Not all that is new in lighting is much better. One of the newest trends in architectural and residential lighting is tubes of light about 1” in diameter. When I started my career a rather good number of years ago, we called these T8 Fluorescent Tubes, and they were universally loathed for their institutional feel. […]
The stars of stage and screen spend a good deal of time in their dressing rooms in front of the mirror, checking to make sure they are ready for the literal spotlight. You may not be going onstage, but that is no excuse for poor lighting at your vanity. Leave the film noir to the […]
Light can help us. And we need help. Every so often I need to take a break from reading the news lest my outlook turn irreversibly grim. (Weird, I just used “lest” in a sentence.) Even forgetting climate disasters, wars, and political messes is not enough to turn the tide of news positive. We- humans- […]
Drumroll, please! Okay, that was unnecessary, but I do feel like celebrating this first post in my 2023 DON’T/DO THIS series. I did a run of these a few years back that were featured on Houzz.com, but I’m older, wiser, and…well, at least older. So here I go again, revisiting, revising, expanding, and enhancing my […]
I am very, very excited about my writing plans for this blog in the year ahead. The excitement for this coming year began more than twelve months ago when I set a plan for my 2022 posts. I thoroughly enjoyed blogging in 2022. For the first time, my writing was guided by a year-long plan […]
‘Tis the season…for lots and lots of darkness in the upper Midwest. Today there are exactly nine hours between sunrise and sunset, leaving fifteen in the dark. This is the season, in other words, for plug-in solutions to add a little light to my life. And that makes for a fitting end to my 2022 […]
The third article in my series on Lighting Hope is out in Designing Lighting! I learned a few things writing this article about the future of power that surprised me, particularly that my focus on low voltage lighting may be suitable for the near future…but there could be something even more revolutionary ahead. Digital power […]
I have fallen into the habit of stating that while I personally celebrate Christmas, professionally I celebrate Winter Solstice. Winter Solstice, which for me in Wisconsin, USA, is December 21st, marks the point in the Earth’s annual orbit around the sun where we “tip” back towards longer days. As a lighting designer, that means that […]
An unpredicted grand finale to my 1THING posts takes me to the darkest places of our homes. It is early December as I sit down to write the last 1THING: New Build post of the year. Like my own life, I started with a plan and a clear vision for where I was headed with […]
I am working on a article extolling the virtues of low voltage power distribution and I find myself wondering, as Mike Teolis from Colorbeam said, “can anyone give me a valid reason why we need 120 volt infrastructure for a 14 watt LED putting out 1000 lumens?” I love to geek out on lighting technology […]
A year ago, when I was planning my 2022 blog writing, I imagined a series on gear where I could talk shop about different fixtures and technologies. I saw myself geeking out on light bulbs, recessed adjustable downlights, tape light, step lights, and any other piece of equipment we use in our work every day. […]