From garden and pool parties to a good old fashioned BBQ to a quiet evening with friends, the nicer weather is encouraging more and more people to gather. If you will be entertaining this year we encourage you to give the lighting of your entertainment area some careful consideration. Whether old lights can be adjusted, new styles purchased, or even the addition of a simple dimmer switch, the correct lighting can greatly enhance the atmosphere at your next gathering.

            Grab a pen and paper and take a few minutes one evening to look at the lighting of your areas. Take a careful look at some of the typical problem areas and situations below:

-                          Note places where there are deep shadows. Should those dark spots be dark?

-                          Can existing lights be redirected or can a hidden light help alleviate the dark zones?

-                          Look for overly bright spots. Those flood lights for example. Do they create a bright glare for people sitting on the deck?

-                          Are steps or other possible tripping spots illuminated properly? Adding deck lights may be just the ticket.

-                          Are wall lights putting out the proper amount of light? A simple bulb change or even a good cleaning can greatly change the way the light is cast.

-                          Lastly, look at the overhead cover (if any) of your area. The addition of an outdoor pendant light can be an unobtrusive way to provide lighting and decorative focal point to an outdoor entertainment area while not impeding daytime shade/sun exposure.

Now, take those ideas and issues you noted on your paper and check out lightingshowroom.com . You will get some new ideas and options you had not previously considered. Then invite all those friends over and enjoy the new, properly lighted, area you created! Have fun!

Popularity: 15% [?]

Ceiling fans – summer and winter

            Many people install ceiling fans and only run them during the summer months. However, many professionals also suggest using them in the winter as well with a slight change.

            During the warmer seasons we like to feel the air blowing down on us to help give off a ‘wind chill’ effect and keep us and our living space cool. The reverse also holds true for the winter months however you need to reverse the direction of your fan. (Typically this is clockwise.) By reversing the direction, the warm air above will be circulated while not directly blowing down on you. This helps to even out the temperature in the room without the negative effect (in the colder months).

            If you find that your ceiling fan is not cooling off your home like it should this spring, make sure you check that it is running in the proper direction (counter clock-wise) to give maximum benefit to your household.

            Oh yes, clean the blades before you test it out if it has been unused over the winter.

            Should you decide to see what new styles and options are available in ceiling fans, head over to the lighting showroom. They have some very unique styles to give your room that perfect accent.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Post Light selection for new properties and sub-divisions

            Looking for a way to change the appearance and presentation of your yard or driveway? When was the last time you thought about updating your post light(s)? A new post light can make your home stand out and draw attention during both day and night.

            Choosing a post light style should receive careful consideration during the planning process.

We offer some tips and guidance below on selecting the right one for your property.

1.      With all of the finishes, pattern, materials, and styles available make sure that your post light selection fits into the overall theme for the individual property and surrounding homes. Consider more than just your front yard.

2.      Many companies offer collections of lights that include a post light, outdoor wall lights for wall placement, and even some landscape lights to match. These collections can often simplify your decision rather than needing to put together individual pieces and hoping they match.

3.      In addition to the tip above, we do want to call out that post lights and any other wall or landscape lights nearby should compliment each other if you are not using a collection. If not, the daytime look of the area will seem disjointed and the night time presentation of the light may also be inconsistent.

4.      All too often we see post lights just cemented into concrete. There are many different mount options available to add to the appearance of a post light positioned in such a fashion. Please consider the mounting and placement of any post light during the planning process.

With Spring landscaping projects on the way, now is also a good time to discuss the placement of a post light. Quite often post lights are just placed in the middle of a lawn possibly positioned to throw off a little light to the driveway or a walkway. Take some time to consider incorporating your post light into the overall landscape design. Placing the light in a landscape feature such as quarter round design where the driveway and walkway meet can achieve the light placement needed at night as well as drawing attention to another feature in the landscaping such as an address stone or plants.

For a truly stylish look consider doing a brick or stone column on or in which to place a post light. These pieces can be done standalone, such as at the entrance to a property with a long driveway or in a larger landscape setting.

If you need more help and ideas on selecting the right post light collection for your property, please give the professionals at lightingshowroom.com an opportunity to offer their suggestions.

Popularity: 20% [?]

With spring right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about the yard once again. As you start to plan your project (and you are planning it out, right?) be sure to consider what part light will play in the design. All too often we see where a path, sidewalk, or driveway next to a lawn could use some light and someone just grabs a box of solar landscape lights and presses them into the lawn next to it. Do not make this mistake. Soon the lawn mower, the kids, and the occasional car door will take their toll and your “new” lights will quickly lose their appeal and your money is wasted.

Instead, take some time to look at alternate sources of placement and lighting styles and get something you will enjoy for years to come.

Can a directional LED light be placed somewhere else to project light onto that same path?

Can a low voltage spotlight be placed into existing landscaping for a similar effect?

Look at the surrounding plants and trees; can down lighting from these provide path lighting as well as landscaping highlights?

            As you look for ways to accomplish lighting a traffic area, be sure to look at these important considerations:

            - Functionality – Does it meet with the possible traffic considerations? Lights in the lawn right next to the kids basketball court? Not going to last long.

            - Upkeep and maintenance of the surrounding area. Is the lawnmower or trimmer going to be constantly hitting them? Are the lights next to plants that need weekly trimming? This point will be the factor in how long you truly enjoy the work going into your project.

            - Power considerations – how easily can power be directed to an area? Many professionals are available to help you with this and can make a solution much easier to implement.

            - Appearance – While listed last here, it may be the most important aspect depending upon your project. Do you want the fixture to be hidden while still delivering light or do you want the elegant light to counterpoint all that hard work on those roses?

            Remember, highlight, illuminate, and decorate. The right lighting selection is critical, let a professional help you decide which is right for you.

Popularity: 18% [?]

1. For dark corners, use metal can up-lights. They can be purchased in a variety of styles and only need to be plugged in, with the light directed at the dark area. These are small and work great in a potted floor plant or on the top of a chest or armoire. Be sure to camouflage the fixture and just enjoy the light.
2. Install under-cabinet light strips in the kitchen, desk area, or workroom. The light will shine directly on the work area and make any task easier. Switch them off when you leave the job.
3. Add a decorative lamp to a bookshelf. It will not only break up the long line of books, but make it easier to find what you’re looking for.
4. Place a small decorative lamp on the kitchen or bathroom, tucked into a corner. (Be sure to keep it away from any water!) It can serve as a night light but also be decorative.
5. Be sure that every room in your home has a light connected to a dimming wall switch at the entrance. You’ll be able to turn it on when you walk into the room, then adjust the lighting as you find your way.
6. If your table space is limited, install a reading light on the wall near the bed or lounge chair. Reading will be a pleasure!
7. Remove boring ceiling fixtures and install can lights around the room. While you might need to bring in professional help for this one, it will be well worth it! You can direct the light to artwork, reading nooks, or work spaces.
8. Light your artwork with small fixtures attached on the top. There are many styles designed just for lighting art. Find them at a local home center, attatch it to the frame of the art, and plug in to the wall.
9. Install a dimming wall switch to control the light and fan on a ceiling fan. For even more convenience, purchase and program a remote control to turn the light or fan on and off.
10. Install a motion sensor on outdoor light fixtures to control the light when people walk too close to the house. Or, at a dark hallway or staircase, or in the garage or attic so that you never have to enter the space in the dark.
11. Add a light sensor to an outdoor light. You’ll have light whenever it’s dark outside, but the light will go off at daybreak.

Tips:

1. Use a lamp, up-light, and ceiling fixture all in one room. The layers of light will add interest and provide numerous lighting options.
2. Be sure to keep the light bulbs clean with frequent dusting. The light will be cleaner, too.

Popularity: 44% [?]

LightingShowroom.com - Dining Room lighting tips

Useful tips on creating effective dining room lighting designs.

A Lighting Designer Advances Brilliant Energy-Saving Ideas

Have you ever heard of daylight harvesting? The idea is to leverage the available natural light for greater energy-efficiency and esthetic value. If you are green-minded and planning to build a new home, daylight harvesting is an amazing energy saving concept.

Linda Segreto of Schrager Lighting Design in Ridgefield, CT says the first step is to hire a green architect who will have a good understanding of how to maximize natural light and position your house accordingly on the lot.

The second step is to hire a green-minded lighting designer to work in conjunction with the architect.

The direction of the sun and which way your home faces is very important for daylight harvesting, Segreto explains.

For example, bedrooms don’t need natural light during the day, making a Northern exposure perfectly acceptable.

On the other hand, for rooms you spend a lot of time in - like the kitchen or family room - facing South or West will provide plenty of natural ambient light.

Another savvy energy-saving idea is to install a dimming system that controls lighting throughout the entire home. According to Segreto, the best system is Lutron’s Graphic Eye. This product allows the owner to schedule a sophisticated lighting plan for every fixture in the house with dimming capability. Not only can lamps be scheduled to turn on at a specific time, but at a specific power level as well.

“The beauty of the Lutron system is that you can create and program lighting scenes for each room, judiciously choosing energy levels for esthetic reasons and cost savings at the same time,” she says.

Segreto explains how lighting scenes work. A morning scene in the kitchen might include the light over the kitchen table set at 50%, counter lights at 50% and ambient light at 50%, depending upon window size and the available natural light. The evening scene after dinner would be completely different with the light over the table and countertops at 30% and wall washers at 60-70%.

The controls are located in a wall box and are programmed after installation. Then, as the seasons change and the lighting needs change with them, the program will need to be adjusted.

The schedule can also be manually over-ridden when special needs arise, like creating the mood for a party. Using a system like this saves a lot of energy because all the lights are not constantly on 100% power levels. Nor do you need to rely on memory to turn down dimmers or shut off lights. Plus, dimmers extend bulb life, which provides another layer of savings.

A system like this requires bulbs that are dimmable. The good news is that compact fluorescent bulbs, which are such big energy savers, are now dimmable and come in almost every style and size, just like traditional incandescent bulbs. Even though these bulbs cost more upfront, the energy savings make for a quick return on the investment.

About Linda Segreto

Linda Segreto has been designing lighting systems around the U.S. and abroad for three decades. She has a Masters in Architectural Lighting and, early in her career, worked with James Nuckolls, one of the founders of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD). Her ability to interface with architects and construction managers ensures project quality, timeliness and adherence to client specifications. Design projects range from residential to commercial, including Bell Atlantic Corporate Headquarters, Cornell University Research Center, Columbia Presbyterian Health Systems, and Tiffany and Company Corporate Headquarters. To learn more, visit the Schrager Lighting Design website.

Popularity: 60% [?]

While not widely publicized, many lighting manufacturers are struggling with dramatic changes in China’s approach to their manufacturing sector.  Some horror stories might illustrate the issues.

One large lighting factory was simply closed without notice.  When their customers realized there were problems and went to China to see what was happening they found the place locked and vacant.  Unfortunately all of their molds, dies, drawing, etc were locked inside and they were unable to get anyone in China to allow them to retrieve their property.  In order to supply their customers that firm has moved to Vietnam and is working to get a new manufacturing plant up to speed on their products. US buyers trying to order those products are seeing backorder dates of up to 6 months.

As a decree driven economy, wage pressure has suddenly bloomed in China.  Reports of overnight increases in wages to be paid to workers in the lighting factories range from 3 to 5 times.  No warnings, no negotiation, pay or leave.  Products in the pipeline and pending orders are instantly marginalized as they are feeding a supply chain in this country with published prices in effect.  Until alternatives are found those products are unprofitable for the importers.

Raw materials present another interesting problem.  Contracts and pricing agreed to for production runs have little meaning.  When a shipment is ready it likely won’t be delivered for the agreed upon price.  The explanation, costs for fuel, materials, labor, etc have changed and there is no one to appeal to in their system as agreements are only enforced if to the benefit of the local party.

These rapid changes have lead to dramatic price escalation for all types of lighting products.  This is particularly difficult for the industry in the face of the current housing and construction crisis in the states.  We are going to see the failure of many local lighting retailers as well as a shakeout in the importers and manufacturers with Chinese factories.

While difficult for this particular industry it may lead to more domestic production which would be a good thing.

Popularity: 32% [?]

A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is a semiconductor device which converts electricity into light. LED lighting has been around since the 1960s, but is just now beginning to appear in the residential market for space lighting. At first white LEDs were only possible by “rainbow” groups of three LEDs — red, green, and blue — by controlling the current to each to yield an overall white light. This changed in 1993 when Nichia created a blue indium gallium chip with a phosphor coating that is used to create the wave shift necessary to emit white light from a single diode. This process is much less expensive for the amount of light generated.

Each diode is about 1/4 inch in diameter and uses about ten milliamps to operate at about a tenth of a watt. LEDs are small in size, but can be grouped together for higher intensity applications. LED fixtures require a driver which is analogous to the ballast in fluorescent fixtures. The drivers are typically built into the fixture (like fluorescent ballasts) or they are a plug transformer for portable (plug-in) fixtures. The plug-in transformers allow the fixture to run on standard 120 volt alternating current (AC), with a modest (about 15 to 20 percent) power loss.

The efficacy of a typical residential application LED is approximately 20 lumens per watt (LPW), though efficacies of up to 100 LPW have been created in laboratory settings. Incandescent bulbs have an efficacy of about 15 LPW and ENERGY STAR® qualified compact fluorescents are about 60 LPW, depending on the wattage and lamp type. Some manufacturers claim efficacies much higher than 20 LPW; make sure to examine system efficacy, which accounts for the power use of all components. In December 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy studied the efficacy of four luminaries. All four fell short of the manufacturers’ claims; the study implies that manufacturers are relying on measurements of how much light an isolated LED produces, rather than how much light an LED luminaire actually delivers.

LEDs are better at placing light in a single direction than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. Because of their directional output, they have unique design features that can be exploited by clever designs. LED strip lights can be installed under counters, in hallways, and in staircases; concentrated arrays can be used for ceiling lighting. Waterproof, outdoor light fixtures are also available. Some manufacturers consider applications such as gardens, walkways, and decorative fixtures outside garage doors to be the most cost-efficient.

LED lights are more rugged and damage-resistant than compact fluorescents and incandescent bulbs. LED lights don’t flicker. They are very heat sensitive; excessive heat or inappropriate applications dramatically reduce both light output and lifetime. Uses include:

Task and reading lamps
Linear strip lighting (under kitchen cabinets)
Recessed lighting/ceiling cans
Porch/outdoor/landscaping lighting
Art lighting

Night lights

Stair and walkway lighting

Pendants and overhead

Retrofit bulbs for lamps

Popularity: 99% [?]

The chandelier may be the oldest form of decorative lighting, marking its earliest appearances in medieval churches as suspended wooden crosses from which candles were mounted. As time went on, it was discovered that natural rock crystal helped reflect candlelight to illuminate larger areas. As crystal became more commonly used to ornament light sources, the crystal chandelier evolved from functional to aesthetic, and eventually became symbols of wealth and power.

The development of lead oxide glass in the 17th century changed chandeliers for ever, as it was much softer and easier to cut than natural crystal - and much more brilliant. To this day we use the word ‘crystal” for this lead glass. The new innovation allowed more intricate designs and enhanced the light-scattering properties of the ‘crystal’, encouraging artisans the world over to create the magnificent and varied styles of crystal chandelier we see today.

Crystal Grades
Strass® Swarovski Crystal
Regarded by industry leaders as the finest crystal in the world, Strass® is noted for its incredible clarity and internal flawlessness. Strass® crystals are composed of over 30% lead and are cut by machine to achieve technical perfection; their razor sharp facets meet precisely at one focal point to achieve peak refraction and an optically pure prism. Each crystal is then polished by hand, given an optical coating to resist dust accumulation, and finally laser inscribed, giving each piece the Strass® mark of excellence.

Swarovski Spectra® Crystal
Manufactured in the Austrian Alps through the same process as the Strass® crystal, but without the optical coating. Spectra® offers both design appeal and quality for the crystal connoisseur looking for a great value.

The recent purchase of Schonbek, the leading crystal chandelier manufacturer, by Swarovski, the consummate crystal source, brings together the best of both worlds for truely state of the art crystal beauty.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Lighting is a great way to make your house a home, while increasing the value instantly. In today’s market, you frequently see the same lighting fixtures in every home; the basic, low end, hardware store lighting that builders purchase in bulk to save a buck or two. While they certainly serve a purpose, they just don’t add any “pizazz” to your home.

Lighting should be planned to compliment your lifestyle. The right ceiling lighting will help you preform tasks more easily, while making you feel safe and comfortable, allowing you to enjoy your home to it’s full potential. Lighting adds beauty and drama to any space; it can make small rooms appear open and airy, and larger rooms cozy and inviting. A crystal chandelier can create a stimulating atmosphere for a night of entertaining, or a quite feeling of relaxation after a long and tiring day.

And don’t forget the outside! With path and spot lighting, you can make your home the showplace of the block! Outdoor light fixtures are a wonderful way to showcase your home and landscape design. From the elegant coordinating fixtures to compliment to lights on your home to whimisical decorative lighting, the selection of low-voltage lighting has grown considerably in recent years. Low voltage lighting is is a simple way to add value to the outside of your home and it is relatively easy for the do-it-yourself weekend project.

Popularity: 57% [?]