How To Use Outdoor Rope Lights

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May 202013
 
PinExt How To Use Outdoor Rope Lights

rope light coil 300x300 How To Use Outdoor Rope Lights
Summer is just around the corner. If you’re one who enjoys long nights under the stars, you’re probably already thinking of way to spice up your deck, patio, or yard for the season.

To add a little no-fuss accent light to your space, you may want to try a few strings of LED outdoor rope lights. They’re flexible and weatherproof, and they come in 6 different lengths and 2 different color temperatures.

Here are some of the many ways you can use rope lights to liven up your yard for summer:

  • Highlight a deck or porch by wrapping lights around the handrail.
rope lights around handrail via Apartment Therapy How To Use Outdoor Rope Lights

Image via ApartmentTherapy.com

  • Use rope lights for safety, lining steps and garden pathways with the bright LEDs. Continue reading »
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The Magic Of Color-Changing Kitchen Lights

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May 172013
 
PinExt The Magic Of Color Changing Kitchen Lights

Here’s a daring alternative to normal kitchen lighting: Instead of traditional accent lights that only emit white light, use kitchen lights that can change color.

Color-changing LED tape lights have the perfect linear, low-profile design to be great under cabinet lights, toe-kick lights, or cove lighting. But instead of shining with just white light, they can emit light in 16 different colors. Imagine, being able to change the entire look and feel of your kitchen in seconds. You can tailor the space to any occasion, from family game nights to big holiday parties, from early morning baking frenzies to a couple’s night in.

Can you pull off this dramatic feature in your kitchen? To help you find out, I’ve whipped up a few different “color recipes” explaining how each color can transform it into something new.

Green: Get Energized At Your Tranquil Health Club

Comfortable Home Design Green Over Cabinet Lights The Magic Of Color Changing Kitchen Lights

Image via ComfortableHomeDesign.com

Green is a clean, comforting color. Physiologically, green can be good for your heart, it can help you relax your muscles and breathe deeper and slower. Set your lights to an emerald hue for the afternoon, and suddenly, you’ll feel in just the right mood to have a cool glass of water and a piece of fruit. It’s the perfect scheme to use after a long workout or spending time outdoors too. Continue reading »

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Choosing Energy-Saving Under Cabinet Lights

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May 152013
 
PinExt Choosing Energy Saving Under Cabinet Lights

 

Kitchen renovation in the works? When updating your kitchen with energy-efficiency in mind, be sure to look to the lights. Efficient under cabinet or under counter lights are extremely effective at cutting down your energy use, without sacrificing style or quality.

Here’s a list of some of our favorite under cabinet lights, what makes them energy-efficient, and what makes them great for the kitchen:

LEDs

1. LED Thin Under Cabinet Task Lights

LED Under Cabinet Choosing Energy Saving Under Cabinet Lights

These classic ENERGY STAR qualified LED lights can produce nearly 36 lumens of light for every watt of energy they use, depending on the length of the fixture. They also have a rated-life of up to 50,000 hours, so you know they’re reliable. These lights will fit in with the decor of almost any kitchen, producing bright white light, and available in 2 different finishes. See them here. Continue reading »

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How To Use Step Lights In Indoor Spaces

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May 132013
 
PinExt How To Use Step Lights In Indoor Spaces

step lights 300x199 How To Use Step Lights In Indoor Spaces
For a little more impact in a home’s foyer, or a little more safety in a dark basement, step lighting can help.

This blog post will help you learn how to light an indoor staircase, what lights you should choose for your project and how to install them.

Let’s get started!

First, decide where you want your lights to go…

On the step.

For a subtle accent on each step, you can install recessed lights within the riser (vertical) or the tread (horizontal) portion of the step. Your stairs will get a little more impact, but the lights won’t alter the overall brightness of the room very much. Tread lighting will give steps a runway-like appeal, while riser lighting will typically illuminate the center region of the stairs. If you choose to install your lights here, you’ll need to cut portions of the steps to set and hardwire the lights. We recommend you consult with a professional electrician before setting off to work.

Beside the step.

Another popular step lighting option that adds a little more brightness to the room’s overall light level is wall lighting. Here, you would install your step lights on the wall right next to your staircase, so the lights would cast beams directly down onto the step. Since you don’t have to worry about mounting these lights on the surface of the step, you have a little more artistic freedom – the lights don’t have to be flush with the wall, and they can be a little flashier if you choose. We recommend installing 1 light every 3 steps or so, but you can play with this number depending on how bright you want your staircase to be. Continue reading »

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Prepare Your Emergency Plans! Check Those Exit Sign Batteries

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May 102013
 
PinExt Prepare Your Emergency Plans! Check Those Exit Sign Batteries

Edge LitLEDEXITSign1 Prepare Your Emergency Plans! Check Those Exit Sign Batteries

My lights have already gone out once this spring, thanks to a lovely, unexpected North Carolina thunderstorm. Lucky for me, I live in an apartment with small rooms and large windows. During the day, electric lights don’t make that much of a difference.

However, if you’re charged managing a large shopping mall, school, theater, or office, your power outage protocol isn’t nearly as simple.

When the lights go out, it’s up to you to ensure the people’s safety.

Are you prepared?

Most importantly, you’ve got to maintain functional exit signs, because they might be the only thing during an outage that stands between order and panic. When the power goes out, your lighted exit signs will too, unless they have functional backup batteries.

We suggest you make it a goal to inspect the exit sign batteries around your establishment at least once every three months. Most exit signs have convenient “push to test buttons” that let you do this in a matter of seconds.

What if the battery isn’t working? Continue reading »

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How To Make Your Museum Lighting More Energy-Efficient

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Apr 092013
 
PinExt How To Make Your Museum Lighting More Energy Efficient

Bookshelf lighting 220x300 How To Make Your Museum Lighting More Energy Efficient
We’re teaching how to go green and save energy with the lights in every space we can think of! Click here to browse the entire energy-efficient lighting series.

The right lighting is essential for any museum. Each exhibit needs a lighting scheme that will preserve the artistic, historical, or scientific integrity of the articles on display. And it just has to look good too.

If you’ve already landed on a lighting scheme that works for your museum, you’re probably apprehensive to change it, even if you could save money.

Good news: Upgrading your museum lighting is easier than you might think. There are a ton of small, barely noticeable changes you can make to your museum lighting that will save you energy. Also, newer energy-efficient lighting options may actually provide more versatile, higher quality light for your displays.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Small Changes:  

1. Guide Lights

If you have dark areas in your museum – night simulations or moody displays – you’ll always need small guide lights to keep your visitors safe and comfortable. These are things like step lights along staircases and rope lights along pathways or handrails. These lights will never add to or take away from the integrity of your display. They’re just there. So why not save a little energy with them?

The most energy-efficient step lights and guide lights you can find on the market are probably LEDs. They’ll last much longer than older incandescent lights and most fluorescent lights, and they’ll produce the same brightness while only using a fraction of the energy.

2. Exit Signs

Exit signs are necessary features in any museum, but it’s not necessary that you use a lot of energy to operate them. A good LED exit sign only costs $2 to operate every year. Compare that to the $39 it costs to run a single incandescent exit sign. The LED will pay for itself within a year!

If you’re even more ambitious about saving energy, you can opt for photoluminescent exit signs. They’re made with a special material that absorbs ambient light and emits it when the lights go dark. No maintenance or electricity required. Continue reading »

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How To Install Recessed Puck Lights In 8 Easy Steps

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Apr 052013
 
PinExt How To Install Recessed Puck Lights In 8 Easy Steps

Puck Lights PALPX 300x191 How To Install Recessed Puck Lights In 8 Easy Steps
Recessed puck lights are a simple, attractive light source for task lighting and accent lighting. If you’re ready to use puck lights to illuminate your cabinets or shelves, just follow these tips to create the perfect lighting scheme!

1. Pick Your Pucks.

Do you prefer plug-in, hard-wire, or battery operated lights? LED, xenon, or fluorescent? Low voltage or line voltage? What color temperature works best with your decor? You can browse our full selection of puck lights here.

2. Decide How Many Puck Lights You’ll Need. 

This will depend on how you want to use them. For even under cabinet lighting or bookshelf lighting, use one light for every 6-10 inches of space. For display lighting, position one light above every item you wish to showcase.

3. Determine How To Place Your Lights. 

For even lighting, follow the 6-10 inch rule. We recommend you install the lights closer to the front of the cabinets or shelves. This will provide the brightest illumination, especially important for task lighting. For accent lighting, the placement is more arbitrary. What makes your display look best?

4. Test Them Out.

Before you whip out the power tools, test out your placement by taping the puck lights in place. You can even turn them on to see how the final lighting scheme will appear. Make adjustments as you see fit. When you’re happy with what you see, take a pencil and trace each light. Continue reading »

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How To Make Your Hotel Lighting More Energy-Efficient

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Apr 022013
 
PinExt How To Make Your Hotel Lighting More Energy Efficient

stock photo foyer How To Make Your Hotel Lighting More Energy Efficient
This post is part of a series on energy-efficient lighting. Click here to learn how you can save energy with your lights in all kinds of different places. 

So you’re looking for ways to cut down on energy use in your hotel, inn, or resort. A few efficient changes to your lighting can make a big difference in the number that turns up on your monthly bill. Here are 4 simple ideas to get the ball rolling…

1. Go LED when you can.

A well lit hotel puts guests at ease. Bright inviting lights make a space seem clean, cared for, and trustworthy. You don’t have anything to hide. So, when trying to save energy with your lights, you don’t want to sacrifice any ambiance. That’s why LEDs are perfect for you.

LED light bulbs produce more light for the amount of energy they use – about twice as much as a CFL, one of the most popular light sources on today’s market. So, you’ll never have to lose light for the sake of saving energy.

White Accent Ceiling Lighting in a Lobby 680x1024 How To Make Your Hotel Lighting More Energy Efficient

When it comes to light quality, you can also count on LEDs. LED light bulbs and light fixtures come in an array of color temperatures – cool to warm, with excellent color rendering capabilities. If you haven’t tried an LED in recent years, you might be surprised at how pleasant the light appears.

Take some time to audit the lights you use throughout your hotel. Here’s a list of some lights you can easily switch to LED: Continue reading »

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How To Make Your Office Lighting More Energy-Efficient

 Energy-Efficient Lighting  1 Response »
Mar 152013
 
PinExt How To Make Your Office Lighting More Energy Efficient

White Cove Lighting in a Conference Room 200x300 How To Make Your Office Lighting More Energy Efficient
This article is part of a series here on the blog about how to save the most energy with lighting in your home or business. Browse the entire series here.

Lighting accounts for at least 28% of the energy used in the average office building. That translates to a pretty hefty chunk of the monthly budget. But, by making big and small energy-efficient updates, you can spend less and enjoy a more comfortable office environment.

Big Changes…

If you still use incandescent or outdated fluorescent overhead lights, it’s time for an upgrade.

LEDs use about 80% less energy to generate the same amount of light as incandescent light bulbs. They also last about 25 times longer. So, if you use incandescent light bulbs in your recessed cans, you should replace them with LED lamps or retrofits. LEDs excel at downlighting, because they’re naturally a directional light source. Today’s models have light output and color quality very similar to incandescent lights, so you might not notice the change until you look at your energy bill.

If you have older fluorescent lighting in your office (like T12s), you’re also not saving as much energy as you could. T12 technology is over 70 years old, and incidentally was taken out of production last year. If you exchange your T12s for T8s, you’ll use 45% less energy. Not to mention, the color temperature and light quality of fluorescent lights have improved dramatically over the past few decades, so new lights could be a huge morale boost for all the office workers.

iStock 000005663021Medium 1024x670 How To Make Your Office Lighting More Energy Efficient

Smaller Changes…

Office lighting isn’t just about what’s on the ceiling. To make sure you’re saving the most energy possible, you also need to take a critical look at the smaller light fixtures in the office. Continue reading »

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How Durable Are LED Step Lights?

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Mar 122013
 
PinExt How Durable Are LED Step Lights?

LED Step Lights At Home 233x300 How Durable Are LED Step Lights?
We recently received this question on our website about the durability of our LED step lights:

Can the lights set flat on the landing and be able to withstand the removal of snow, or are they too fragile for that?

If you’ve considered installing step lights on an outdoor staircase or an indoor staircase that gets a lot of wear and tear, this question has probably crossed your mind. After doing some research and hearing from a few customers about their own experiences, here’s what I’ve found:

The Hearty Light Source

For a quality outdoor step light, you couldn’t do better than an LED. LEDs don’t have delicate filaments or electrodes like other light sources. This lets them withstand jarring vibrations like heavy foot traffic or shoveling.

Also, LEDs love the cold – they actually last longer in lower temperatures. So, they’re perfect for outdoor lighting in chilly climates. Fluorescent lights, on the other hand, don’t thrive in the cold. They have difficulty starting in temperatures lower than 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

How Fragile Are The Housings? 

While LEDs by themselves are downright robust, they aren’t the soul component of a step light. The glass, metal, or plastic housings and covers might not hold up to vigorous scraping or pounding if installed flat on a stair. Plus, if they’re not completely flush, they could be a tripping hazard.

Jim from PA. a proud owner of these LED step lights, offered us his solution to this problem:  Continue reading »

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