Lights For A Holiday-Ready Home

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Oct 312012
 
PinExt Lights For A Holiday Ready Home

holidaylighting2 300x217 Lights For A Holiday Ready Home
Holiday lights can have a bad reputation, but it’s my goal to help put some sparkle back in your season; to “lighten” your load a bit. Below you’ll find all the lights you need to prep your home for a headache-free holiday, from practical essentials to the best decorative fixtures and everything in between.

1. LED String Lights

Warm Holiday Lights 300x214 Lights For A Holiday Ready HomeHoliday string lights have always been one of the season’s classic hallmarks, and also one of its biggest jokes. With their festive beauty often comes hours upon hours of trial and error, trying to find that single burnt-out light bulb ruining the bunch.

White Holiday Lights 300x183 Lights For A Holiday Ready HomeBut, you shouldn’t have to worry about burnt-out lights if you use LED Holiday Lights for your home this year. They have a 60,000 hour rated-life, so they’ll stay lit for a long, long time.

Pure White Holiday Lights 300x185 Lights For A Holiday Ready HomeOn top of the impressive lifetime, LED lights generate much less heat, so you won’t have to worry about holiday fire hazards. Plus, they use about 90% less energy than incandescent string lights, saving you money to use on more important things this season.

They come in a few cozy color temperatures, alluding to winter wonders like ice and candlelight. Continue reading »

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Reviving Your Commercial Lighting: Study of an Avant-Garde Health Club

 Lighting Projects  No Responses »
Oct 192012
 
PinExt Reviving Your Commercial Lighting: Study of an Avant Garde Health Club
One Taste Intro1 265x300 Reviving Your Commercial Lighting: Study of an Avant Garde Health Club

Image via CONTEMPORIST.com

I recently ran across an article on CONTEMPORIST.com, featuring the One Taste Holistic Health Club in Hangzhou, China designed by Crox International.
This space, created to cleanse and relax the mind and body uses commercial lighting strategies in new and unexpected ways. I think there’s a lot we can learn from the lighting design in this space – after all, wouldn’t you love it if your office, store, or hotel had this same inviting, rejuvenating atmosphere? I’ve picked out 5 key lighting concepts from this to share.

Let’s delve:

1. Always, always, always layer lights. In this lounge area, there are bold ceiling lights interspersed with recessed cans, shelf lighting, artistic floor lamps, and natural light from the right hand windows.

One Taste Light Layers Reviving Your Commercial Lighting: Study of an Avant Garde Health Club

Image via CONTEMPORIST.com

Everyone probably knows light layering is the #1 rule in residential lighting design, but we can often neglect it in professional settings. Light layers can transform that standard gloomy, fluorescent malaise into something calm and energizing. Continue reading »

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Tips From The White House For Lighting Your Home

 Thoughts on Light  No Responses »
Oct 032012
 
PinExt Tips From The White House For Lighting Your Home

With the debate tonight and Election Day a month away, I’m in a presidential state of mind. No matter who we choose to run the country for the next 4 years, he’s going to live in a stunning, immaculately lit home.

While much of the White House décor would overpower a regular-sized home, we can take away concepts from its lighting scheme to make our own dwellings more beautiful. Here are a few universal lighting principles carried out Washington-style:

Layer those lights! See: The China Room

While I was scrolling through photos on WhiteHouse.gov, I noted that every room had two, three, four different light sources. For instance, in the China Room created by First Lady Edith Wilson in 1917, there’s not only a beautiful chandelier for overhead lighting, but there are also wall sconces and even display lights in the china cabinets. This adds visual interest, eliminates unflattering shadows, and creates striking focal points.

WH The China Room Tips From The White House For Lighting Your Home

Photo via WhiteHouse.gov

Light layering is a flattering design strategy in any room in your house, but I chose The China Room so you could see how pretty it looks to have illuminated cabinets, hutches, shelves, and display cases. It might not be your first impulse to install a few linear or puck lights, but it’s really easy to do, and will make your cabinet’s contents and the entire room dazzle.

Know your color temperature. See: The State Dining Room

When we think of classic, traditional lighting, we often summon images of warm incandescent lights, as close to candle light as we can get. But, The State Dining Room shows us that cooler white light can be just as dignified. The daylight white light of the chandelier and sconces is unexpectedly cool, but it looks great! This color temperature is perfect to offset the clean white walls and crisp table cloths – a warmer light source may make things look too yellow.

WH State Dining Room Tips From The White House For Lighting Your Home

Photo via WhiteHouse.gov

Continue reading »

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25,000 LEDs For The Bay Bridge’s 75th Year

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Oct 022012
 
PinExt 25,000 LEDs For The Bay Bridges 75th Year

The Bay Lights 300x168 25,000 LEDs For The Bay Bridges 75th Year

Courtesy of Leo Villareal


It’s not every artist’s dream to have a 500-foot canvas that’s also an international icon, but that’s what Leo Villareal and his lighting team couldn’t be more thrilled about. This month, crews will begin constructing a massive light-art installation on San Francisco’s famous Bay Bridge.

First conceived 2 years ago by Ben Davis of Words Pictures Ideas (a communications firm that does work for Caltrans), “The Bay Lights” will cover 1.8 miles of the bridge’s northern face with 25,000 programmable LEDs suspended on cables. The team plans to have it finished by March, when they’ll debut it with a grand lighting celebration just in time for the bridge’s 75th anniversary.

Leo Villareal, the artist in charge, plans to use intricate sequences and algorithms to display light patterns based on movements around the bridge. He’s best known for his piece “Multiverse,” made of 41,000 LEDs in the tunnel that connects the two wings in Washington’s National Gallery of Art. Villareal hopes to bring the same elegant orchestration to The Bay Lights. You can see the concept in this video:

Continue reading »

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4 Simple Ways To Improve The Exterior Of Your Home

 Tips For Your Home  No Responses »
Sep 102012
 
PinExt 4 Simple Ways To Improve The Exterior Of Your Home

nice exterior home 300x195 4 Simple Ways To Improve The Exterior Of Your Home

Today’s guest post focuses on the outside of your home. Jennifer, a staff writer for Fortified Roofing, reviews four ways to really give the exterior of your house that “Wow!” factor. I am going to go ahead and add a fifth way to this list – outdoor lighting. No big surprise there, huh? Now back to our regularly scheduled guest post.

Having a beautiful home with a lot of curb appeal requires work! That said, approaching an exterior makeover with the right priorities will save you time, money, and a ton of stress. Let’s take a look at the best ways to improve the outside of your home:

1. Landscaping

This is the first thing someone sees when they look at your home – your only chance to make a first impression. You should mow the lawn at least once every week, and make sure not to neglect edging (creating clean lines around flowerbeds, trees, sidewalks, and fences). For the hedges we usually recommend trimming after you mow, but if they hang over the lawn, you might want to reverse the order to save yourself work. This way you can mow over the clippings. Pine needles, mulch, or rocks are all great, visually pleasing options for flower beds, but don’t forget to pull the weeds! Continue reading »

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Using Dynamic Lighting Arrangements to Liven up Your Yard

 Lighting Tips  No Responses »
Aug 222012
 
PinExt Using Dynamic Lighting Arrangements to Liven up Your Yard

Using Dynamic Lighting Arrangements to Liven up Your Yard

Today we have a guest post from Jillian Watkinson of Community Home Supply, a family-owned Chicago kitchen and bathroom showroom. Jillian’s post gives us some tips for improving the look of your home’s yard with strategically placed outdoor lighting.

Regardless of what your backyard looks like, how big it is or what landscape style it’s been built to, the addition of decorative dynamic lighting arrangements in strategic places is guaranteed to improve your yard’s look immensely. Placing lights around your property in certain patterns is not difficult or expensive and can turn even an ordinary yard into a nighttime wonder.

Take a look at the following tips and maybe use some of them to liven up your garden space with dynamic light arrangements.

What are Your Existing Yard Features?

As a first step towards setting out your lighting arrangements, take a good look at your front yard, back yard and any walkways you have to decide where lights could be placed for maximum effect. For example, if you have a walkway in your front yard and a large stone or wood patio in your back, you might want to think about surrounding their edges with small decorative lights in order to accent their presence and shape.

The idea here is to notice the features against which lighting would look best and make them stand out while muting other parts of your yard that would be better off more hidden in the dark. Continue reading »

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How Proper Security Lighting Can Deter Burglars From Targeting Your Home

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Jul 312012
 
PinExt How Proper Security Lighting Can Deter Burglars From Targeting Your Home

bigstock 350px outdoor lighting Luxury Estate 2316198 How Proper Security Lighting Can Deter Burglars From Targeting Your Home

A simple and relatively inexpensive way to protect your home from unwanted intruders is to install security lighting outside your home and to use timers to turn lights on and off inside your home. Thanks to Allen from YourLocalSecurity.com, an ADT authorized dealer, for this guest post with five easy tips to protect your home.

Lighting is a homeowner’s best friend when it comes to protecting home and property. Burglars love the darkness and feed on creeping around in the shadows. A poorly lit home reads like an invitation for them to commit a robbery. There is no such thing as having too much lighting inside and outside your home.

There are plenty of ways to get the most out of your interior and exterior lighting so you can turn your home into a secure environment for you and your family. Consider these lighting tips to discourage burglars from targeting your home:

1. Install motion sensors

Nothing startles a burglar and stops them dead in their tracks better than an exterior light suddenly flipping on as they are snooping around. When you install exterior lighting that operates on motion sensors, it gives the appearance that someone is home – even when no one is there.

Burglars canvas neighborhoods over a period of several days while they search for houses that are in the dark. Lights operating on motion sensors will encourage them to move on from your residence and choose an easier target elsewhere.

Exterior lights operating on motion sensors should be installed at the front and the back of your house. It is also a good idea to position lights at each corner of your house so that the motion sensors can catch anyone approaching from a side or an angle. Continue reading »

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The Low-Down on High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamps

 Light Bulbs  No Responses »
Jul 182012
 
PinExt The Low Down on High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamps
HID Lamps EnergySavers.gov 197x300 The Low Down on High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamps

Courtesy of EnergySavers.gov

HID lamps offer bright, efficient alternatives to filament lamps like incandescents and halogens. They’re found illuminating parking lots, streets, and indoor arenas, among other commercial, industrial, and outdoor locations. What is an HID lamp, you ask? Read on to find out…

All HID (High Intensity Discharge) lamps produce light by passing electricity through a gas (called an arc discharge) between two electrodes at either end of the lamp’s arc tube. There are four different kinds of HID lamps, each with its own unique properties:

  1. Mercury Vapor is the oldest of the HID lamps, and is on the way out. New federal laws have begun prohibiting the manufacturing and importation of this product. A mercury vapor lamp’s rated life ranges anywhere from 16,000 to 24,000 hours, but with an output of only 25-60 lumens per watt and a poor CRI of 50, there are better choices out there.
  2. Low Pressure Sodium lamps are classified as HID, but lack a compact, high intensity arc. Instead, the long stretched-out arc has more in common with a fluorescent light. Low pressure sodium lamps are the most efficient of HID lamps, producing the most lumens per watt (up to 150 l/w), but their stark yellow color produces extremely poor color rendition (a CRI of 0),  limiting their use to lighting streets, tunnels, and parking lots. They last anywhere from 14,000 to 18,000 hours.
  3. High Pressure Sodium light sources have become increasingly more popular over the years, and with their efficacy of 50-140 lumens per watt, we can see why. Compared to low pressure sodium lamps, these lights produce a slightly less severe yellowish white light, making them a more versatile light source. Their lifetime ranges from 16,000 to 24,000 hours, which makes them a smart choice for most outdoor lighting applications.
  4. Metal Halide lamps have a CRI that ranges from fair to very good (between 65 and 90) – the best color rendering index of the bunch. This high CRI means that metal halide lamps thrive in many applications that require white light with good color rendering – they’re replacing high pressure sodium lamps in some applications and certain MH lamps are even used in retail displays!  The lamp itself is very similar to a mercury vapor lamp, but the added metal halide gas provides a higher light output, more lumens per watt (65-115 l/w), and a better color rendering. The biggest drawback to a metal halide lamp is its rated-life, which is capped at about 20,000 hours. Continue reading »
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Pittsburgh Landmark Finds a New Lease on Light

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Jul 062012
 
PinExt Pittsburgh Landmark Finds a New Lease on Light

Many Pittsburgh natives fondly recall the weather beacon atop the Gulf Tower with its flashing neon lights that indicated the weather forecast. The security guard in the building’s lobby would read the weather report in the local paper and switch the lights to red or blue, solid or blinking.

However, this six story pyramid’s neon display used as much energy as 24 homes, and during the energy crisis in the ‘70s, Gulf Oil decided to turn off the lights. When the crisis was over, the lights no longer worked.

Fast-forward a few decades: the building’s owners, inspired by the Empire State Building’s LED displays, decided to reignite the much adored landmark. With new LED technology, the award-winning lighting duo Chris Popowich and Cindy Limauro have enhanced the tower’s former glory with 730 foot-long strips of LEDs that can dazzle in a rainbow of colors.

The newly named KDKA-TV Weather Beacon usually provides a detailed weather display of Pittsburgh’s current conditions including temperature, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed:

kd weather beacon Pittsburgh Landmark Finds a New Lease on Light

Courtesy of Pittsburgh.CBSLocal.com

The beacon also puts on special displays for holidays and sports celebrations.

The new KDKA-TV Weather Beacon debuted on July 4, 2012, and it was a happy and nostalgic occasion for Pittsburghers everywhere – including a few at here at Pegasus! This video shows the tower’s impressive patriotic display.

For more on this beloved beacon, read the full story here.

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Averting Disaster With Portable Lights

 Lighting Tips  1 Response »
Jul 032012
 
PinExt Averting Disaster With Portable Lights

Flashlight In Woods 300x199 Averting Disaster With Portable Lights
Summer is the season of fun in the sun, for relaxation and adventure. But whether you’re camping, road tripping, enjoying calm nights at home, or off in the far corners of the earth, accidents can happen.

While it’s impossible to prevent some misfortunes, you’d be amazed at how much a small light can help you avert disaster. Here are a few instances when a portable lamp would come very much in handy, so you can be prepared for whatever you do:

Power Outages

If you live in any area with intense weather, you know you may be at risk for a power failure. Instead of scrambling to find candles or flashlights when a storm hits, check out these power outage lights. They ensure you’ll never be caught in the dark. The lights automatically detect when there’s a power outage via radio signal, and immediately turn on to keep you comfortable and safe. Continue reading »

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