Light creates an atmosphere, influences our mood, how we feel and what we experience.  The activities that we love are supported by our surroundings and how we illuminate our homes is a very important part of creating our space.

Today’s rapid technological advancements and innovations in lighting with LED’s is responsible for a very new approach to lighting.  Researching for this blog post  reveals that the design of lighting for our homes is still very much influenced by century-old incandescent lamp forms. That is not to say I am not forever in love with the beautiful candle and crystal chandeliers and various interpretations of those classic fixtures, but the marketplace has not caught up with the possibilities that LED technology has created.  This is a time for lighting innovations which retain the “beauty” of the magnificent, classic incandescent fixtures of the past with the technological advances of today.  Imagining what is possible with solid state lighting technology is in its infancy.

Sit back and enjoy the brave new world of lighting selected against a backdrop of the beautiful fixtures of the past.  No bare light bulbs and industrial lighting here, but light fixtures that are beautiful both off and on.

Classic Lighting

RHCB – Josie Crystal Small Pendant

J

RH- Arora Crystal Halo Pendant

 

RHBC – Genevieve Empire Chandelier

Jamb Lighting

 

RHBC – Palais Table Lamp

RH – French Empire Crystal Chandelier

 

RH – Fortuny Icaro 3-Tier Chandelier

An homage to the iconic lighting created by 20th century Venetian designer Mariano Fortuny, Icaro captures the grace and opulence of its silk forbears in an utterly modern material: fiberglass. This evolution of Fortuny’s design makes Icaro’s dramatic span and multiple tiers possible with remarkably light weight and exceptional durability. Finished by hand in gold or silver metal leaf, the sweeping curves reflect and diffuse light to a soft, ambient shimmer. Made in Venice, Italy, just as the originals were a century ago.

RH – Rivage Sconce -Calcite

Aerin for Williams Sonoma

Mask Globe – Made with hand-moulded copper and finished in bronze, this large glazed, spherical lantern is enriched with cast brass masks. The masks, with long beards, represent Neptune, the God of the Sea. The leaf cast finial rests on a pierced cupola designed to reduce heat or smoke.

Shown here in the brown bronze finish.

Perigold – Kelley Wearstler Visual Comfort Flush Mount

Perigold – Kate Spade FLush Mount New York Lloyd

Perigold – Fine Art Lamps -Vol de Crystal

Ralph Lauren – Barton Corner Light

Fine Art Lamps Warwickshire Post Lamp

LED Revolution

LED Wafer Thin technology is revolutionizing recessed lighting.  Say goodbye to incandescent and quartz halogen bulbs for your recessed lights.

Recent innovations in lighting and especially recessed lights, have revolutionized everything from the type of illumination, installation and of course the cost and economics of recessed versus all other lighting options.  As far as illumination, the old Albert Edison type incandescent bulb is dead, and so is the quartz halogen. The ugly spiral looking florescent tube is the lighting equivalent of the Ford Edsel, hailed as the economical light of the future, but utterly rejected by the consumer. The LED, or light emitting diode is the undisputed light of the future. LED’s are a solid state light much like all the other consumer electronics we buy. Like other solid state electronic devices, LED’s can be mass produced, and miniaturized so over time they will become less expensive, smaller, more powerful, more innovative and economical to operate. As far as residential LED lighting is concerned the focus is on recessed lights, meaning they will be even more popular in the future than they are now.

LEDs are transforming recessed lights.  The newest LED technology is the Thin, Slender or Wafer Thin LED Lights.  Now it is possible to install recessed lights without a canister.  LED lights do not produce heat as a bi-product, since they are powered by a low voltage transformer. Therefore LED lights don’t need a big canister anymore. Those canisters acted as heat sinks, made to prevent insulation from catching fire, from the super hot incandescent flood lamps. So the new wafer thin LEDs are quick and easy to install.  Just cut the appropriate size hole in the drywall. Don’t worry where the ceiling joist are since LED wafers are actually thinner  than the  1/2″ drywall on the ceiling.  They can be installed right under a joist

Much of what is driving  this LED lighting revolution is economics. LED lights have lowest energy consumption and longest life expectancy of any other light source.  Halo, the originator of recessed lighting in the early 1970’s  claims that by replacing a single 65 watt incandescent flood lamp in your recessed light with their LED Retrofit, consumers can save $430 in electricity and $77 in replacement lamp costs over the twenty two year expected lifetime of their LED Retrofit Trims. This claim is based on the assumption that a recessed light is operating six hours per day.   Over the course of one year a 65 watt incandescent bulb consumes $22.43 of electricity versus the LED at $2.89 annually. So economically speaking, purchasing one Halo LED Retrofit for $24 saves $507 over twenty two years. That means each and every year the consumer saves $23.04 on a $24 investment, that equates to a compounded annual interest rate of almost 15% per year. No other kind of lighting can be considered an investment with a 15% compounded annual return over the twenty two year life time expectancy of the LED Retrofit. So if you own a home with 50 recessed lights you can reduce your electric bill by $977 annually, plus not have to replace bulbs for another twenty two years. Over twenty two years you could save over $25,000.

 

If you are building a new home or remodeling an old home, consider the newest innovation in recessed lighting called “Ultra-Thin Wafer Down Lights”, because they are wafer thin, often just 3/8” of an inch thick, less than a sheet of drywall. In new construction and remodeling these new wafers will save you even more money. It all stems from the fact that LED lights do not produce heat, unlike the old incandescent bulbs. Since there is no heat, there is no fire threat, therefore LED retrofits can be installed without the fire prevention parts, the canisters and baffles.

Consider the savings of using new LED wafers which cost about $25 to $30 each.  Wafers don’t need canisters ( save $10 to $25), baffles (save $12 to $25) and the installation is much easier (save $30 to $75).  Plus they can be installed just about anywhere in the ceiling like directly under plumbing pipes. Since many LED Wafers are thinner than drywall they can even straddle ceiling beams and floor joists.

As for which manufacturer of LED Wafers, there are many to choose from; look for available options, like trim finishes, wafer sizes, lumens (wattage), and the color of the light (kelvin temperature). Lithonia Lighting is part of Acuity Brands, which has more options of ultra-thin wafer downlights than any other manufacturer  according to my research. Lithonia offer three sizes of wafers, 6”, 4” and 3”, and they are available with a white, black, nickel or bronze trim ring around the light.

In addition, they are offered in a Standard LED version ( 1,000 lumens to 1210 lumens) and a low lumens version (780 lumens to 900 lumens). Each version comes in five different light colors, from 2700 kelvin to 5,000 kelvin temperature, which covers the light spectrum from warm golden, to bright white, to hospital intense blue light.  All these options provide the consumer and lighting designer with a lot of choices, like bright light for the kitchen and a warmer golden colored light for bedrooms.  Plus the size options are important like 6” for wide task lighting space in the kitchen, 4” for bathrooms, closets and hallways,  and the tiny 3” for under cabinet lighting or wall wash effects.  With Lithonia you get all of these options, plus a Five Year Warranty.

We have no relationship with Lithonia, and they do not advertise on this blog.  We have never met or talked to anyone employed by, or reps for Lithonia. They have never sent us any free Ultra-Thin Wafer Downlights.

Another new LED lighting product called a “Ceiling Downlight”,  is wired directly into a ceiling light junction box.

 

It is not a recessed light, since it sits flush on the ceiling, It comes with the installation rim which is installed on top of Beaux-Arts Classic Products Victorian Medallion

The back of this LED Ceiling Downlight has two interesting items:

First, the two metal clips that are used to install the LED ceiling downlight to the junction box by pushing those clips into the appropriate spot on the installation rim.  The other is the switch, which allows you to choose the four different light colors for the LED Ceiling Down Light. The color of LED lights is determined by the kelvin temperature of the light.  For mood lighting in a home we select the warm white at 2700 Kelvin temperature.  Soft White at 3000k is also an option for homes, but the bright white at 4000k and the daylight at 5000k are  better for hospital lighting in that it is so white it looks blue to me.  It is a very nice feature to be able to select the light color, rather than make sure you purchased the right color LED in the first place. I found that homeowners didn’t understand the kelvin temperature scale and often purchased the wrong LEDs with no light color selection switch.

Beaux-Arts Classic Products – LED Recessed Dome Lights – Torus Style

Beaux-Arts Classic Products – 4″ LED Pearl Recessed Chandelier

Beaux-Arts Classic Products – 6″ LED Recessed Chandelier with 3″ U-Drop Crystals

 

 

Etsy Moroccan Sconce

Ebanista Table Lamp

Fine Art Lamps

Lifeix Design

Lightology

Minette Jackson

Luminous Light Shows

Vivid Sydney, Australia – Once a year, Sydney turns into a Beautiful Lights extravaganza. It coincides with Australia’s winter holiday which takes place in July.  It has been cancelled for 2020 because of the Virus.

I Light Marina Bay, Singapore is Asia’s only sustainable light art festival.  The Marina Bay waterfront is transformed into a magical space of light and color.  All works are created using recyclable materials and energy-efficient lighting technologies.

Kobe Luminairie – Japan – This Light Festival has been held every December since 1995 to commemorate the Great Hanshin Earthquake of that year to serve as a symbol of Hope.