Giving the Simple Gift of Light #9 You might think that crafting lighting designs for hundreds of homes would get boring after a few years. How many ways can you light a kitchen before it all starts to blend together? As it turns out, thankfully, the answer is “to infinity, and beyond!” Creativity is tough […]
Would you rather invest in expensive electrical equipment or your quality of life? Recently one of our custom integration partners asked me why homeowners should choose digitally controlled lighting over panelized dimming systems. As a lighting professional, the choice is so clear to me that it can be difficult to imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to go […]
The Simple Gift of Light #8 I am looking out my window as I write, and the neighborhood is filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of autumn. It is the time of year when, in Wisconsin where I currently live, we pull out our puffy jackets, fleece zip-ups, stocking caps, and gloves. We light […]
Giving the Simple Gift of Light #8 “THE CLAW CHOOSES WHO WILL GO AND WHO WILL STAY” – Alien #17, Toy Story Sometimes choosing light fixtures can seem like an arcade game, and that is not a good thing. You take a good look at the products but cannot quiet the nagging suspicion that there […]
The Simple Gift of Light #7 The key benefits of light- gentle mornings, energetic days, relaxing evenings, and restful nights- come only when we consume the right light at the right time. But what makes some lighting good and other lighting bad? There are seemingly endless technical considerations that quickly get overwhelming and, honestly, few […]
Giving the Simple Gift of Light #8 Lighting design is at once quite simple and quite challenging, and the concept of viewing angle is a perfect example of this paradox. Simply put, light travels in a straight line and so does our vision, which makes predicting glare and comfort easy. Easy, that is, so long […]
One of the perennially difficult aspects of the role of lighting designer is the struggle over budget allocation. Lighting is most often viewed as a utility or commodity, something to be installed as cheaply as possible, but that too often robs the homeowners of comfort, relaxation, energy, and more. So how do we help homeowners […]
Giving the Simple Gift of Light #7 Here’s a tough truth of lighting design: most rooms will be better served with more lights than you might think. If you are sitting in your living room, look around. Count how many light fixtures (or ceiling fan lights) you have in your room. If it is less […]
The Simple Gift of Light #6 Light is an incredible gift, a powerful tool and beautiful natural phenomenon we can both use and enjoy. As I lighting design professional, I spend most of my working hours figuring out how to help people enjoy the benefits of light but seldom invest much energy (no pun intended) […]
Giving the Simple Gift of Light #6 Welcome to the capital city of relaxation, also known as your Living Room. In my own home, the living room is notable as the location of The Couch. Yes, I capitalized it and no, I do not really refer to our couch that way. In fact, it is […]