Author: lightingbyjeffrey

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Lighting Commentary

Trends and Fashion Journalism

I have been studying and talking about trends for many years. I have repeatedly indicated that trends, as they relate to lighting are influenced by four factors, architecture, related residential industries, socioeconomic trends and fashion. While most folks will buy the first three, I am often questioned about how pleated pants and gold lame gowns could possibly impact chandeliers. Suffice to say, it is a bit more esoteric.

Unlike a lot of guys, I have been reading the fashion pages of newspapers for a long time. I started with the local Cleveland newspaper, The Plain Dealer. Like most major metropolitan dailies, they sent their fashion editor to Paris and New York to cover the seasonal previews. The original editor was hilarious and adroit, fully cognizant of the fact that she was reporting on a sliver of culture that barely touched the average Cleveland reader. When she retired, she was replaced with an equally deft observant of this peculiar ritual. Because this was in the era when I was supervising an engineering department and not yet working to educate the design community, I read these articles primarily because they were so well written and so filled with wit. I suspect, I didn’t notice how insightful the hidden observation could be, beyond dresses and suits.

Of course, The Plain Dealer, like scores of other local dailies long ago suspended their fashion coverage. (Cleveland’s last editor opened a fine fashion store in a trendy area and continued her success elsewhere.) I then began to read the New York Times and their fashion section. The editor, Vanessa Friedman is a consummate observer of the industry, but nowhere near as irreverent as the two Cleveland editors. Nonetheless, I still regularly glean information. As I write this, I have five articles, torn from the printed edition over three months, with ragged notes jotted in the margins.

Like so many people, you may ask, “How does this relate to lighting?” let me recap a few articles with my thoughts, pulled from those cryptic notes. (No particular order.)

John Galliano is experiencing a renaissance and will soon develop a line for fast-fashion leader, Zara. Describing the approach, which is neither inexpensive, or high-end, the NY Times stated, “It is, in other words, not exactly fast, nor cheap, nor rooted in trends (and thus disposable,) Instead, it is sort of an in-between, offering which has been missing from fashion for a while, as high-end brands have chased the luxury consumer via increasingly exorbitant prices and ultra-fast fashion competitors raced one another to the bottom.”

Summing up the summer Paris shows, an article was ended with an interesting conundrum, “And this is the choice shoppers increasingly face: between the grass roots and the grandiose, the personal and the imperial; between brands imbedded in the everyday and brands that build their own reality. That may be the biggest trend of the season….”

I like these observations. So many manufacturers are fighting a price battle, there must be an alternative. That is the approach I see taken by Hinkley. There is a sweet spot between well-priced and fashion forward and they may have found it. The same demons fight in the fashion world and it looks like both industries are coming to a nice answer.

Men have increasingly been experimenting with makeup and fashion consultants. (“She Has a Feel for Making Masculine Men Look Pretty”) This new tack for men is a brave new world. Perhaps not for your dad, but younger guys are discovering and realizing an expert can add to their outward look. Makeup and stylists have not been widely used previously, especially in the cis community, but it is growing.

The June 2026 recaps of the new menswear season detailed leather, pants under skirts, day bags, sailor hats and plenty of pink and bright yellow, in a multi-page spread entitled, “Something is Changing on Europe’s Runways.” What is deemed “acceptable” for men and masculinity is also expanding.

Can we relate this to the growing value of a lighting designer, or even good lighting in general? Sure, it is a niche market today, but it could be bigger tomorrow. As more homeowners take added pride in their home and seek to add increased value to the residence, an expert in a field heretofore ignored could become as common as men in skirts, carrying bags, both in bold colors and prints.

The recap of the Jean Paul Gaultier and Viktor&Rolf July women’s shows, was filled with observations of affordability. “…the customer seems beside the point.” The influence of influencers and marketing. “There are only a handful of individuals who can buy clothes as expensive as couture pieces, but there are so many millions more who can see them and comment. It’s possible they matter more.” The use of simultaneous young and older runway models was explained, “It was smartphone catnip of the most obvious kind.” Perhaps the most obvious for lighting folks was, “…LED lights sewn into the lining of a skirt dripping in pearlescent bugle beads to create an actual glow from within.” Surely, someone came to my LED Tape product introduction meeting fifteen years ago, where I wore an LED lined sport jacket! All of these points can be connected to running a successful lighting business and thinking beyond what we’ve “always done.”

There are huge dollars invested in the chase for fashion. Lighting is a fashion business. We should always see what they have to say. You never know when it will roll over into the lighting world. And not just the easy moments, like LED lined clothes.

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A Lighting Guy Rehabs a House – The Dining Room

This post is a continuation of a series suggested by a friend, detailing the rationale and process of selecting lighting for my wife’s and my new rehabbed home. In this post, I’ll discuss the lighting of the dining room.

In the past two posts about lighting in our new/rehabbed home, lighting was much more a functional element of a successful space. Dining rooms are softer places for gathering and conversation. Occasionally, they become temporary work places when the benefit of a large flat surface is needed. Usually, they are centrally located in a residence, so the need for a cohesive aesthetic is crucial. While important, a dining room does not succeed or fail because of illuminance measurements. They work when we are sensitive to light that highlights the area, compliments the aesthetics and flatters the diners.

The Dining Room when we purchased the home – I know you love the shag carpet!

As compared to the rest of the building, very little was required in the new dining room. A mangled 1980s era chandelier was (barely) hanging in the center and one of two recessed cans that washed the fireplace functioned. The original grass wallpaper was probably replaced with a bold gilt laden option at the same time as the chandelier. The ubiquitous red-orange shag carpet extend into this room as well. There were very few historic constraints in this room.

Lighting

Santa Dominican Bladder Festival Cerimonial Mask next to Valance shielding LED Tape Lighting

To hide the automated shades, we knew we wanted to replicate the valances that were original to living room. Because of the shorter ceiling heights, we decided to reduce the profile. The LED Tape we used in the living room valences would be copied here.

Wall Wash recessed units illuminate a Puerto Rican vejigante mask

We’ve always had a lot of art in the dining room and while we shed ourselves of some pieces, the favorites came along in the move. We purchased a vejigante mask in Ponce, Puerto Rico, many years ago and it has always been a favorite. A photo of the mask was featured in the Cleveland newspaper (The Plain Dealer June 23, 2005) when our previous home was included in the Forest Hill Historic Preservation Society Home and Garden Tour. We knew the mask had to be mounted prominently over the dining room side of the fireplace. The dead and dying existing recessed lighting could easily be replaced with wall wash versions of the Nora Sapphire III we installed everywhere else in the house. To complete the perimeter definition of the room, we added three standard cans, one in each of the other corners.

Accord Lighting (Brazil) KS Chandelier in a finish that matches the other wood in the room

The absolute last lighting fixture we selected for the entire house was the chandelier. In one of our decision-making bargains, I agreed to allow my wife to make ALL decisions in the dining room, if I could select something else. (I really don’t remember what I got in the bargain, but it must have been important at the time!) I curated a list of dozens of options for her. She snubbed her nose at most and said an absolute, “No!” to the others. One of the great benefits of having an excellent showroom in your neighborhood is an up close viewing of a lot of options. While I was working with them on the functional lighting, my wife wandered the showroom, noting all the pieces she liked. She came back to the counter and told me she found two pieces she liked. One was a Visual Comfort fabric shaded vertical pendant. It had just the right amount of “MCM” and uniqueness. I told her, my only worry was the height. The house has 8’-0” ceilings and I thought it might look too constricting. We took dimension and went back to the house. It was too tall, I could only have used a single link of chain. We agreed, it was proportionally wrong for the space.

Her other choice proved to be the winner. Brazilian company, Accord makes a collection of bend-wood pendants that are beautiful, with just the right amount of kooky for us. We just needed to decide on the size (three were available) and color (a dozen? 18?) Luckily, the showroom had a finish swatch ring and they allowed us to take it home. We found an almost exact match to the original wood paneling and valance stain. We think it is perfect, but almost as important; it does not emit glare. The sides are wood, so all of the light is driven down onto the tabletop.

With the splashed orange Marmoleum floor, the wood valance and double door & windows leading out to the patio, plus a golden paint tone, 2700K light was an easy choice. Unfortunately, the lowest color temperature available from the Brazilian company was 3000K (we could have had 3500K or 4000K too!) I was worried it would it would really fight the warm tones we used across the room. Working in our favor was a white glass table. I believe, because all of the light is directed onto this white disc, the severity of the white-white 3000K is somewhat ameliorated. Would I prefer 2700K? Of course. For a manufacturer that produces such a broad collection of wood-based designs, I’m surprised they haven’t gotten more pushback. Then again, South American consumers are much more comfortable with cooler-harsher light after generations of florescent light used to combat outrageous electric rates (typically two to four times greater than the US.)

Controls

The wall controls we now have in this room are excessive. Despite my attempts at reason with the electrical inspector, I still believe more than a reasonable amount of switches are required here.

There are three light sources in the dining room, a central chandelier, perimeter recessed and the valance lighting. Exterior eave lighting over the double door is also controlled within the room. I ended up with SEVEN switches for an 11’-0” x 15’-0” space! The outdoor light and the valance lighting are by themselves and both tied into the Control 4 home automation system. The chandelier is also solo on a dimmer. The perimeter recessed are on a 4-way control, the inspector reasoning that someone enter the home from the outdoor patio must have access to a light switch. Why the valance light right over the door was not enough, I’m not sure. The switch is right next to it. He also felt we needed a switch if we entered the dining room from the living room. The most egregious requirement was a switch in the dining room to control the light in the 3’-6” x 8’-0” hallway between the dining room and the kitchen. The main switch for that light is 6’-0” away from the threshold. It is also a programmed Control 4 switch, so I needed to buy a costly “dummy” switch that I will NEVER use.

Periodically, my wife will ask, “What are all these switches for?” Indeed. For someone who believes light switches could easily disappear in the next 30 years, these requirements are a tough nut to swallow.

From a functional point, the dimmer switch at the chandelier was a good decision. During dinner, a reduced level of light is preferred. If we use the table for some function, other than eating, we can crank up the output to a very effective level.

Illuminance Measurements

Type of LightIlluminance Measurement
Dusk via Window at center of dining room table0.35 fc
Chandelier Only – at center of dining room table176.0 fc
Perimeter Lighting Only – at center of dining room table4.1 fc
Valance Lighting Only – at center of dining room table21.2 fc
ALL Lighting – at center of dining room table199.1 fc
Chandelier Only – at seated eye level93.0 fc
Perimeter Lighting Only – at seated eye level3.0 fc
Valance Lighting Only – at seated eye level4.2 fc
ALL Lighting – at seated eye level126.5 fc
  
Light at artwork on fireplace face46.1 fc

A quick look at these measurements might make one step back. The chandelier delivers a ton of light, perhaps far more than one might need in a dining room. In practice, a dimmer plays an outsized importance with chandeliers. When we use the room for eating, the light is dimmed to somewhere around 25% of capacity. The valance lighting which washes the window-door wall is usually dimmed for dining, as well. Like almost everyone, the dining room table takes on other tasks in a home. The extra output is put to good use when my wife blocks a recently knit item or when we need to spread a large amount of things over a flat surface.

The light at artwork should typically be three to four times more than the general lighting in the space. From the points of measurement here, it would appear to be low. This is because the chandelier delivers such a large level of light onto the table. As you move away from the table surface, light levels are much closer to normal. There is a nice level of contrast between the room and the art.

Final Thoughts

I made a mistake specifying the housings for the Nora Sapphire III units. The dining room was one of only three ceilings that were not demolished. I ordered remodel housings. After the insulation was added to the attic, one of the cans began to cycle. I thought it was a bad fixture, but I swapped the unit with one that was not acting up. You can guess what happened. The recessed product was doing exactly what it is supposed to do when heat is in excess. I forgot to order the IC Rated housing. I went back to the website to find the correct housing and to determine how I made the mistake. I found a note in 6pt type in the footnotes that this unit was NOT IC rated, but could not find the correct part number. I asked the distributor to call and ask what I am missing. “They don’t make one.”

ARRRGGGGHHHHH! I wanted all of the recessed units to look alike, but they don’t manufacturer an IC remodel, so I would have had to order a completely different product for two rooms. (The living room ceiling does not have recessed lighting, only the foyer and dining room.) Why not? This was a point I just can’t fathom. Yes, it was my mistake. I missed to 6pt disclaimer in the footnote, but why isn’t it made? How do you maintain aesthetic continuity?

This should make everyone feel comfortable. Even a guy who has spent over 50 years in lighting can specify the wrong product. Even if a trip to the attic for a little fiberglass rearrangement can solve the issue, it is still annoying, despite the excellent results.

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I’m Late! For Good Reason

Saguaro National Park – Tucson, AZ

I usually try to release these blog posts every other Monday, but this week, I was in Tucson, AZ to speak at the annual ALA Conference. I’m surprised more of you weren’t there.

Every year the event is packed with interesting talks and speakers. I was there to speak about Dark Sky lighting. There were multiple sessions discussing controls, showroom design and small business finance. Yes, there is plenty of time for fun (I enjoyed a great meal at Tito & Pep and tried a “Sonoran Hot Dog” for the first time) and there is celebration of achievement both individually and collectively. Most importantly, this is a conference with a whole room of “lighting people.” The amount of meaningful conversations was amazing.

Perhaps you are a member of the ALA and have never attended this event. Maybe you went “years ago” or it could be that joining has never entered your thoughts. Regardless I urge you to check out the 2027 version. They’re going to Boston and it is usually around the end of September. If history is any lesson, it is sure to be informative and fun with a wonderful collection of people who understand when you say, luminaire, foot-candles and lamp (not light bulb.)

Mission San Xavier del Bac – Tucson, AZ
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Lighting Commentary

The Experiential Trade Show

Photo by Bence Szemerey on Pexels.com

Over the years, I have expressed a fair amount of pessimism on the future of trade shows. That cynicism has been borne out with the melting of LightFair and the recent announcement that ICFF will combine with BDNY. I’m sure other shows supporting other industries are suffering the same diminishment. They have, apparently, outlived their value.

Recently, I came upon a LinkedIn post from tech icon Mark Cuban who offered an alternate take. He postulated that in three years, AI will become so imbed in our business world (and probably our world, in general) that people will not know what is real and what is fake. “This will lead to an explosion of f2f [face to face] engagement, events and jobs.”

I liked this observation. If you talked to “older” folks, who spent a lot of time working and visiting trade shows, before they became pabulum, they were dynamic ways for people to meet, for ideas to be shared, for sales to be negotiated and for relations to be built. When the corporatists got hold of these shows, the jig was already up. The over-booth banner made sense, until the ceiling was so filled with them, none could be seen. Matching polo shirts were cute until they became a uniform. The pressure for scanned leads and the adult world version of a pre-show pep rally doomed the whole event. When the mobile phone arrived, the final nail was placed in the trade show coffin. Walking down the aisle of a show today now means seeing 90% of the booth staff bent over, scrolling through their phone. “Tech neck” does not equate to “open and welcoming.”

It is time to think how experiential shows and even experiential marketing could be realized in the new, post AI world.

This is not a call to rethink corporate trade show budgets and redo what has been done for the last two decades. That ship has sailed. Mobile phones need to be placed in Yondr Pouches. If we need to redefine reality, then booths with flat screens and video rolls need to go. Hell, the booth probably needs to go! Any semblance of automation should be left back home, in the warehouse. Rather than a booth for lighting, a booth for plumbing and a booth for flooring, we should be thinking about the whole home experience and how that could be replicated in a convention hall. Attendees should be entering live spaces after live spaces after real space. An immersive reality needs to scrap any show floor trick we’ve used prior.

KBIS and IBS should be plotting out these new ideas today. Imagine walking into a home at the opening of the Orlando Convention Center. You walk to the bathroom and beyond that could be the Kohler information and the Toto product. Go back to the kitchen and the Bosch appliances and Franke sinks would be behind the door. The floor would be transformed into a huge house.

Alternatively, rather than aimlessly wandering around convention hall floor, you were perhaps escorted to a curated list of suppliers, or elect to “wing it” and be introduced to a host of new products and new concepts. What would happen if booths disappeared completely and the entire hall was a maze of tables and aisles and you were forced, IKEA-like to find your way to the end? Along the way, you’d see freezers and swimming pools and saunas and PEX supply lines.

Wouldn’t lunchtime be a lot more enlightening if you could put your business card into a hopper and tables of six would be arranged for you? Rather than sitting with coworkers, you’d find yourself in the company of someone you would not otherwise meet. Networks might be expanded, not like the odd “friend of a friend” “perhaps you know” connection created by LinkedIn, but real human connections.

There are probably hundreds of ways to make real interaction more meaningful to an attendee. Smarter people than me, might already have created plans, squelched by uneasy leader who just want to go to Vegas so they can expense a meal at Joël Robuchon. We just need the first show to make a change.

I explained in a previous post that nothing makes sense with the LEDucation show in New York. The place is crowded, you’re constantly bumping into people. Door and stair locations are a mystery. The layout is a confusing maze. (“Did I visit this area already?”) People love it! Why? The democratization of exhibitors places everyone on an even playing field. By doing everything wrong, attendees came to find more value. This should be a model, not to be repeated, but to instead convince companies to simply try something different. Trade shows aren’t working, but they can. Especially if people become numbed by AI falseness; then they must.

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MBAs

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

I used to work with a guy who told everyone he had an MBA, a Masters of Business Acting. He was, of course, reacting to the self-importance many of the newer hires displayed upon arriving at a thriving business. He, and luckily the owners, understood the foundational sacrifices he and many others had made to bring the organization to a point where a “real” MBA’s hire made sense.

This old joke popped into my head as I read a story about Second City Works, an arm of the legendary comedy troupe. Through their efforts, they help business people better prepare for media involvement and business interactions, by increasing self-confidence, quick thinking and public speaking. They have recently expanded to help sport teams. This, in-turn, reminded me of my business hiring “bugaboos,” the old notion that youth sports participation teaches comradery that immediately translates to becoming a valued team player in the workplace. I never understood the premise and never experienced this in real life.

I have always hypothesized that participation in theater was a much more conducive skill to business. (Perhaps my old coworker intuitively knew this, too!) The success I enjoyed in a career has partially been linked to my ability to speak publicly in front of a crowd. That started in 8th grade when the director of a junior high school play asked me to fill-in for an actor who just quit the show. While I may not have been the most popular kid in my class, I developed enough self-assurance to walk out on stage in front of hundreds of fellow classmates and recite lines I had memorized. In employment interviews, I always asked if the candidate had participated in any type of theater, music, or speech making association. It told me, they could speak comfortably in an office setting and reach out to customers more easily.

The company I worked for was small when I was hired, but we did enjoy continued growth and a spurt about fifteen years later. The company president/owner knew that many people would soon need to take outward facing rolls if that growth would be maintained. He did something, I still believe was an excellent foundation. He asked employees from departments around the company to prepare a talk, detailing their work and how it related to the organization overall. A familiar topic, a friendly audience and a proving ground. Some failed miserably and others showed themselves to be excellent avatars for the organization. Those folks did eventually serve in that capacity. I was one.

I organized an hour long lecture on how the Engineering Department functioned. It was a success. When the marketing manager was looking for someone to appear on camera to represent the company, my reaction, was, “Sure.” I later learned no one else wanted to do it. Not because they did not have the knowledge, or the education, or the skill to convey an idea. They were intimidated by a camera and an audience, a skill I developed, not by tossing a ball, but by playing one of Oscar and Felix’s poker playing buddies in “The Odd Couple,” among other rolls.

The acting took dedication to memorize the lines, commitment by staying at school afterhours four days a week and self-assurance. Walking onto the stage of a full high school auditorium defined the meaning of butterflies. Once you conquer that and continue to do so, you become prepared for almost anything. It is probably the best lesson I learned in high school.

I learned, it could be fun and once the audience became engaged, together, many things could be accomplished. I also realized that the material was crucial. Were it not for Neil Simon, would I have been as successful? If I could combine speaking skills, good material and add a dash of fun, I thought I might have a winning combo. I believe I did that in over a quarter century of public speaking.

The next time someone mentions they have an MBA, ask them when they started acting. It might not make you a new friend, but it could begin an interesting discussion on the formative skills needed for a bright career.

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Too Many Creatives?

I never subscribed to cable television. With the limited amount of time my wife and I watched TV, it never seemed like a useful expenditure of money. For that reason, I’ve never watched CNN and have never been exposed to Fareed Zakaria. In support of his new book, “Age of Revolution: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present,” he appeared on a podcast to which I do listen. It was an engaging exchange of ideas and he is certainly a delightful pundit and political commentator. I hope to spend more time in the future digesting some of his ideas, but I took one point away from his podcast appearance, a point I have heard in the past, but it nonetheless struck me. While talking about success, he said talent was important, but luck played no small part. If you arrive at the “lucky point” in your life without the talent, success in not a guarantee. You must have both.

While we don’t watch much TV, my wife and I enjoy movies and the theater. We often attend lectures on a wide variety of topics and it is difficult to keep us out of a museum. I read a fair amount (I am unfortunately a slow reader, so I’d love to say I read many books, but that is impossible.) I listen to a wide variety of music and have always appreciated the work of anyone who creates unique sounds. I think my interaction with the arts is pretty typical across the United States today. As we have become a more educated society, if compared with the 1950s for example, it has allowed us time for more enjoyment of the arts and it has educated us to more fully appreciate them.

This elevation of the appreciation of the arts has also convinced more people to pursue careers in arts related fields. So many young people want to be actors, singers, artists, performers and join creative commercial fields such as designers and architects that they cannot be absorbed. There are more people than job openings. That is where the “luck” part comes into play.

I remember a conversation with a HR executive years ago. He was telling me that he hated when the Graphics Department needed a new Graphics Designer. For jobs in Accounting, Purchasing and Engineering, he’d receive a handful of applications and sorting through them was an easy task. For the graphics’ position, literally hundreds of applications would arrive. To add to the difficulty, he couldn’t offer as generous a salary. The law of supply and demand meant the pay was lower, even for seasoned veterans it could only rise to unexciting levels. When everyone is talented, only the lucky can rise above.

Does that mean, there are too many designers? Are we overrun with unemployed actors and singers? After twenty years of “The Voice” and “American Idol” and “America’s Got Talent” and “America’s Next Top Model” how many singers, models and jugglers do you really remember? Two? Five? Honestly, those are not great odds. If you cannot name more than a handful of people who have won these nationally televised competitions, where does that put talented architects and designers?

So what do you do with your creative talent? Busker downtown? Write novels (or blog posts!) that no one will read except your mother? Paint in your garage? Act in your local amateur theater troupe? Cook gourmet food for an audience of your family only? Yes! Sure! Why not?

I think sometimes, the creative need is the most important aspect of the process. I make art and when too much accumulates, I am forced to destroy it. During my recent move, a series of sculpted paper pieces (photo at top of this post) were destroyed by a heavy box. I had plenty of pictures, so out they went. I left a few welded pieces in the backyard of the old house as well. Did I really need them here? I write letters to the editor and never submit them. Some blog posts are half-baked ideas that unlike Benjamin Braddock’s, never get “fully-baked.” All of this is okay. The process, is what is important. Much more so than the outcome. I was satiated by the work.

I attended a lecture in Cleveland with architect, Frank Ghery and Insurance executive and art patron, Peter B Lewis. It was around the time Lewis commissioned Ghery to build the wonderful Peter B Lewis building on the campus of Case Westerner Reserve University a couple of miles from my home. Within the freewheeling banter, an abandoned home for Lewis was discussed. Over a number of years, Ghery worked on a home design for Lewis. Lewis spent countless dollars and Ghery went through reams of paper. Then they stopped. An audience member asked, “Why?”

Both the architect and the client agreed they had gotten all they could out of the process. Ghery had created a satisfying design and Lewis felt his residential needs were met with the results. There was no real need to have it built. Each man was fulfilled. That conversation allowed me to walk away more easily from some of my work. As long as I did my best and I was happy with the results, I was in a good place. I could let go.

As I reread this post, I realize, I have not brought the topic back to lighting. (The whole reason you are reading this!) That means, unless I am up against a deadline, I probably won’t use it. If you got this far, know that I had nothing else to say this week about lighting, so why not my philosophy? Also know, I got the idea out of my head and into a MS Word document. For me, that was the good part.

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Technical Lighting Help

A Lighting Guy Rehabs a House – The Bathrooms

This post is a continuation of a series suggested by a friend, detailing the rationale and process of selecting lighting for my wife’s and my new rehabbed home. In this post, I’ll discuss the lighting of the bathrooms.

Prior to this home, we lived in a house that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of 81 French Norman style home built on the former Cleveland Heights / East Cleveland estate of John D Rockefeller, by his son John D Rockefeller, Jr. To remain as true to the original concepts, we made no change to the exterior and very few substantive changes to the interior. Consequently, the bathrooms featured all the original fixtures and tile. This was the bane of my wife’s interaction with the place. It became especially egregious when she broke her ankle. The bathroom was probably the single most significant reason we moved. The amount of steps could definitely arm-wrestle the bathrooms for that title, but that is not the point of this particular examination.

Aside from dealing with a tub, she was also dissatisfied with the lighting. One vanity strip over the mirror was all I could do in each of the four bathrooms. Of course, her face (and mine) fell into shadows. In addition, she was unable to easily shave her legs in the shower. Nighttime bathroom visits could be akin to sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. With a new house, I already had the list of problems that needed solving.

The original main bathroom, altered at some point in the 1980s.

Two Unusable Rooms

The main bathroom in the new house was remodeled at some point in the 1980s with a dark wood vanity. In the last decade a “walk-in” tub was installed. This was an easy decision. We planned to demolish the whole room, “borrow” 18” from the adjoining TV Room and turn it into an accessible bathroom. We moved the door, changed it to a 36” opening and planned for a “wet bath” with no curb, no shower enclosure, grab bars and a built-in bench with handheld shower wand option. If she or I became wheelchair bound, we could stay in the house and stay clean.

Shower cabinet in the original second bathroom (left) with original tile, sink and 70s era wallpaper. Countertop is also likely original.

The second bath was all original. It was a funky blue with a small, original multi-head shower cabinet. The tile was in surprisingly good condition. The sink was okay and the cabinets had seen better days, but we planned to keep it, fix it and revel in its 50s charm.

During the demo, the GC called. The new tub had apparently been leaking…for a long time. The water had rotted through the main joists that supported both bathrooms. It is likely that the original shower cabinet was also leaking. The lead pan under it was deteriorating. They could not save the second bathroom. New floor joists would need to be installed across the entire span, complicated by what the contractor said was a missing support pier. (We noticed sagging floors in the area and that was the reason.) Both back-to-back bathrooms would need to be demolished.

The lead pan under the original shower cabinet was in rough shape, allowing water to leak and destroy the support joinsts below.

We had already agreed to take space from the TV Room, so we now had the capacity for two well-sized rooms. We agreed that my wife would use the larger, accessible bathroom and I would take the (somewhat) smaller one. I sketched out a plan for the divided space, provided a vanity concept that would be used in both and the contractor got to work building his and her wet baths.

My original sketch on dividing the available two-bathroom space. 18″ was borrowed from the room to the left to make the two room more usable. “His” bathroom at top, “her” wheelchair accessable bathroom on the bottom.
Original sketch for “his” bathroom with floating vanity and pendant lighting. Very little was changed except depth of room and showerhead placement.

Lighting

Over the years, shower stalls have gotten larger and larger, but most still have a single recessed unit overhead. In an approximately 6’-0” wide space, I knew shadows would be a problem, so I specified two medium beam angle recessed cans in each. As in the rest of the house, I used the Nora Sapphire III product.

My wife wanted a blue bathroom. The GC/K&B specialist found a white porcelain with blue veining that she immediately approved. We matched the dense blue to a paint that was used on the vanity and the wall surfaces that were not porcelain. She also wanted chrome fittings.

“Her” lighting sketch with outlet box placement instruction for the electrician. I was onsite during box placement to confirm the c-c dimention as it related to the cabinet.

I explained that the lighting would be positioned on each side of the mirror to provide her with the right amount of light, unlike the old place. I’d also include a recessed can over the sink, to deliver light from three directions, thereby eliminating shadows. I had already sketched pendants at each side of the mirror in the bath concept. She told me she did not want pendants, so I gave her a curated list of long linear sconces from which to choose. A quick trip to the local lighting store and she affirmed one of the options, the Modern Forms Vogue 20” sconces.

“His” bathroom

I believe green will be the next popular accent color, replacing blue which has enjoyed a great run. I wanted the exact same porcelain as hers, but with green veins. “Sorry. Not available.” Interestingly, there is virtually no green vein or green accented porcelain or ceramic tile on the market. The GC called all of his sources and we visited almost every tile house in the county and found only three options. I found some online, but didn’t want to pick something so important without seeing it live. I finally agreed on a celadon tile with feather vein texture. Unfortunately, they did not make a version for floors, so it took the contractor another month to find a multi-color penny-tile that matched perfectly. To complement the feel of green, I went with brass fixtures and fittings. The lighting I wanted was in my original sketch. The Kuzco/Alora Bijou pendants. I selected the 5” (5 sphere) model because of the tight space to the left.

Nightlights were included in the hallway from bedroom to bathroom to create a pathway and insure visibility during nighttime visits.

To insure we could safely navigate to the toilets at night, I installed two step lights in each bathroom along with a 24” strip of low lumen output LED Tape under the vanity. In all the bathrooms, (the hall and bedroom, too) I used a full-face WAC step and wall light. The 140 lumens per foot, standard grade tape is from American Lighting.

Nightlighting in “her” bathroom

To give us the purest white for grooming, I decided to use 3000K color temperature in both rooms. While I was comfortable with the decision in her bathroom because of the white and blue colors, I was worried that the color would fight the celadon in my bathroom. Luckily, the tile has responded nicely to the 3000K light.

Controls

Each bathroom has four switches. One for the two shower recessed units, one for the mirror sconces plus the over-the-sink recessed and one for the night lighting. A fourth controls the ceiling exhaust fan. The night light switch is part of the Control-4 home automation system so I could configure an illuminated pathway “scene” from the bed, down the hall and into the bathroom.

Illuminance Measurements

My goal was to provide better lighting at the face, and in the shower, in addition to providing better functionality. Nighttime navigation needs only a limited level of light, but delivers a ton of safety. Because the main bathroom does not have a window, the nightlights also furnishes around the clock support.

While it doesn’t matter for her bathroom, I took these measurements at dusk. The sky was clear, the sun had just set, but it wasn’t yet dark, so there is a bit of light coming from the window. (See first line of data.) Because of the wide variety of lighting, I provided a range in the “All Lighting” measurement, rather than an average calculation.

Type of LightHer Illuminance MeasurementHis Illuminance Measurement
Dusk via Window0.0 fc0.1 fc
Nightlight Only – Middle of Room at Floor1.5 fc2.0 fc
Nightlight Only – Middle of Room at Eye Level0.21 fc0.13 fc
Shower Only – Standing at Showerhead at Eye Level46.5 fc36.6 fc
Shower Only – Seated at Eye Level20.6 fc49.8 fc
Mirror Lighting Only  – Standing at the front of the vanity Measured at Face216.0 fc305.0 fc
Mirror Lighting at Center of Sink190.2 fc197.0 fc
All Lighting – General Areas of Room35 fc to 193 fc41 fc to 167 fc

While both rooms are almost the same size in area, her bathroom is a wider, full rectangle, accounting for some of the “lower” levels of light. (seated shower, general lighting) His bathroom is narrower, with a small passageway at the door that adds to square footage, but not usable space.

Her bathroom benefits from a bit more reflectance because of the white field on the tile. It also has a glossier finish. It does lose some of advantage with the deep blue around the mirror.

Her mirror sconces are flat against the wall with an initial output listed at 2139 lumens each. His mini-pendants are away from the wall slightly, thereby closer to the face, delivering about the same output at 2100 lumens, but a higher illuminance measurement at the face.

These numbers, in general, exceed recommendations, but more importantly, they provide us with the right amount of light, where we need it and when we need it.

“His” bathroom – shower area with two recessed downlights to eliminate glare

Final Thoughts

With the amount of time we spent preserving the original features in the Living Room, Foyer and TV Room, losing the original small bathroom was tough to swallow. We think we could have made the kitsch work and had a lot of fun with the space. When the inevitable arrived, we decided to lean in and create the most carefree bathrooms we could. With no glass enclosure and no shower curtain, a quick squeegee after a shower and the area is spotless. Ultimately, that was the goal of the house. Twenty-two years of living in a historic property skews judgement. As we age, I’m sure we will appreciate the decision more. After 40 plus years of living in older homes with older bathrooms, it is nice to have a fresh, clean, functional and easy to use bathrooms.

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Lighting Commentary

The State of the Nation’s Housing 2026

Photo by D Goug on Pexels.com

One of the most interesting email blasts to which I subscribe is published by the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies. It’s free, so I urge you to do likewise. While they do have a slight bias toward affordability content, the information is timely and speaks to the lighting industry because of its tightly bound connection to new home construction and existing home sales. Their recently published annual “State of the Nation’s Housing 2026” report considers both.

Like so many other organization’s yearly assessments have stated, the industry is in a difficult spot. American citizens are in a difficult spot. If you have money, you’re probably ok, but if you earn a moderate income, you are having trouble and will likewise have difficulty affording housing and it will only get worse. Intuitively, we already know that. The remarkable book, “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond explored this exact topic ten years ago. Contrary to what Ronald Reagan promised, a trickle-down economy does not trickle. It is simply making the wealthy, wealthier and pushing more people into poverty. Coupled with our past inability to maintain a viable minimum wage, we find ourselves today in a state of crisis.

Here are a few stats pulled from the report that should frighten anyone who works in the building industry.

  • Household growth, an essential driver of demand for housing fell for the third year in a row to only 1.1 million. It had reached 2.0 million in 2020 and 2021. This reduction of households among young adults is blamed on a weak job market, student loan debt and low consumer sentiment.
  • One-third of people under 30 years of age, who are statistically eligible to “start a household,” are still living with their parents.
  • The US added only 116,000 jobs in 2025. This is the smallest level since 2002. The Bureau of Labor Statistics attributes this to the current “low-hire, low-fire” economy.
  • Student loan debt at least 90 days overdue is at 10%. This is a key demographic needed to form new households and invest in new housing. Inability to pay their loans make them unlikely homeowners.
  • Consumer Sentiment is now at 45 year low (excluding the pandemic blip)
  • Mobility rates, impact by the slowing job market, fell from 5.5% to 5.1% effecting states like Texas and Florida, who rely on net inflow of residents.
  • Severely restricted immigration and increased deportation have reduced housing demand. This is expected to plummet another 75% in 2026, placing more burden on demand. (Immigration is a strong driver of household growth.)
  • Single family house construction starts fell 7% to 940,600 units. Despite price reductions and builder incentives, sales also dropped 1% to 678,000 units, resulting in increased inventories of unsold units.
  • Homeowner vacancy rates are at historic lows of 1.1%. This is exacerbated by slowing construction, making the homes available, much higher in price.
  • Since 2020, the price of new homes has increased 54% nationwide and above 50% in 73 of the top 100 markets in the United States. Even small markets are seeing similar increases.
  • Only 16% of renter households earn $120,800 per year. This is minimum threshold needed to purchase a medium-priced house. Even fewer have the $14,300 needed for a 3.5% down payment.
  • US home ownership rates fell to 65.2%; this represents the second year of decline.
  • 20.7 million homeowners (24%) are “cost burdened” spending more than 30% of their income on housing. This is an increase of 4 million since 2019. Add that to the number considered “severely burdened” (spending more than 50% of their income on housing) and the total is 9.6 million households. This is of course most severe in low-income households, especially those residing in high cost of living location.
  • Only 23% of homes listed for sale were affordable to someone with a household income of $75,000. That number was 49% in 2019, a 26 point slip in six years. If earnings are less than $75,000, availability is down an incredible 60%.
  • For many current homeowners who have been able to leap so many of these hurdles, a reward is still out of reach. Equity rates are at their lowest point since 2018. 1.1 million mortgage holders have a balance higher than their home’s value.
  • Couple all of these stats on top of the already existing bias against people of color, which, in response to administration policy and Supreme Court rulings is expected to grow, meaning a large sector of the population is doubly burdened and even more unlikely to participate in home ownership.

There is equally daunting data covering rental housing and low-income earners:

  • Despite demand, America is not addressing the need for lower priced housing. 11 million households are considered “extremely low income.” They compete for 3.8 million affordable and available rental units. The total number of affordable units is rapidly falling and private markets are not filling this gap. While government rental assistance is still available, federal public housing funds are being slashed. State governments do not have the resources to fill in the gap. If you want to know why Zohran Mamdani was elected Mayor of New York and Socialist Democrats won a number of primary elections recently, this is the reason. They are among the few public officials speaking about this crucial issue.

Home sales are down. Household growth is down. Home ownership is down. Homeowner insurance is up. Construction costs are up. Interest rate remain up. The threat to the housing stock from erratic weather is up. Utility costs are up. Housing market discrimination is up. None of this is good news.

What is the Response of Lighting?

I’m reminded of the famous scene from the movie, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” when the “Kid” tells Butch that he can’t jump into the river because he can’t swim. Butch responds, “Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill ya!”

This is bad in multiple ways. The easiest answer is to swap all products to those that service high to very high income consumers. The problem with that logic is volume. Are there enough of these type consumers to support the whole industry? It is unlikely because the moneyed Baby Boomer’s impact on housing is waning and the Gen X demographic, while financially powerful is so very small. These issues are striking the Millennial and Gen Z demographic most severely and they are at peak home buying and household formation years, right now. The alternate is reduce prices. That too is complicated, thanks to the myopic direction of the current administration.

The outside force here is the home builder’s response. If I were a builder, I’d be looking at reducing the demand for decorative product in favor of less expensive functional lighting. With the reduced size of “starter” homes to 1800 square feet, I can’t see a dining room included. That means chandelier demand will shrink and less-expensive kitchen pendants are likely to be more important. Undercabinet lighting should already have been replaced with LED Tape and bath vanity lighting will be swapped with a lighted mirror. Recessed lights are already the victim of the dreaded “disc.” Like acne on a teenager, expect them to infest most every other area of a house. Flat panel LED luminaires are also primed for an increase. Because of their slim profile, they have a limited visibility in a room and could easily take the place of a more expensive products. They also deliver more light than the “discs” for spaces where that is needed. They are available in round, oval, square and rectangle and only about 1” deep. Many offer selectable CCT. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of these in lower priced homes.

I’ve recently seen an uptick in the use of steel for outdoor luminaires. This has always been a no-no, even with a powder-coat finish. I suspect this barrier will be falling soon. To achieve lower costs, we’ll be installing “limited life” lighting outside. Like cheap vinyl windows, homeowners will be replacing outdoor lighting in ten to twenty years. I’ve also seen an increase in recessed lighting under eaves in lieu of surface mounted fixtures. This is new. As an industry, I’d pay attention to this. It could substantially reduce their lighting cost and have a big impact on lighting manufacturers.

There is one “bright spot” that might take a few years to create an impact. Despite being stalled by President Trump’s failure to sign, the “21st Century Road to Housing Act” has gone into law. In general, most of what is included will still require local legislative action. Perhaps the most unheralded section is the elimination of a “chassis” required on most manufactured homes. The chassis adds cost and reduces output because the inclusion of a chassis immediately categorizes it as a “mobile home.” Mobile home limitations and caps are in place across the nation. For the first time, the economy of factory-built homes and progressive construction techniques might actually help reduce new home construction costs.

Is this enough? I don’t know, but don’t worry. The fall will probably kill you.

If you’d like to read the entire report, the attached link will provide you with 48 pages of detailed insight.

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_The_State_of_the_Nations_Housing_2026_0.pdf

Categories
Lighting Commentary

Death of a Lighting Guy

I hope you’ll indulge me on this post. Harold Wagner died in April and I just found out.

Most of you who read this blog will not know Harold. Before I was asked to take a more outward-facing role for my longtime employer, I was just like him, a cog in the new product development process of lighting. We did not know customers, sales reps, the lighting media, competitors and the design community. You did not know us. Harold’s departure from this world reminds us that there is a whole world of people who quietly create lighting in the background of the industry.

Harold arrived when the company was growing rapidly. He had worked for another lighting company in Cleveland, ran a design/engineering department for a housewares company for a very long time and even did some freelance design. He immediately jumped in and made a huge difference. I have often said, without him, the company simply would not have been able to release the quantity of products it did during that era. He was a speedy “drafting machine” in a world prior to Computer Aided Drafting (CAD).

When it was time to retire, he accepted the handshakes, chuckled at the ribbing he received at his retirement sendoff and enjoyed a fulfilling life. There were no email blasts, no press releases, no platitudes from industry leaders commending his value to the greater good. Instead, he did what most people do, he found a life outside the industry. He leant his tenor voice to a barbershop quartet, taught watercolor painting to seniors and used his compassion for others as a church elder. Harold was not the kind of guy to “sit around” so these were not his only activities, but you get the point.

Within the lighting industry, there are thousands of “Harolds” across every company. I worked with an amazing administrative assistant for years. She got data entered into the system and information passed to vendors all while coordinating and balancing a dozen problems that arise each day in a chaotic engineering/graphics department. I remain friends with a business analyst who kept the backside of operations cooking for years, so customers got their orders placed and products were delivered on time with a minimum of trouble. I still chat with and an export/logistics person who found shipping containers when no one else could, while simultaneously grinding the shipper’s fee to a pittance. Talented designers created four times more ideas than were eventually produced and a model shop magician who could literally turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse, (if needed) all while correcting an engineer’s “mistake.” I worked with a purchasing agent, who, I swore gave advice to half of the company on their supposed area of expertise and a packaging expert who made sure everything arrived in one piece and personally packed thousands of “special orders” for customers who were desperate for a last minute “something” that had to arrive quickly and unbroken. If I had a few weeks, I could fill scores of blog posts with more lighting industry champions.

Many of you know me, because of the bowtie and the shoes and the educational webinars and the quotes in all sorts of media. I’m just the most visible portion of an important iceberg that designed, purchased, packed, shipped, inventoried, billed, financed, paid and administered a full industry.

I’m thinking a lot about Harold Wagner this week. If you’re in the lighting industry, or any business, there is a Harold in your background. Make sure they know how important they are to the industry’s greater good…and to you.

Categories
Aesthetic Lighting Help Technical Lighting Help

A Lighting Guy Rehabs a House – The Living Room

This post is a continuation of a series suggested by a friend, detailing the rationale and process of selecting lighting for my wife’s and my new rehabbed home. In this post, I’ll discuss the lighting of the living room.

When I first walked into this house, the living room sold me. From the low-ceilinged foyer, you step into an open-beam ceilinged room with a wall of glass at the far end, overlooking a wooded outdoor expanse, unexpected in this inner-ring suburb. My wife says I was blinded by the space. I could see beyond the red shag carpet and ancient drapery that was moments away from shearing on account of its own weight and age. It is an impressive space.

The bad part about buying a neglected house is that nothing has been cared for…for a long time. The good part is, no one has removed any of the original elements of the building. That was the case here. Original hardwood paneling lined the foyer, living room and what we are calling the TV Room. The color was light and fit the home perfectly. The angled fireplace that separated the living room from the adjoining dining room was painted brick. After acquiring a copy of the original blueprints, we affirmed that the wood stain, brick paint and their colors were original to the 1957 construction.

The painter matched the existing stain color. (Actually, he said there were about five colors, certain areas, no doubt victim of UV deterioration. He arrived on an average of the quintet.) We replaced the red shag carpet (don’t shed a tear!) with an orange-toned Marmoleum. Initially, we had planned on a long “S” shaped sofa placed through the center of the room, but with the many cost overruns, we decided to use our existing furniture, at least for a while. We think the room is a welcoming center to our new home.

Indirect Valance Lighting

An original valance was suspended above all of the windows. A flip of the switch ignited about half of the old T12 fluorescent luminaires hidden behind. The second switch lit one of two spots that grazed the face of the fireplace. The options for added lighting beyond portables were limited. I could add a sconce, but I’d need to disturb the original wood paneling. I decided to be as inconspicuous as possible.

The room is 17’-0” x 25’-0”. (Adjoining rooms cut in at a 30° angle at the foyer end.) I knew I’d need to fill the valance with plenty of light to properly illuminate the area. I asked the contractor to install 1” angle iron across the full backside of the valance, once the old florescent units were removed. I opted for LED Tape across 26’-0” linear feet of valance. I used the American Lighting tape that delivers over 1000 lumens per foot. 26,000 lumen is a LOT of light, even if it indirect, so I decided to use a dimmer. (Yes, I know. Jeff used a dimmer?) While we have come to hate fluorescent light, those old linear units pushed out a ton of light. The T12 emitted approximately 800-900 lumens per foot, so I felt I was on the right track.

We’re not really big fans of drapery and can think of only a handful of rooms in the past, where we’ve used it. Almost simultaneously, we knew we’d be using shades to cover these walls of windows. During the day, they could roll up and disappear behind the valance. At night, when rolled down, I knew that they could pop by grazing the surface with light, aimed downward, from behind the valance. When the GC understood my lighting plan and our desire for shades, he suggested a second run of angle iron at the lower section of the valance. That way, the shade wires could be affixed to the back of the valance between the two “L” shaped brackets that held the lighting. A side benefit was the lack of shadows. This was a great suggestion. I quickly agreed.

I decided to use a lower output for the grazing and selected an American Lighting LED Tape that delivered 310 lumens per foot. I did not run this light the full length of the valance, instead centering sections the width of the shade. A total of approximately 18’-0” was used. 5580 lumens were added. In total, I reached 31,580 lumens of indirect light.

Because of the warm wood paneling, earthy-orange flooring, off-white shades and the bisque paint on the fireplace brick, I knew I needed to use 2700K LED Tape.

Spots

The old reflector lamp spots hidden behind one of the ceiling beams had seen better days. They of course needed to be replaced. They were however perfectly positioned to drive light onto the brick face of the fireplace wall. I asked the electrician to keep the outlet boxes (he still needed to rewire) and selected the tiny WAC Stealth Silo monopoint spots with integrated driver and an adjustable beam angle output. This is a powerful little guy and places the perfect level of light on the first piece of art we have installed in this location. (We still haven’t agree on the second piece!) Like the rest of the room, we used 2700K color temperature to compliment the warm tones of the art, to say nothing of the room and other finishes.

Controls

When we purchased the house, there was a hole in the roof that dumped water into a corner of the living room. Neighbors report that the previous owner kept a bucket at that location to collect the rainwater. That was also the location of the switches for half of the room. After they repaired the roof, the contractor found the support beam at that location was rotted from the constant deluge. They needed to replace and sister all around the area. The switches could not be re-installed at that location. We made the tough decision to cut a slightly larger hole in the original paneling, where the other switch was located. Now, all of the lighting is controlled from one spot.

The Control 4 home automation system drives the valance lighting, in addition to a floor lamp. When we are not using the area, the lamp turns on at dusk and off at 11:30PM. When entertaining a “scene” has been established with the valance lighting at 50%. This is a perfect level of light for a casual, relaxing evening.

Illuminance Measurements

Unlike a kitchen or bathroom, the living area of a home has fewer requirements for tasks, so a relaxed atmosphere is desired. With most of the light delivered by indirect light, that is assured here.

I took these measurements at dusk. The sky was clear, the sun had just set, but it wasn’t yet dark, so there is a bit of light coming from the many windows. (See first line of data.) I averaged measurements from five locations around the sitting area to arrive at number stated here. Measurement at the artwork was in the center.

Type of LightIlluminance Measurement
Dusk via Windows3.5 fc
Floor Lamp Only7.0 fc (spot closest to lamp eliminated)
Valance at 50%8.6 fc
Valance at 100%17.0 fc
Valance at 50% and Floor Lamp15.8 fc
100% Valance, Artwork Spot & Lamp24.8 fc
At Fireplace Artwork68 fc

The IES recommends light levels of between 10fc and 20fc in living areas/social gathering spots. The “entertaining” scene delivers over 15fc. Should we need more, it can be raised to almost 25fc of very comfortable light.

In general, light at artwork should be about three times greater than the surrounding space. We are a bit over this calculation during entertainment, but is on target when the valance lighting is fully engaged. As a result, the art presents well.

Statistically, the numbers are good, but more importantly, it is a great space to sit, relax and enjoy the company of others.

Final Thoughts

When the electrician first looked at this room, he didn’t know how he was going to rewire it. There was no access to the ceiling and the original paneling faced all the walls. What wasn’t wood was brick. The GC suggested all the wiring would need to travel outside and under the eaves, until heading back “inside” in the appropriate spots. Only one small section, near the ceiling spot lights required removal. Power supplies for the LED Tape are in the crawl space and wires take a circuitous route to their final destination. We’re glad so much care was taken. The results are nothing short of amazing. We were able to preserve every single aspect of this 1957 space, but imbed it with 2025 technology. Who says you can’t teach an old dog, new tricks?