aka <a href="http://inhabitat.com/about/">Inhabitat editors</a> <a href="http://inhabitat.com/author/jill/">Jill</a> &amp; <a href="http://inhabitat.com/author/yuka/">Yuka</a>) were able to swap out all of Julie's electricity-guzzling incandescents and halogens with energy-efficient <a href="http://inhabitat.com/philips-to-unveil-the-worlds-first-led-replacement-for-the-75-watt-bulb/">Philips LEDs</a>, and we think you'll be impressed with the monthly savings we tallied up for Julie at the end of the day.

Julie and her husband loved the overhead lighting in their beautiful home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, but they noticed that their electricity bill was quite pricey every month.

Inhabitat Editor-in-Chief Jill Fehrenbacher shows Julie a Philips AmbientLED that will replace the energy-guzzling halogen lights in her kitchen.

Jill and Julie head to Home Depot to search for new energy-efficient LED bulbs .

Jill and Julie choosing which LED bulbs to purchase.

Using Jill's lighting expertise, they make their light bulb replacement decision.

Jill compares the halogen Par30 bulbs in Julie's kitchen with the more energy-efficient Philips Par30 LED bulbs she plans to replace them with.

Jill changes out an old halogen for an efficient Philips LED replacement we purchased at Home Depot.

Julie's spacious living room and kitchen are filled with sunshine during the day but at night, it takes 11 75W halogen flood bulbs to light up the space. Luckily, it didn't take much elbow grease at all for Inhabitat editor-in-chief <a href="http://inhabitat.com/author/jill">Jill Fehrenbacher </a>to swap out those energy-guzzlers with 11 <a href="http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-light-bulbs/ambientled-12w-par30l-soft-white-dimmable-046677410285/prd/en/">12W Philips Par30 LED flood bulbs</a>.

As you can see in the video, Julie's very pleased with the result and the amount of money she'll save with this simple switch in her living room and kitchen. <p> <h3>JULIE WILL SAVE:</h3> $183.48 per year

Though you might not pay much mind to them, your hallway lights can really add to your monthly electricity bill if you're using halogens or incandescents.

The Philips Par20 AmbientLED we used to replace the halogens in Julie's hallway.

We didn't want to ignore this small space in Julie's home because there are big savings to be found there (at least enough for a few new bottles and swaddles).

We swapped out her 2 60W Mini Halogen Reflector Bulbs and replaced with <a href="http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-light-bulbs/ambientled-7w-par20-soft-white-dimmable-046677418427/prd/en/">7W Philips Par20 LED Flood bulbs</a> for a savings of $21.84 per year. <h3>JULIE WILL SAVE:</h3> $21.84 per year

Contrary to popular belief, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/philips-to-unveil-the-worlds-first-led-replacement-for-the-75-watt-bulb/">LED lights can be just as warm and bright as incandescents</a>, so unlike other makeovers, the point of our lighting makeover was that Julie couldn't see a difference with her new lights at all - until she looked at how much less she paid on her next monthly energy bill.

Julie's bedroom before the makeover - mismatched lamps and energy-hogging incandescents.

We did want to punch up the fun factor a bit though so we did give Julie's bedroom a little extra pop with two new matching yellow lamps.

We swapped out the light in Julie's home office and it looked just as bright as it did when it was lit by an incandescent light.

Julie shows Jill her office, which was being lit by incandescent bulbs.

We swapped out the 60W Standard Incandescent Light Bulbs in Julie's office with 12.5W Ambient Leds.

The bathroom was also not doing so well in terms of lighting and was being lit by 2 60W Incandescent bulbs in an overhead ceiling sconce.

We swapped the incandescent bulb in Julie's bathroom out for a Philips 12.5W AmbientLED.

The incandescent bulbs that were lighting up those rooms just weren't cutting it so we swapped out two of her overhead 60W Standard Incandescent Light Bulbs with <a href="http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-light-bulbs/ambientled-12.5w-a19-soft-white-dimmable-046677409906/prd/en/">17W Philips AmbientLED Bulbs</a>.

<h3><big>JULIE WILL SAVE:</big></h3> <h2><big><big>$208.76 per year</big></big></h2>

<h2><big><big><big>HOW MUCH WILL JULIE SAVE ALTOGETHER?</big></big></big></h2> So now for the moment of truth - how much will Julie save after our lighting makeover? We swapped out a total of 11 halogen and 15 incandescent bulbs in Julie's house and her total annual savings (based on the cost per kWh noted on her past energy bills) comes to<strong> $411.36</strong>! Now, that's a lot of diapers! Don't forget to watch a video of the whole makeover above and click through a photo gallery for a play by play of our favorite highlights. And if you have a baby on the way or would just like to save some extra money on your monthly costs, don't be afraid to try your own lighting makeover in your own home! <h3><big>IN TOTAL JULIE WILL SAVE:</big></h3> <h2><big><big>$411.36 per year</big></big></h2>

That's a lot of diapers for Julie's new bundle of joy!

Even Julie's dog Leo was excited about the makeover - though he didn't quite express it.