Archive for the ‘Lighting’ Category
What could be better than a beautiful chandelier? How about a beautiful chandelier that is designed specifically to benefit a great cause? Crystorama, a manufacturer of amazing lighting products, really wowed customers when they created a terrific light fixture specifically to benefit the families of children with cancer.
About Crystorama
When Crystorama was founded in Brooklyn in the 1950’s, the main function of the company was the import of stunning crystal chandeliers from exotic destinations. Over the years, Crystorama has grown to source the best crystals from around the world, which are then used to create their unique lighting products. Their goal is to create interior decorative lighting that exceeds industry “standards for innovative styles, value, service, and valued relationships”.
About Crystorama Products
Crystorama describes its own products as “tomorrow’s antiques”, a term that really fits what they create. The elaborate chandeliers from this company are made using traditional designs, antique molds and specialized craftsmanship. The result is that there is a traditional, vintage look to Crystorama’s chandeliers. The high-quality lights are certainly suitable to modern spaces but they bring in that mysterious element from the past.
How Crystorama is Helping the Embrace Kids Foundation
Crystorama teamed up with Swarovski crystal to create a brand new chandelier. The fixture is part of their Brentwood line of products. The popular product is a gorgeous chandelier that can improve the interior design of many different types of spaces. How does this help kids with cancer? Each time that someone purchases this charity chandelier design, a portion of the proceeds goes to the Embrace Kids Foundation.
How do you know which lighting is the right lighting to choose for your home? Wouldn’t it be great if you could get personalized product recommendations from professionals in the industry? Now that’s possible in a very easy way. Simply take advantage of the personal lighting shopper feature that is available here on our site.
Benefits of the Personal Shopper Feature
You can use our site’s personal shopper feature to obtain the following benefits:
- Get personalized recommendations for lighting products from a certified American Lighting Association consultant.
- Easily sort through the tens of thousands of products on our site to find the ones that are just right for you.
- Find the lighting fixtures that are within your price range.
- Ask questions about your lighting options so that you can choose the right fixtures for your home.
How to Use The Personal Shopper Feature
Our site’s personal lighting shopper feature makes it super simple for you to find the right lighting in seven easy steps. Simply go to the personal shopper page and do these things:
To get the best lighting effect in any room, you need to have multiple light fixtures. More importantly, you need to have the right amount of different types of light fixtures. But how do you know which types of fixtures you need? The key is to understand your lighting options and the way they are each incorporated into the room.
Three Primary Types of Light Fixtures
There are generally three types of light fixtures that you should have in each major room of the house:
1. Task lighting. As the name suggests, this type of lighting refers to the lights that are going to be used for different tasks in the home. For example, you may have a reading lamp in the bedroom or office that serves as the light for your reading tasks.
2. Accent lighting. Accent lighting is similar to task lighting in that it lights a specific area. However, the purpose is not functional (as with task lighting) but instead is decorative. Accent lighting directs your attention to key items in the room that you want to show off. For example, you may use accent lighting to highlight your favorite piece of artwork hanging on the wall.
3. Ambient lighting. Ambient lighting is different from the other two types of lighting in that it is designed to light the whole room. This is typically achieved by using an overhead hanging light.
The Correct Order for Selecting Your Light Fixtures
The biggest mistake that people make when choosing a room’s light fixtures is that they choose the ambient lighting first. The thinking here is that you want to take care of the biggest space first and then add to it. However, this thinking is backwards. Choosing your light fixtures this way typically ends up creating harsher light than what you want in your home. The correct order for choosing your light fixtures is:
One of the most wonderful things about summertime is that the sunlight stays out longer for us to enjoy it. That’s one of the reasons that summer barbecues are so popular. You can start dinner outside in the evening and still have plenty of time left to enjoy it before the sun goes down. If your barbecue is a good one, though, the party will still be going as the fireflies begin to come out. You don’t want to have to end a great barbecue just because the hour is getting late. That’s why it’s important to make sure that you have good outdoor lighting for summer.
The first thing that you will want to do is to consider updating your outdoor lighting to suit both the mood of a barbecue and the style of your home. Some great summer options for updating outdoor lighting include:
- Outdoor hanging lanterns. These lanterns will beautifully light up your outdoor seating area all year long. They add a gorgeous glow that enhances the spirited mood of your barbecue.
- Pathway lights. You don’t want the latecomers to the barbecue to trip over themselves when they arrive. You also don’t want to shock them with your usual bright outdoor lights. Add some modern, fashionable pathway lights to the arrival area for your guests.
- Deck lights. If you have an outdoor deck for your summer barbecue then small LED deck lights are a must-have. They provide an energy-efficient way to keep the area safely lit without making it too bright for you to enjoy.
In addition to these more permanent changes, you will want to get some temporary outdoor lighting just for your summer barbecues. Top choices for temporary lighting include:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently announced that there will be a new labeling system for all light bulbs that will start appearing on packaging in approximately one year. This new system is designed to make it simpler for consumers to understand the different types of light bulb options that are available to them. This is terrific since we are seeing an increasingly broad range of different lights with their own benefits and drawbacks. However, you do have to be able to understand what you’re reading on the labels or the information won’t be of much use to you. This guide should help you to get a solid grasp on that important information.
Basics About the New Labeling
The new labeling will help you to better understand the options that you have for buying light bulbs. The labeling will appear on traditional incandescent light bulbs, compact fluorescent light bulbs and the increasingly popular LED light bulbs. These bulbs all have their pros and cons; being able to read the labels accurately will allow you to choose the right bulbs for each of the different light fixtures in your home. The new labeling will include front-of-package labeling with information about brightness and cost of the bulbs as well as in-depth back-of-package labeling (described below).
Why It Matters That You Choose the Right Light Bulbs
If you select the best light bulb for each of your home lighting needs then you can achieve the following benefits:
- Save money. Cheaper light bulbs are appropriate in some places in the home. Longer-lasting light bulbs that save more money over time are appropriate in other places. Choosing the best bulb for each fixture allows you to save the most money on your lighting.
- Save energy. Selecting the most energy-efficient light bulbs for your home will allow you to conserve energy. This green action can further save you money on your electricity bills.
- Obtain ideal lighting. The right light bulbs will provide high-quality lighting for your home, making it more comfortable and more aesthetically pleasing.
Have you ever seen photos of celebrities in their homes? They always look stunning, don’t they? Of course, some of this has to do with their high-quality photographers, stylists and photo editing experts. But there’s often something more that helps famous people look great in their own houses. That something more is the lighting of the space.
The lighting in a room can make or break how well you look. Great lighting is flattering for the skin, sets the right mood and makes you look like you constantly have a casual glow as you go about your daily business. You don’t have to be a celebrity with an array of interior designers at your disposal to choose home lighting that flatters you. In fact, you merely need to follow a few basic rules to get the most flattering light for your home.
Rule #1: Avoid harsh overhead lighting.
The number one rule for making sure that the light in your home is flattering at all times is to avoid having harsh overhead lighting. You can make terrific statements with bold chandeliers and extravagant hanging pendant lights. However, it is only the fixtures that should be bold; the light coming from them should be soft. Use low-watt bulbs and dimmer switches to reduce the impact of this type of light.
Rule #2: Combine natural lighting and soft lighting with great light fixtures.
Secondly, you want to make sure that you have different types of soft light coming in to your home at all times. During the day this can be achieved by allowing natural light to filter in through transparent curtains. At night you can use the glow from a fireplace or candles to enhance the light that comes from your light fixtures. These natural and flickering light options help to set a great mood for your space while flattering your natural features.
Holophane is one of the strongest names in the history of lighting. Established in 1898, Holophane is one of the only lighting manufacturers that dates back to the nineteenth century and yet is still relevant to home design today. The company is widely known because of the fact that it makes residential, commercial, industrial and even emergency lighting. The company even provided important lighting contributions to the war effort during World War II! Of course, it’s their residential lighting that will likely interest you the most.
What makes this company stand out is a product called Endural. This is their trademarked name for a specific type of borosilicate glass reflector that is used in all of their lighting. This type of glass stands out because it provides a unique combination of both upwards-shooting lighting and downwards-shooting light. The result is a steady stream of even light coming from the Holophane light fixtures. Those ugly dark spots that you sometimes experience with household lighting aren’t present when this technology is used.
Although the Endural name is trademarked, there are many different lighting companies that now use this two-directional style of lighting. In fact, whenever you see lighting fixtures that are designed to create vintage light, it is very likely that you are seeing lighting that’s been inspired by this historic brand. The vintage look adds to the ambience of your home by giving it a very classic decorative style. For example, a Halophane aged bronze pendant light uses both the vintage lighting and the historic bronze detailing to evoke a strong sense of décor from a bygone era.
We’ve recently added Lite Source, Inc. to the Lighting By Lux family. With their vast array of fashion-forward lighting, Light Source shines in their commitment to bring you affordable style and quality. Their diverse range of styles includes everything from whimsical kid’s lighting, like this Allsport 1 Light Kids Green Table Lamp, to the classical elegance of this Bellva 5 Light Dark Bronze Crystal Chandelier, showcasing both ends of the company’s full spectrum of lighting options.
In addition to transitional and contemporary interior lamps, Lite Source also offers unique gifts, furniture and home decor, such as this Sebastian Dark Bronze Photo Frame. Their collection of novelty and art glass lighting is not to be beat, with options ranging from this beautiful Encarna 1 Tiffany Accent Lamp, an elegant addition to any side table, to this off-beat A Go-Go The Shirt 1 Light Blue Accent Lamp that would look great spicing up a dorm room. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the most wonderful things about childhood is the sense of magic that is present during the early years of life. Interestingly, this is the same thing that can be so wonderful about great lighting. The perfect lighting creates a mood for a room that is based in fantasy, elegance and magic. Choosing the right lighting for a child’s room can really bring that sense of magic to its pinnacle.
Decorative pendant lights or chandeliers in a child’s bedroom can add to the sense of fantasy that the rest of the room’s décor presents. For example, many boys’ rooms are decorated with their favorite modes of transportation. Trains, planes and ships are all favorite forms of transit for young kids. They love the magic of flying or boating somewhere. Pendant lights shaped like these modes of transportation can add to the sense of wonder in their rooms. For example, the novelty biplane chandelier or the boat chandelier from ELK Lighting bring a sense of rugged whimsy to the room.
Modes of transportation aren’t your only option for great lighting in a kids’ room. Hobbies, sports, animals and images relating to space exploration are all things that make for great decorative lighting. They challenge a child’s imagination and evoke a sense of wonder throughout the room. These lights can stand alone as a major centerpiece for the room’s design. Alternatively, they can work with the wallpaper, stuffed animals and furniture to show off a child’s passionate interests.
Whenever we add new products to the site I like to go through all the items and pick out my favorites, it helps me get a better feel for the new introductions and make recommendations later on. We just finished adding Elk’s 2010 lineup to the site and I wanted to share a few of my favorites here with you.
There are a lot of things to love in the 2010 lineup from Elk but one of the very first things to catch my eye was the Nestor 1 Light Pendant. (shown left) I love the blend of chrome and the abstract pattern, a few of these above a counter top or kitchen island would really add a unique touch to the room.
Another white hot trend is drum shades, drums in just about any size shape or color are everywhere. Combine the drum trend with another hot trend, namely stripes and you have the ELK 20041/5 Fabrique Tan Stripe 5 Light Drum Pendant, gorgeous over a kitchen table or just about any table for that matter. Bold stripe not your cup of tea? The ELK 20019/3 Fabrique Textured Tan 3 Light Drum Pendant might be the ticket.
Of course fabric drums weren’t the only trend Elk addressed this go round, there was even a chrome drum pendant that caught my eye as well. Of course we cant forget about the swing arms, swing arm wall and floor lamps are everywhere this year and for good reason, they’re functional and classically stylish at the same time. The ELK Lighting 17016/1 Elysburg 1 Light Swingarm Sconce in Satin Nickel comes to mind as well as the Lanza 1 Light Swing Arm Sconce but I think my favorite is the Elk 10110/1 Swingarm 1 Light Sconce in Black Chrome, I just love the transparent outer shade on the black chrome body.
