Upcoming Home Lighting Trends Seen at Market

In order to stay “in the know” and ahead of the trends, Lighting One attends Lighting Markets to see what is new in the upcoming marketplace. While visiting numerous showrooms at the recent International Lighting Market in Dallas, Texas, it was apparent that there were a few reoccurring trends. In order to help keep YOU in the know as well, we thought we would share a few of our findings.

The focus appeared to be on lighter colors and softer metals. Polished Nickel also stood out among the sea of fixtures. The incorporation of shades in both fabric and metal was observes in a majority of showrooms. Fixtures accented with crystal, along with colored and clear beads were very popular.

Spheres and globes, and more non-traditional shapes were also apparent.

LED Lighting continues to be the hot topic and many suppliers presented limited introductions due to the rapidly changing technology, although suppliers like Satco, one of Lighting One’s preferred partners, introduced a very large assortment of LED bulbs.

Basic entry level price points in both the traditional and contemporary categories were evident to help consumers find better values without being driven to Home Centers for their lighting needs.

Promotional products such as Tiffany lamps at Quoizel, another Lighting One preferred partner, were also featured.

So, to stay ahead of the trends and be in the know, be sure your lighting needs are fulfilled with lighting experts at any of our family-owned lighting showrooms throughout the country. To find the nearest location to you, visit www.lighting-one.com.

The image shown is Lighting One’s #30312-PW two light sconce with crystal drops, as an example of the crystal beading and metallic finishes that are very popular.

Spruce up Your Home for the Holidays!

You have your family coming in for the holidays and you would LOVE to redo your entire home before-hand... but who can afford it these days? Well, there are a few things that you can do to give your home a whole new look without having to take a second mortgage!

Placing a few new lamps around the house can provide a fresh look for your home, while providing much needed lighting for reading, homework, or projects. This additional splash of light will also brighten your home and make it feel more inviting. OR use these new lamps and turn off the overhead lights for an intimate ambiance.

Strategically placed under-cabinet lighting in your kitchen will not only provide better lighting for your workspace, but also provide your kitchen with an updated look, accent your beautiful counters, and add another layer of invitation to your already welcoming kitchen.

While we are in the kitchen, let's take a look at the lighting over your island. Placing a few art-glass mini-pendants over your island will give your entire kitchen a lift and a modern look. Or install an island light for a dual purpose fixture, that will also allow you to showcase your cookware and keep it in a handy place.

Replacing your dining room chandelier can instantly dress up your dining room. Find one that complements your style, whether traditional, modern, casual, elegant, or even eclectic. Add a few sconces on the wall to complement the chandelier, add another layer of lighting, and provide further decoration for the room.

Let's not forget the bathrooms! Sconces to either side of your vanity mirror will not only provide a high-end look for your bathroom, but your make up will thank you as you will see a more natural look with no harsh shadows. Adding a crystal mini-chandelier in your bathroom is a trendy new way to create an elegant up-lift or to enhance your shabby chic feeling.

While you are redecorating, add a few lamps in your bedrooms - reading lamps for homework spaces, torchieres for seating areas, swing arm lamps above the bed for reading, or table lamps for the side tables.

Think ceiling fans are only for the summer? Not so! Ceiling fans can be used all year around. Simply reverse the airflow and your ceiling fan will circulate the heat throughout the room and keep your room from feeling too stuffy. Not only will it help your energy savings (by better distributing the air) but also, if you buy one this time of year, chances are pretty good you can find them on sale!

So, don't spend a fortune redecorating your home. Pick a few of these tips (or even all of them) and you will find yourself with a drastic change in your home for much less than remodeling!

For more design tips, contact your local lighting design specialist. To find a showroom near you, visit www.lighting-one.com.

The product shown in the picture is 0411-RD and is available at participating Lighting One showrooms.

The Color of Lighting

We tend to think of midday sunlight as the standard for pure white light. However when daylight is passed through a prism, the visible light is actually rendered as equal parts of a continuous spectrum. This spectrum is taught to schoolchildren by the name ROY G. BIV. Each letter standing for the visible colors produced by white light in the order it appears across the spectrum, Red, Orange Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. In contrast, artificial light sources give off varying amounts of these colors. Incandescent light includes most of the spectrum but has a large proportion of red and yellow. When dimmed, incandescent light will become more orange in color.

Many people think of fluorescent light as being high in green and blue, but today fluorescent bulbs come in over 200 colors.

Halogen lights produce a brighter, “whiter” light, than both standard incandescent and fluorescent light sources. Because of this brighter, white light, halogens have become very popular for both commercial and residential lighting.

Color temperatures as measured in degrees Kelvin (K) are used to formally rate light bulbs. Temperatures below 3,500 degrees K are warm-toned, more yellow in color; while higher temperatures are increasingly cool, or blue in color.

Color Temperatures
Approximate		Light
6300°		Daylight Fluorescent
5500°		Natural Summer Sunlight
4100°		Deluxe Cool Fluorescent
3000°		Deluxe Warm White Fluorescent
2900°		Quartz Halogen
2800°		100 Watt Incandescent
2600°		“Incandescent” Fluorescent
2500°		40 Watt Incandescent
1800°		Candlelight

For more information on color, or anything about Lighting, visit a lighting expert at your local Lighting One showroom.

The product shown is 1469-ET and is available at Lighting One showrooms.

To find your closest showroom, or to view some of the products available for sale on our website, visit www.lighting-one.com.

Ambient Lighting for Your Home Decor

Ambient lighting is a term used to describe the total amount of light that is present in a space. We can say that a room has high or low levels of ambient lighting.

How much lighting is needed or desired is often a very personal preference. In places such as kitchens and bathrooms, it is often good practice to provide multiple types of lighting that can provide high levels of ambient lighting for some tasks, and low levels of ambient lighting for other activities.

Places such as laundry rooms and closets are best illuminated with high levels of ambient lighting, although they also should be provided with dimming controls that allow the high ambient level to be reduced when desired. In spaces such as family rooms and bedrooms it is best to provide ambient lighting primarily from portable lamps and wall mounted lighting such as wall sconces.

Ambient lighting can also be provided by placing surface mounted fixtures at the ceiling. A recent trend is the use of decorative chandeliers in almost any space in the home. A chandelier is highly useful for providing high ambient lighting when necessary, or it can be dimmed to provide a very soft and low level of ambient lighting.

The pendants shown in the photo are from the Effervescent collection. For more information, please visit www.lighting-one.com to locate a Lighting One showroom near you. Showrooms are independently owned and operated, so product may vary from location to location.

Fixing up your home during a recession

In today’s economy and housing market, many people are choosing not to sell their home, but to fix up their existing home instead. This way they can enjoy the property they currently own and when the market rebounds, the time and effort they put in will make their homes more saleable.

One of the largest mistakes a homeowner can make is to not hire a professional to aid in their renovation project, whether it is landscaping, interior design, or remodeling. One can usually see the difference in the finished project when a professional is designing the job.

Starting with outdoor space, a landscape professional can enhance the first impression of your home. In many instances it could be moving old overgrown plantings from the front to the rear yard, or adding to your existing plantings to give a welcome look to your property. In the rear yard, cleaning up and adding new plantings can make the home look younger and more saleable. Adding landscape lighting will both enhance the value to the property, as well as increase the “living space” of the home, as homeowners will enjoy their backyards more often.

Fixing up the interior should be guided by a certified interior designer. Working with color, texture, and light, a designer can give a home a more “comfortable” feeling, and can make spaces appear to be larger. They will work with you to create a home that reflects your personal taste. Their expertise knowledge, expertise, and guidance can help prevent costly mistakes, and can also eliminate features that would be a negative to future prospective buyers.
One aspect of interior design that is rarely discussed is that of interior lighting. If lighting is important to you, be sure to work with a Certified Lighting Designer with lots of lighting experience. It takes years of experience to understand how to use both direct and indirect lighting. Ask about color temperature. Light temperature refers to the color quality that different bulbs produce. Light fixtures and the quality of light they produce have a direct and dramatic impact on the rest of the room. The lighting of items in a room is important, and lighting can make or break a design. Not all light bulbs create light tones and colors equally. This can affect how your furniture and other things look when they are lit at night. A Certified Lighting Designer should be involved with all of your lighting within your project.

Many homeowners, when renovating a bathroom or kitchen, leave it up to their contractor help design their living space and lighting. One should let them make suggestions based on the available space, bur the final plans and layout should be done by a certified specialist.
As a certified lighting designer, I have seen hundreds of floor plans laid out by Architects, interior designers, and kitchen and bath showrooms that have fixture placement that would have shadows, and using builder’s fixtures that waste energy.

One of the additional benefits of upgrading and remodeling now is that you get to enjoy the beauty of your “new home” and will not be rushed to sell until the housing market recovers.

Written by Philip Finkelstein.
Philip is a Lighting One certified lighting designer,
and owner of Illuminations in Rockville Centre, NY
for the past 30 years.

Lighting One showrooms are locally owned and operated and in-store merchandise may vary by location. Product shown is 3653-OPF. For online purchases or to find your nearest Lighting One showroom, go to http://www.lighting-one.com/.

Lighting Design Trends

Lighting designers and manufacturers proudly combine fashion and function in their designs, creating compelling decorative lamps and fixtures that do more than simply illuminate – they beautify a home.

Lighting products including chandeliers, table lamps, wall sconces, and floor lamps are available in a variety of shapes, styles and finishes to help change the look and function of a room. Although common and traditional polished brass fixtures remain popular to this day, a variety of other finishes are now available and have increasingly gained popularity with consumers in recent years.

Decorative lighting is used for style as well as function. Many homeowners today are focusing on using coordinated families of lamps and fixtures for each room; thereby creating a look that matches their personal style preferences.

Decorative lighting manufacturers design their products based on the diversity of their customers. For example, a homeowner in a rustic wooded area may select lamps embellished with pine-needle filigree. The ability to incorporate special design elements such as these provides homeowners with more opportunity to personalize their homes to match their environment.

When shopping for decorative lighting, always select the highest quality lighting that fits within your budget. Lighting One offers a variety of brand levels that will help you select the products that best meet your needs and budget. And always consider your lighting an investment in your home. Therefore, an investment in quality will certainly provide you with longer life products that will beautify your home for many years to come. And don’t forget to ask your design consultant about Lighting One’s financing options!

Changing lampshades is an effective way to freshen up or update a room’s décor. Lampshade fashions are all about using beautiful materials and combining them with unique treatments. The fabric choices for shades are much more decorative and refined, such as shantung silks and crinkled oiled papers. Decorative trim on lampshades has become very popular. Have fun selecting a lampshade dressed up with a row of glass beads, pearls, rhinestones, tassels or even feathers to complement a setting in your home. Selecting the right shade is an easy way to dress up an area of your home with functional accessories.

No matter what your lighting needs are, a Lighting One showroom should be able to assist you and provide your more Lighting Design Tips. Visit www.lighting-one.com for your nearest showroom. Products vary by showroom location.

How to Care for your Crystal

The last several posts have discussed crystal. Today we will offer you tips on how to care for your crystal once you have placed it in your home lighting design.

Full lead crystal is much clearer than common glass and because it is somewhat “softer” the surface of the crystal is more easily scratched. You should never handle the crystal with your bare hands, as the oils of your hand will dull the finish requiring you to clean the crystal. Instead the crystal should be handled only while wearing a pair of soft cotton gloves.

You should avoid use of harsh detergents, chemicals or abrasives. Special crystal care products are available to clean and protect your crystal investment. We always recommend these products to our customers so the luxuriousness of your crystal will last for years to come.




Item shown is a 6-Light Chandelier w/Rosaline Colored STRASS (R) Swarovski Crystals, available at Lighting One showrooms. Visit http://www.lighting-one.com/ to find your closest retailer.

Making & Cutting Crystal

Over the last couple of postings, we have been discussing crystal for your home lighting design. We will continue on that topic and explore the process of making and cutting crystal.

Making crystal involves heating a mixture of sand, potash, (potassium carbonate) and lead oxide to at least 4,352 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the crystal is formed, smoothed and beveled, the crystal is polished to a smooth, brilliant finish. The act of "polishing" is actually accomplished by dipping the crystal into an acid bath to strip away the outside layer of crystal.

Special cutting wheels can be used to cut intricate designs in the crystal. Sandblasting can also be used to cut a design into the crystal. The sandblasting method produces a frosted design, while leaving the rest of the crystal piece clear. When you see the frosted design, it means the crystal was never brought back to the acid bath to be polished.

While any piece of glass can be called crystal, it can only be called "lead crystal" when there is at least 24% lead oxide in the glass. Usually 30% is the maximum amount of lead oxide used in crystal.

It should be noted that each piece of true, hand cut, lead crystal is a unique product. Even though a specific pattern may be used, there will still be very slight variations in pattern size and spacing of the elements. This only adds more charm to the fixture. Absolute product consistency can only achieved by a fully mechanized production system, not by a craftsperson.

Next posting - How to Care for your Crystal

Item shown is a table lamp #6304-AB, excluisvely available at Lighting One showrooms with an exclusive cut from Waterford Crystal Lighting. Visit http://www.lighting-one.com/ to find your closest retailer so you may see the entire Waterford for Lighting One (TM) collection.

What is Crystal?

Last posting, we touched on the elegance of crystal. Today, we will explore that topic further. First, exactly what is crystal?

The art of glassmaking has been practiced for over 2000 years. But in 1676, this art was changed when an English glassmaker, George Ravenscroft, discovered that he could make a product harder and clearer by adding lead oxide to the melted glass. The new glass had a higher luster, was dramatically heavier, had an increase in the index of refraction, and was easier to cut without fracturing. This allowed the glassmaker to make more elaborate designs in the face of the crystal.

By the dawn of the 20th century the production of cut lead crystal was slowly declining as lower cost imitation molded and pressed glass became routinely produced for the masses. However molded glass cannot compare to real cut leaded crystal. Crystal is so much more detailed, with a brilliant luster and it’s sharpness and clarity cannot be compared with these lower cost imitations. Also these imitations often have rough surfaces and mold lines that would never be found on true cut lead crystal.

Properly cut lead crystal has the magnificent ability to disperse light with almost a diamond like brilliance. The brilliant colors of refracted sunlight passing through a fine piece of deep cut lead crystal are simply captivating!

Next posting - Making & Cutting Crystal

Item shown is a semi-flush crystal basket #30204S22, excluisvely available at Lighting One showrooms. Visit http://www.lighting-one.com/ to find your closest retailer.

The Elegance of Crystal

Now that we have looked at lighting for your home design and other home soultions, it’s important to look at crystal chandeliers for a moment.

Be careful, while crystal has been commonly used in foyers and dining rooms in the past, today there are crystal fixtures suitable for all areas of the home. Since crystal can be an integral part of any room fixture; it is really important that we understand some of the basics of crystal.

Below are topics that will be covered in upcoming blog postings. Stayed "tuned" for more information. In the meantime, feel free to contact your local Lighting One retailer for more tips and ideas for your home. To locate your near showroom, visit http://www.lighting-one.com/.

Upcoming Blog Posting Topics:

• What is Crystal?


• Making and Cutting the Crystal


• Care of Crystal

The item shown in the picture is 30238S22 and is available at your local Lighting One showroom.

Care & Cleaning - Fixtures

Whether inside or outside the home, pollutants can damage your lighting fixtures. Although these damaging effects cannot be eliminated, preventive measures will help reduce them. For interior fixtures, common sense is a good rule. Weekly dusting will help preserve the finish and beautiful characteristics of your products. Polished brass finishes weather more quickly than other metals, but a specially treated brass finish is available through your local Lighting One showroom. Powder coated cast aluminum materials also offer a durable construction to withstand the elements. For glass accents, clean only with a water-dampened cloth. We discourage using a commercial glass cleaner unless the solution absolutely will not touch the metal frame. Always check the recommendations of the manufacturer before performing any of these maintenance and care guidelines.

Posted with permission from Lighting One http://www.lighting-one.com/

Care & Cleaning - Crystal Chandeliers

Your investment in the sophistication and beauty of a crystal chandelier will last for generations, if cared for properly. Each crystal deserves careful handling during maintenance. Apply a water-dampened soft cloth to the crystals and the frame, or if needed, use commercially sold, non-abrasive, liquid crystal cleaning solution. Never wash crystals in the dishwasher, which causes permanent damage to the crystal components. If you have removed the crystals from the fixture for cleaning, avoid smudging during reinstallation by wearing cotton gloves.

Image shown is 30286BS22 by Lighting One. Posted with permission from Lighting One http://www.lighting-one.com/

Ceiling Lighting for your home decor - Pendants and Chandeliers

Ceiling fixtures provide excellent general room illumination. Pendants can also be used to add more light to specific areas such as a kitchen table, and ceiling mounted fixtures are ideal for general lighting in the foyer. For safety in hallways, install lighting fixtures approximately every 8 to 10 feet.

Chandeliers or pendants with 200-400 watts of overall wattage provide abundant illumination for a dining room. The diameter of the fixture should be 12" less than the width of the table, and the fixture should be centered over the table and installed 30" above the table to allow for headroom when standing.

To prevent accidents, stairs should be lit top to bottom, with switches in both places. Ceiling fixtures or recessed lighting will offer the needed light for stairs. Also, increased wattage should be used in areas where tasks are performed, in rooms with ceilings higher than 8 feet, and in rooms with dark-colored floors and walls.

See a Lighting One sales consultant for more information and design ideas.

Posted with permission from http://www.lighting-one.com/