There are more lighting products than ever on the shelves, but that can make it tough for a homeowner to make smart choices. Why is lighting getting harder? How can we wade through the hype and get better lighting in our homes? The last fifteen years have seen the biggest disruption in lighting since Thomas […]
Category: Design Theory
LIGHT from the Beginning
I think light is pretty important, but it seems I don’t know the half of it. I am currently reading LIGHT: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age by Bruce Watson. The book is of the micro-history genre, an in-depth look at an intensely focused topic. This time, the topic happens to illuminate […]
Another Houzz Listicle
24 months ago I did not know the meaning of “listicle,” but now I write them. A list + article becomes a listicle, or short story with distinct bullet points. I added the requisite beautiful photos and reshaped my lighting larceny post to become the latest Houzz story. Enjoy! 5 Common Lighting Mistakes and How to Avoid Them […]
Top Ten Reasons to Hire a Lighting Designer
Disclaimer: I am a lighting designer. I want you to hire me (or a lighting designer like me) because I need to eat. But I am not writing this article to get more work. I just want you to think about light and lighting differently. There are two schools of thought on why you might hire […]
Lighting Lies
I was thumbing through the latest issue of This Old House last night and stopped cold at a beautiful advertisement for a lighting company. “Good Lighting is Everything,” it said. That may be a stretch, but I’ll take it. And then I got just a bit angry (with apologies to my wife for the outburst) […]
Vinyl SLighting
The locally quarried stone and stained concrete shapes that make up Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic Fallingwater are key ingredients of its success, but the maintenance is expensive. Natural stone needs care and mortar; concrete cracks and spalls. So last year the Foundation that oversees Fallingwater made the sensible choice to reduce maintenance costs. They covered the house in […]
Lighting Larceny
COMMON MISTAKES THAT STEAL YOUR COMFORT AND JOY They are all around us, lurking in our homes and threatening to harm us every day and every night! Be very afraid! Stay tuned for updates! Oh no! I like to think of myself as the Evangelist of Light, spreading the good news that light- the first […]
The Electrical Walk Through
Sadly, my latest article on Houzz.com received about 10,000 views in the first week. Why is this sad? Because way more people need to prepare for their electrical walk-through, when most residential lighting “design” is done with a Sharpie and the “you need about four cans here” approach. Make it 10,001 by reading the article […]
Mix & Match Lighting
I live by the rules. But am I wrong? One of those rules is to never mix warm white bulbs (yellowish) with cool white bulbs (bluish). I learned this rule back in the fluorescent day by looking at ceilings where some bulbs were pink and some were blue and the end result is that the […]
Lighting isn’t brain surgery…?
I frequently hear myself saying that lighting is not brain surgery, that getting it right just requires the attention of a dedicated experienced professional. I might be wrong. (Not literally. I could never do brain surgery because I would pass out as soon as the knife dug in. I’m getting faint just thinking about it. […]