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What is Under Counter Lighting?

Apr 182013

LED Under Cabinet Lighting Vertical 160x300 What is Under Counter Lighting?
Just in case you’re wondering, under cabinet lights are known by a whole bundle of different names. Besides the name “under cabinet lighting,” which makes a lot of sense because they’re the lights you install under your cabinets, they’re also called undermount lights, task lighting fixtures, kitchen under cabinet lights, and under cupboard lighting.

But, the name that has caused the most head-scratching here at Pegasus Lighting is “under counter lights.” Most everyone understands that under cabinet lighting and under counter lighting are different names for the same thing, but when you really think, it doesn’t make much sense.

Under counter lights are always installed over the counter, but they’re not called “over counter lights.” If I didn’t know better, I might picture small accent lights below the lip of a counter. Or even better, backlighting under translucent counters, making them glow. Though now that I think about it, that might actually be cool. Why don’t we call those under counter lights? Continue reading »

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How To Install Recessed Puck Lights In 8 Easy Steps

Lighting Tips 2 Responses »

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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Product Spotlight: LED Tape Lights

Product Spotlight No Responses »

Mar 282013

PinExt Product Spotlight: LED Tape Lights

Waterproof Reel 300x300 Product Spotlight: LED Tape Lights
LED tape lights are one of the handiest fixtures around. By themselves, the lights look old-fashioned and futuristic at the same time – stored in rolls reminiscent of vintage film reels, featuring space-age looking LED lights. But, once you install LED tape lights, they’ll bring your space to life unlike any other light fixture.

What Makes The LED Tape Light So Wonderful?

LED tape lights (also sometimes called LED ribbons) have a ton of special features that other fixtures just can’t measure up to:

The strong adhesive backing on every reel will stick to almost any surface with ease.
You can’t find a thinner, lower profile light strip on the market.
The trimmable fields allow you to tailor the length of your tape lights, fitting the specific requirements of your project.
Their dimming capabilities (when powered by dimmable drivers) let you customize your space’s light levels, no hassle.
Many are wet location listed, so you can have great lighting indoors and out.
You can choose between warm white, cool white, colored, and color-changing varieties.

On top of all that, LED tape lights have a 50,000 hour rated-life, and because they’re LEDs, you know they’re going to save you energy.

Colored LED Tape Lights 1024x581 Product Spotlight: LED Tape Lights 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

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 To Have Great Lighting In A Rental

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Mar 012013

PinExt How To Have Great Lighting In A Rental

Having adequate, quality, and – heaven forbid – stylish lighting when you live in a rented space can seem like a far-away dream. Your landlord or property manager has certain limits and regulations on what changes you can make, so creating a lighting design you like feels next to impossible.

What’s a renter to do? It’s time to get creative with your lighting.

For The Kitchen

Let me guess. When you moved into your current place, your kitchen had a single ceiling light fixture – a linear fluorescent, a track light – on a basic on/off light switch. The brightness of that single ceiling light is too jarring in the morning, and when you’re chopping, dicing, and frying in the evening, it’s not enough.

Fluorescent Under Cabinet Lights How To Have Great Lighting In A Rental

The best thing you can do in here is add one or two light layers for extra task light. Start with under cabinet lights, because they’ll make it easier for you to see while cooking, and add a nice ambiance to the room. You can opt to leave the ceiling lights off when you want a lower light level, or use them with your ceiling lights when you’ve got your chef’s hat on. Continue reading »

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How To Make Your Garage Lighting More Energy-Efficient

Energy-Efficient Lighting No Responses »

Feb 262013

PinExt How To Make Your Garage Lighting More Energy Efficient

This is the fourth post in a series on saving energy with your lights. We’re tackling every space in your home and business to make sure you’re saving the most power possible. Click here to browse through all the posts.

For many of us, the garage is one of the most utilitarian rooms in the house, so there shouldn’t be any excuse for having lights that consume unnecessary energy. Whether you use your garage as a full-on workshop, or just as a place to stash your holiday decorations, you might be surprised at how much you can save with just a few simple lighting upgrades.

iStock 000019156158Small How To Make Your Garage Lighting More Energy Efficient

Let’s start by dividing the garage into different regions with unique functions: the storage area, the task area, and the entrances and exits. Continue reading »

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The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights

Lighting Tips No Responses »

Jan 112013

PinExt The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights

It’s a new year, and many of us have resolved to finally do what makes us happy. To stop coming up with reasons not to do the things we want. Of course, this time of year also brings many to the crippling realization of just how much they spent over the holidays, and how much they need to save in the new year.

Good lighting, beautiful lighting, new lighting in your home can really work miracles for the space’s look and feel, and even your own well-being. But, when trying to save money, springing for new lights can feel like too much of a luxury. How do you know when it’s worth it?

We’ve put our heads together here at Pegasus Lighting to come up with the 8 best reasons you should say YES! to a lighting upgrade:

1. You’re wasting money.

Blue Indirect Lighting in a Kitchen 1024x1024 The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights

This reasoning isn’t too hard to figure out. Wasting money on old, energy-sucking lights is worse than saving money on new, energy-saving lights. There may be a little more expense upfront, but new, efficient lights will pay for themselves really quickly. If you switch just 3 of your 60-watt incandescent light bulbs for 12-watt LEDs, you’ll save about $114 every year! To compare more light sources, take a look at this infographic.

2. You have trouble seeing.

Kitchen Lighting The 8 Best Excuses To Upgrade Your Lights

If your lights are inadequate, especially in areas where you have to intensely focus on tasks (kitchens, bathrooms, offices) you’re not doing yourself any favors. Eyestrain does not a happy homeowner make. Good lighting in these task areas will make it much easier to focus, and to get things right the first time. Make your work space a healthy one with task lighting essentials like under cabinet lights in the kitchen, or a good desk lamp for reading. Continue reading »

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A Motorcycle Utility Light In Action

Lighting Projects No Responses »

Jan 042013

PinExt A Motorcycle Utility Light In Action

My dad might just be the most difficult person I know to find gifts for. Unlike other dads, who might enjoy fishing, golfing, or watching football, mine rides and restores vintage motorcycles for fun. What’s so difficult about that? Well, there are only so many spark plugs and screwdrivers he needs, and only so many specialty parts I can track down before I’m in over my head.

That’s why I went out on a limb this Christmas, and decided to give him one of our LED flexible work lights. It’s battery operated with a long gooseneck, a solid clamp, and a magnetic base. I wrapped it up, stuck it under our tree, and *hoped* he would find some use for it in his garage workshop.

As it turns out, that work light was just what he needed. In fact, he told me he had never found something quite so perfect for working on his beloved bikes. (And trust me, he’s been doing this for awhile).

Let’s take a look at all the ways this light works for working on motorcycles:

1. Lit From Above

Check out the way the light gently swoops around the bike’s body. Like it was meant to be.

Curved Exterior Light 1024x682 A Motorcycle Utility Light In Action

As you can see, the light’s long neck lets it curve and reach to illuminate the motorcycle’s body for detailed work.

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Top 10 Lighting Pins of 2012

Thoughts on Light No Responses »

Dec 272012

Here at Pegasus, we love using Pinterest to discover and share things we love. But we also love using Pinterest to see the the sorts of things you find inspiring, intriguing, or just plain fabulous. We pinned, you repinned. So, without further ado, here are our top 10 most popular pins from 2012…

10. Breathtaking Bathroom

I believe I must have *longingly* pinned this on some tired, too early Monday morning, but I see now you all were yearning for some weekend serenity too. The lighting itself is pretty top-notch – I mean, accent lights in the bathroom? Shazam! But when you pair that with a huge bathtub and a shower that looks like THAT…well, enough said.

BedandBreakfast com Top 10 Lighting Pins of 2012

Image via BedandBreakfast.com

Continue reading »

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Holiday Gifts For Your Favorite Techie

Buyer's Guides No Responses »

Dec 042012

PinExt Holiday Gifts For Your Favorite Techie

Today, we’re continuing our series on helping you find those perfect holiday gifts. So far, we’ve offered unique ideas for those who love to read, cook, fix things, and adventure through the great outdoors. Now, let’s move on to those technology-loving techies…

Techies. We all know the type. They’re the ones always up on the latest gadgets. They love spending time just tinkering with machinery, making things work.

And, they’re the ones who we call on to help fix what’s broken – slow computers, malfunctioning toys, anything mechanized or electronic. So naturally, we want to return their kindness for the holiday.

Here are a few of our most innovative, fun, and helpful high-tech gift ideas:

The Techie’s Essential Light

It’s a glorious era in the lighting world for die-hard techies. LEDs, the most up-and-coming lights, are an electronic power source capable of so much more than older filament and fluorescent lights.

If your favorite gadget lover hasn’t jumped on the LED train yet, gifting them a few LED light bulbs to use around the house will satisfy their thirst for electronics, and even save them some dough on future energy bills. Shop, and learn more about LEDs right here!

Continue reading »

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