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 ILD art consultants provide art lighting advisory services to private and professional art collectors on a nationwide basis. Our clients range from private collectors and commercial organizations in a variety of high-end markets and eclectic industries. Art collections themselves often contain everything from high-end photography and statues to abstract art, prints, and fine paintings. Most collections contain more than one type of art and require complex lighting designs and a combination of sophisticated lighting fixtures, to properly illuminate. This is where ILD art consultants step in to advise and recommend artwork lighting options. In most instances, clients call us because they are having difficulty on one or more of three major problem areas: glare, spill light, and shadows.
Minimizing and Redirecting Glare
Art consultants work to light art from the best “angle of incidence.” This term describes the angle at which light strikes the surface of an object. In art lighting, this is very important to minimizing glare. It is impossible to eliminate all glare, but it is possible to direct it enough of it away from the eye of the viewer so it remains undetected. Art consultants are trained in these modern art lighting techniques, having worked extensively in for 27 years now with interior designers and museum curators. By adjusting where the light strikes the artwork, art consulting teams also change where the reflection of that light travels. This keeps the light it from striking another large object, a nearby wall, or the eye of a viewer looking at the piece.
Eliminating Spill Light
Spill light is never good. It looks sloppy, and it distracts the eye away from the work of art being viewed. Spill light is most often caused by lighting that is too intense. Retail grade art lights are often the culprit for this because they lack the ability to be adjusted. Art consultants install commercial grade picture lighting equipment that can be dimmed or brightened at will. They also prefer to use fixtures that allow the light beam to focused and shaped to match a frame, canvas, or three dimensional object on display. One of the most popular methods for achieving this effect is the use of a framing projector mounted in the center of the ceiling that can direct an invisible beam of light toward any piece(s) in the collection. When the beam strikes the piece, it suddenly becomes visible in the form of an aura of light that appears to emanate from within the art itself.
Shadows
There are many types of shadows in the world of recessed art lighting. Most are undesirable and have to be eliminated. Frame shadows are the collector’s worst nemesis. When light from an inappropriately chosen or improperly positioned fixture strikes the frame, the frame blocks the light and casts a shadow over the picture. Art consultants will either move the fixture to a different lighting angle of incidence, or replace the fixture with a more controlled and adjustable lighting source.
When it comes to three dimensional art, fine art lighting companies and consultants are less absolutist in their insistence on eliminating shadows all together. Statuary and modern art features contours and angles that are often “flattened” by too much light. Art consultants integrate certain shadows into a comfortable level of illumination that is appropriate to each piece. This helps create a more lifelike, realistic presentation of statuary, and it contributes as well to the avante guard nature of abstract pieces on high end lighting projects.
Visit our main website here to learn more about specific services that we offer in fine art lighting and interior lighting systems for homes, offices, and hospitality organizations.
Illuminations Lighting Design has mastered these mini-disciplines and has been lighting art in Houston, Beaumont, Austin, and San Antonio areas for many, many years. Our staff holds licenses in electrical service work and understands the complexity of fine art lighting, home automation and interior design.
Illuminations Lighting Design is a full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting, electrical service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters, emergency generators, surge protection systems, phone systems and lighting control systems.
Call toll free 800-863-1184 for a complimentary lighting consultation.
Labels: Art Consultant, Art Lighting Consultants, Fine Art Lighting Experts, Hidden Art Lights, Projector Art Lighting Equipment
 Why is home system integration necessary?
Today’s large, custom homes feature complex floor plans and sophisticated electrical systems that makes it all but impossible to conveniently control the many sub systems within a home from multiple access points. The sheer size of some homes precludes the convenience that smaller homes offer of having all controls located in the kitchen or living room. Eclectic architecture and advanced electronics require a central controller with a variety of touch panel and remote controls that give the homeowner access to lighting, climate control, security, and audio visual equipment from any point in the house, at any time.
AMX home system integration combines the benefits of technology with the convenience of human thought and command and brings a number of unique, specific benefits to today’s eclectic homeowner.
How does home system integration control audio/visual equipment?
ILD home lighting control and electrical specialists install AMX touch panels throughout the home, creating multiple zones of distributed audio and video. This creates separate, customized A/V environments, each one of which is unique to a particular area of the home. In the living room, for example, we can program audio distribution feeds to play soft music in the background of conversation. In the home theater, we can program the system to supplement the score and/or soundtrack of the movie with appropriate background music. For parties and celebrations, we can program the system to play music from a particular era, or music of a particular type favored by the majority of the guests.
How can AMX home system integration make my home more secure?
By combining the ability to see an approaching stranger, dialogue with the stranger from a point of safety, allow/disallow access to the home, and notify authorities if necessary. ILD can configure the system to automatically control shades, doors, and gates at certain times of the day and night. Security camera surveillance monitors the property and alerts you when someone approaches the front gate. The phone system can be linked to the intercom to allow the homeowner to question the visitor before deciding whether or not to grant access. One touch control panels placed in secure areas of the home can either be used to grant access or notify authorities to the presence of an intruder.
This is all well and good, but I travel too much to make much use of this convenience.
AMX home system integration is built with the travelling homeowner or owner of multiple houses foremost in mind. You can access any residence remotely over the Internet to communicate directly with their AMX technology. When you are travelling, you can log in and monitor their home from a hotel or a laptop with Wi-Fi connectivity. If you own more than one house you can manage all of your properties throughout the day through this technology.
Does home system integration offer control over home lighting?
Yes. We can set your system up so that the same set of lighting fixtures can generate very different lighting levels and effects with AMX controllers. Everything from relaxed evening lighting, romantic mood lighting, and bright lights for family gatherings and celebrations can be accessed with one touch convenience.
Can I control my HVAC system through home system integration controls?
You can either control HVAC operations directly or have the system automate its activities for maximum efficiency. AMX home system integration allows homeowners to do exactly that. ILD professionals can pre-program the system with settings that reflect individual preferences in temperature and ventilation. Different settings can be created for different rooms of the house, keeping costs at a minimum in rooms that are used less frequently than others. The system can also monitor each room in the home and make sure that the desired temperature is maintained.
What can you tell me about your lighting design firm?
Illuminations Lighting Design is a full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting, electrical service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters, emergency generators, surge protection systems, phone systems and lighting control systems.
Where are you guys located?
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and design services in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.Labels: AMX Lighting Control Systems, Home Automation Specialists, Home System Integration, Houston Electrical Contractors, Houston System Integrators, Lutron Homeworks Lighting Controls
 Why should I install eco-dimmers when I already have a lighting control system?
You will have greater flexibility with your lighting control system. Dimmers allow you to manually intervening in the pre-programmed lighting sequences and make fine-tuned adjustments at will. You can either do this to achieve more specific ambiance suitable to a certain special occasion, or you can manipulate lighting levels to blend with natural light coming in through your windows. Dimmer controls in the kitchen, for example, allow you to set lighting levels to a soft glow that compliments the growing light of the rising sun. If you are hosting a party in the dining room, you might want to dim the lights for a special moment, such as blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. It is even possible to control the entire house with a more sophisticated lighting control system.
Install a dimmer in your kitchen, for example, and you can brighten lights at breakfast or when preparing meals, and lower them to catch up with your family over an evening snack. In the bathroom, a dimmer means you don't have to begin your morning routine in full bright light, but rather in a soft glow to help you ease into your day. Dim the lights in your dining room or living room you can create the perfect atmosphere for entertaining friends.
How do dimmer controls work?
Incandescent and halogen bulbs produce light by passing current through a thick metal wire called a filament. When the filament heats up, it produces light. This is not the most efficient way to produce light, and it has its drawbacks. A great deal of current has to go into the filament to heat it to this level, and the heat itself deteriorates the filament over the course of time.
Dimmers actually interrupt the current to prevent as much heat, and therefore light, from being produced. This happens to fast for the eye to see, so the rather than the light going on and off, it simply appears to emit less illumination. If you are remodeling or involved in new home wiring, now is a good time for considering a Lutron dimming system.
How much energy does a dimmer switch save?
Dimmers on the average have saved people a minimum of 5% on electrical costs. New eco-dimmers by Lutron have improved this minimum considerably. With the new Lutom home lighting control dimmers, you can expect to reduce your electrical consumption, and therefore power bills, by a minimum of 15%.
If you are using older model dimmer controls, consider the fact that upgrading to new eco-dimmers will rapidly recover your investment through additional savings.
How much money can I save with eco-dimmers?
Lutron estimates approximately $40.00-$150.00 per dimmer over a 5-year period. Of course, this number varies on how many bulbs you control with the dimmer, the type of lighting control system you install, how often you have your lights on, and the degree to which you dim them.
Are there green benefits to using eco-dimmers?
Yes. By regulating incandescent lights more efficiently, eco-dimmers reduce CO2 emissions. In fact, if every home in the U.S. had only one Lutron wall box dimmer installed, it would eliminate CO2 emissions equivalent to that of 370,000 vehicles.
Landfill waste is also reduced thanks to eco-dimmers, because they will extend bulb life up to 10 years.
Is a dimmer difficult to install?
No, it does not take advanced electrical installation skills. but it is best to have a professional install your dimmers in conjunction with a lighting control or home system integration network. Contact ILD for a free evaluation on which of our many system integration packages will best meet the needs of your home and lifestyle.
Where are your main offices?
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and design services in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Call us today at 713-863-1133, visit our lighting blog or request a consultation online using our contact us form.
Labels: Energy Saving Switches, Houston Electrical Contractors, Lutron Dimmer Switches, Lutron ECO-DIM Home Lighting Controls
 Does ILD offer a free photometric analysis to every caller?
We offer photometric analysis for a marginal fee to clientele seeking just a report, and complimentary analysis to clients who hire us for lighting design. Lighting is an art form that requires careful consideration from a seasoned lighting professional.
What software do you use to generate photometric reports?
We use AGI32, a lighting design, a 3-D modeling suite that calculates light levels and renders electrical lighting systems. The capabilities of this photometric analysis software are amazing. By generating 3-D model of the room, home, or building, the software allows us to input hypothetical figures to determine where best to install recessed lighting fixtures and what angles of lighting incidence to incorporate in the overall design of the system. It can be used to determine the best possible lighting levels for any residential or commercial lighting environment.
Why should I have a photometric analysis done rather than just hiring a freelance contractor to install lighting fixtures I buy myself?
The human eye cannot always see every potential problem area of darkness and shadow. Every outdoor or indoor environment contains physical objects that will cast shadows when light strikes them from certain angles. Shadows are cast not so much by inadequate amounts of light, but rather by inaccurately calculated angles of incidence that send a beam of light straight toward a solid object which blocks luminance completely on the other side. Many times, these areas are very hard to find from an eye-level perspective, but later become all too evident once low voltage recessed lighting fixtures have been installed and shadows suddenly spring from out of nowhere.
The 3-D modeling aspect of our photometric analysis software allows us to literally move around these objects from any angle, height, or perspective to see where best to locate a ceiling light, lamp, recessed fixture, recessed art lighting, pendant, or chandelier. We can also try different wattage and bulb hypotheticals to determine the most efficient lumens per watt ratio once the optimal angles have been located. In commercial environments, this goes a long way toward saving businesses a great deal of money.
What aesthetic benefits does a photometric analysis offer my company?
We can conduct a room by room photometric analysis of floor space and vertical cube space to determine precisely where to install lighting equipment and exactly how much power each light will need to do its job. This is very similar to the way interior design partners and space planners work—creating individual sub designs within the overall design of the facility. This enables our team to develop a much more energy efficient, Spartan system that relies much more on design, light distribution, and precise lighting angles than it does on excessive numbers of fixtures using more power than necessary. Another benefit you gain from a photometric analysis offers is better fixture concealment. Because the report tells us exactly how many watts and lumens we need for each fixture, it is often possible to use smaller, more concealable lights for a more aesthetic compliment to the overall environment.
What lighting manufacturers do you represent?
Essentially, we act as a design build contractor for all of the major manufacturers headquartered and operating here in the United States such as Lutron Radio Ra dimmer controls. Choosing the right manufacturer for your needs is again accomplished in part through tools available in AGI32’s photometric analysis software. AGI32 actually contains manufacturer’s spec sheets and engineering documents on specific fixtures in different categories. We can use this database to generate a luminaire comparison report instantly that details optics, lumens per watt efficiency, and expected lamp life. By comparing and contrasting necessary and fixture placement recommendations with specific data on each luminaire, we can pinpoint the best possible quality and energy efficient luminaires to use in commercial, residential, and high-end lighting design.
Illuminations Lighting Design is a full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting, electrical service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters, emergency generators, surge protection systems, phone systems and lighting control systems.
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and design services in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.Labels: Architectural Lighting Houston Texas, Commercial Lighting Designers, Independant Residential Electrical Contractor, Lighting Consultants Texas, Lighting Design Services Houston, Photometric Analysis
 Tree lighting is one of the most superb forms of lighting design. Any landscape with large enough trees will be enhanced by this highly sophisticated and innovative lighting technique. Tree lighting is done by concealing mercury vapor lights in the higher branches of the tree where they cannot be seen by viewers on the ground. Mercury vapor lights give off a blue-white light very similar to moonlight that filters through the leaves and branches and rains down onto the ground. Tree lighting’s close approximation to natural moonlight adds a romantic, almost mystical element to a place, and contributes to a feeling of time being suspended under the ambient radiance of the trees.
Illuminations Lighting and Design has worked for many years as an outdoor tree lighting and landscape lighting design firm. Over the years we have developed a number of strategies for using tree lights in almost any commercial, municipal, or residential environment to create specific benefits for a wide variety of clientele.
Municipal Parks
Tree lighting is an essential component of outdoor park lighting. Parks are special places people seek out to escape the pressure and mediocrity of the mundane world. Parks help ground and center the mind in the energies of Nature and release the stress that accumulates within the self during after prolonged activity in offices and industrial environments. It is very important that a public park visited at night be sufficiently lit to provide clear visibility for walking, conversation, and safety. As a close approximation to natural moonlight, tree lighting extends the romantic and sentimental nature of the moon itself into the general landscape. Benches located beneath tree lights or other commercial outdoor lighting are excellent places to have a meaningful conversation with a significant other, and they are much safer as well.
Academic Institutions
The architecture and landscapes of academic institutions often suggests Old World and Classical Motifs. Although America is a young country and its academies nowhere nearly as old as those of Europe, larger trees help add a sense of antiquity to these institutions because they are obviously older, and contribute greatly to the university’s image as a place of established learning and credibility. Tree lighting is needed on college and university campuses because many trees grow outward as well as up as they age. Simple up lights installed near the trunk of a tree will not adequately light its branches and leaves. Tree lights, on the other hand, can be positioned in key locations throughout the lower branches and upper canopy, creating a sublime and stately presence for students and faculty to enjoy and admire throughout the night.
Commercial Properties
Tree lights will also create a feeling of established presence for a corporate landscape. A brand new company surrounded by a canopy of mature trees will look older than it really is, and possibly gain a competitive advantage in a marketplace that often emphasizes experience over talent a bit too much. They are vital to commercial security lighting, too, because of the fact that shadows under trees allow vandals and burglars too much room to maneuver in secret.
Tree lighting helps emphasize a company’s dedication to environmental concerns. As more and more companies seek to enhance their public image by either going green or supporting green initiatives, illuminating trees around the building helps harmonize the architecture with Nature.
Hospitality Industries
All major hospitality industries depend greatly on resort tree lighting in their outdoor landscape design. Landscapes around hotels, resorts, country clubs, and five star restaurants contribute to a feeling of refined escape and elegance. Country club diners look out of clubhouse windows onto landscapes that appear sublime and timeless under the surreal ambiance of tree lighting. Guests at warm weather resorts can enjoy the site of palm trees from their window throughout the night, and hotels with tree lighting create the illusion of both a larger edifice and a more remote getaway from the pressures of life.
Tree lighting, however, does a great deal more for hospitality industries than provide decoration. These lights can actually contribute significantly to general outdoor garden lighting in a number of ways. Many resorts host events at night on a pavilion or stage under lighted trees. The illumination from the mercury lights provides an exotic compliment to general lighting that improves visibility without diminishing the feeling of escape and altered reality that a vacation is supposed to create. Golfers who play at night will especially appreciate the additional lighting under trees for those shots that are hard to make under moonlight alone. Restaurant diners who prefer the patio also will enjoy the added general lighting that comes down from the trees and fills the spaces between tables with a warm glow.
Custom Homes
Custom very often to have high fences and ornamental, gated entrances that open into a long winding drive leading up to the house. Trees that grow along these driveways sometimes arch over the pavement and mesh together into a canopy. Placing lights in these trees creates a sense of removal from the rest of the neighborhood, and the feeling that you are entering an estate and not just another home.
Tree lights also play an important role in home-based entertainment. Trees that overhand a patio can create an aura of accent lighting around the patio itself, and tree lights installed above flower beds and gardens provide a layer of ambient down light that overlaps the garden and path lights installed within the foliage itself.
Twenty Seven Years of Service Experience
These brief summaries provide a quick visual of just a few of the many things we can do with tree lights as part of our larger services in landscape lighting design and commercial exterior lighting. Our multi-specialization in five major disciplines has won us many a number of awards and established us as a leader in the design industry throughout Texas. Illuminations Lighting Design specializes in art lighting, advanced electrical wiring, lighting design, and home automation.
Where are your main offices?
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and design services in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Call us today at 713-863-1133, visit our lighting blog or request a consultation online using our contact us form.Labels: Hospitality Lighting Central Texas, Hospitality Lighting Houston, Landscape Lighting Consultants, Landscape Lighting Professional, Landscape Outdoor Lighting, Tree Lighting
 Fine paintings are used as ornate decorations in custom homes and in offices. This is not surprising when you stop to realize has been with in one form or fashion for at least 40,000 years. Light in a paintings itself contributes to the tone of the work by creating a sense of depth through the interplay of light and shadows. Lighting for paintings should not cast shadows, however, but rather must discover and magnify the luminosity of the scene and animate the action between objects and characters. This method of lighting paintings is as old as Lascaux, where firelight was used to make the seemingly crude stick figures of hunters and animals suddenly spring to life with the illusion of three dimensional substance and physical movement.
To create this sense of vivid life and realism, lighting for paintings must be sourced from special types of fixtures and controlled in such a manner that enhances the work without damaging the piece or limiting the aesthetic.
Only filtered light can be used for safely lighting paintings.
Oils and canvases will degrade if exposed to UV light. Infrared light is not as damaging as ultraviolet light, but it nevertheless produces large quantities of heat that will dry out paint and crack the canvas. Because sunlight consists of both UV and IR radiation, it must never be used to light paintings, because it will quickly destroy them in a short period of time. Sunlight is much too bright to light a painting because it overpowers the combination of shadows and light in the painting and flattens the perspective of the image.
It is therefore necessary to use a filtered artificial light source that removes UV and IR rays from the light beam.
Use a light source with a high color rendering index (CRI).
Even though artificial light is much safer than sunlight to use as lighting for paintings, sunlight’s ability to render color is unmatched because sunlight is a perfect blend of all natural colors of the spectrum. Nevertheless, it is simply out of the question as a source of art lighting for paintings, so you have to use a close approximation to sunlight to bring out the color in your artwork.
To date, the best light of this type is a halogen bulb. These bulbs emit an intense, white light that renders color at levels near that of sunlight. Halogen bulbs are found in recessed ceiling fixtures that shine light down on artwork. They are also used in art lighting projectors, which also install in the ceiling.
When utilized for artwork lighting, recessed lights must be filtered. All art lighting projectors, because they are intended only for art lighting, are manufactured with filters in them.
Lighting for paintings must be adjustable and dimmable.
Paintings must be illuminated from the correct angle of incidence to avoid spill light shining past the boundaries of the frame and to avoid glare than can reflect off the canvas back into the eye. Picture lights are hard to adjust like this and are generally not recommended for this reason. Also, they can burn very hot at times and are extremely difficult to filter, making them unsafe as well.
Recessed lights and projectors are much better sources of illumination because they allow the decorator to change the direction of the light at will. Some recessed fixtures can be adjusted in this manner more easily than others, so it is important to make certain before ordering them if the models being ordered were made specifically for wall art lighting and fine art paintings.
Projectors offer an even greater range of adjustment because they hang suspended from the ceiling and can be positioned anywhere along a three-dimensional access. Some projectors are easier to adjust than others. It is best to talk to an art lighting specialist who can recommend the very best model suited to a particular home, office, or museum application.
Call a professional firm to have your art lights installed.
Lighting simple prints or photographs is something anyone can do with retail picture lights. Lighting a painting is something completely different. It takes commercial grade recessed lighting fixtures and bulbs that can only be obtained by a design firm from the manufacture. It also takes knowledge of art and design to truly create a masterpiece of lighting.
Illuminations Lighting Design has mastered these mini-disciplines and has been lighting art in Houston, Beaumont, Austin, and San Antonio areas for many, many years. Our staff holds licenses in electrical service work and understands the complexity of fine art lighting, home automation and interior design.
Illuminations Lighting Design is a full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting, electrical service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters, emergency generators, surge protection systems, phone systems and lighting control systems.
Call toll free 800-863-1184 for a complimentary lighting consultation.Labels: Beaumont Fine Art Lighting, Contour Projector, Fine Art Lighting Equipment, Lighting For Paintings, Painting Lights, Picture Lighting Solutions
 What does home decorative lighting accomplish?
Indoor decorative lighting enhances the interior features of your home without overpowering the general, functional lighting you require for daily life and home security. Within your home’s interior, decorative lights should accentuate key elements of interior design and distinguish works of art and specialty displays with an aura of significance. Interior decorative lighting can also be used to create positive emotions and states of mind by complimenting special activities, celebrations, relaxation, and home entertainment. Lighting controls and dimmers are important elements of interior decorative lighting because they allow for multiple themes and effects to be created with a single group of fixtures.
What should I look for in a home interior lighting designer?
Find a company that knows interior design, first of all. Because the interior of a home contributes so much to the essence of a person’s unique, individual lifestyle, lighting designers should start by assessing the home’s existing interior. The dimensions of any given room and its respective furnishings should be studied to locate patterns of symmetry, pattern, and color. The design and height of the ceiling is also crucial to home decorative lighting because it functions as a dual source of both direct light and indirect light.
Are fine art and display lighting considered decorative lighting?
Yes, but they should be treated as separate elements from the rest of the home interior and be lit with specialty art lights and display lights. Display cases for collectibles and fine art require special fixtures, lenses, and lamping configurations to effectively light the subtleties of fine oil paintings, rare antiques, and special edition collector’s hardbacks. Recessed art lighting fixtures must also have special UV and infrared filters to protect oils and canvases from the harmful effects of invisible light. As a general rule, retail picture lights do a very poor job of dissipating heat and should be avoided. We recommend using either recessed halogen lights with UV filters or a specialty art projector for filtered, adjustable light. Display lights also need to be adjustable in order to balance with general lighting in the room. The best display lights are typically linear light strips with lighting control system that allow light levels to be controlled at will by the homeowner.
What else can decorative lighting be used for?
Home decorative lighting plays a major role in establishing a positive frame of mind. Every home has certain rooms that are used for special tasks, and other areas used specifically for relaxation and entertainment. The den or bedroom is a preferred reading place. The kitchen and adjoining dining area is usually favored for social gatherings and festivities. The bathroom is the mainstay for personal grooming. The home theater is the place for high-tech escape from the mundane drudgery's of society. These are but a few examples of what we mean here by activity-specific locations that create a unique mindset in a person. Every one of these locations is also prime real estate for interior decorative lights. LEDs are excellent home theater lighting and supplemental reading lights, and they use only 20% the electricity as incandescent fixtures. Cabinet and under cabinet lights in kitchens can cast a special glow over the counter top for a cooking demonstration, birthday party, or wedding celebration. Cove lights in living rooms, foyers, and kitchens can shine light up the walls wrap around the edges of the ceiling, replacing dark shadows with ambient fields of radiance.
How many decorative lights do I need?
You don’t need that many actual decorative lighting fixtures if you install a Lutron Grafik Eye system. Lighting control systems allow for the same basic group of decorative home lights to produce multiple lighting levels and special lighting effects. With user friendly wall box dimmers and hand held remotes, you can highlight part of the room, all of the room, or create any mood you wish with selective control of specific fixtures. Pre-programmed themes can also be loaded for one-touch lighting control.
How can I learn more about decorative lighting techniques?
Click here to read more about Houston home improvement remodeling, home electrical generators, advanced electrical installations and lighting design services by Illuminations Lighting and Design.
Where are your main offices?
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and design services in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Call us today at 713-863-1133, visit our lighting blog or request a consultation online using our contact us form.Labels: Advanced Electrical Installations, Home Decorative Lighting, Houston Electrical Contractors, Lighting Designers Houston
 Outdoor lights create a unifying aesthetic between the natural and the man made. Houses, yards, landscape features, trees, indigenous vegetation, patios, gazebos, and gardens can all be made to look like they not only fit together, but belong together. There is a vast multitude of fixture types and lamping options to consider when planning an outdoor garden lighting system, and there is a great deal of design than goes along with the selection of technology in order for the equipment to produce truly impressive results. Understanding a few key elements of design will help you conceptualize the basic steps toward the outcome more easily. It will also help you find the right professional sources for outdoor lights and design services and save you a great deal of time and money in the long run.
Take a less is more approach.
One thing to remember when choosing contemporary outdoor lights is that the lights themselves are not the most important element to the design. While this may sound odd, it really makes a great deal of sense when we consider the simple scientific fact that none of us actually see light itself—we see color. Your outdoor lighting system is intended to showcase the richness of color and form surrounding your home, not showcase itself. A large number of visible fixtures tends to overwhelm the property with obtrusive equipment and could result in complaints from your neighbors if the combined light output is too intense. You will also pay dearly for the overkill when the electric bill comes due.
On the other hand, a professional photometric analysis can show you exactly how much light you need and where. This will tell you in turn what outdoor light fixtures to actually purchase, and give you a general idea of where you should have them installed.
Conceal the fixtures.
In most cases it is not possible to literally conceal a light fixture completely. This is not necessary, anyway. All that is necessary is to conceal the fixtures enough from the viewer’s conscious awareness in order to point their attention to the object(s) being illuminated. This is something of a trick of the eye, as some would say, and often requires a professional consulting firm to help you achieve. Professional landscape lighting firms like Illuminations Lighting and Design have special training in fixture concealment, and they have access to commercial grade fixtures that are often smaller and more efficient than retail grade equipment.
It is fair to say, then, that whereas the actual number of fixtures is not the most important part of outdoor light design, the concealment and proper angle of fixtures certainly is.
Use energy efficient fixtures.
Almost every outdoor lighting concept you can imagine can be created using energy efficient fixtures. Both commercial outdoor lighting and outdoor home architectural lighting often rely heavily upon low voltage accent lights. These lights tend to be very safe to have in the yard around children and pets, and they of course consume far less electricity than line voltage fixtures. LED outdoor lights are also making an explosion in the marketplace, making it possible to decorate with everything from special effects and subtle shades of mood-altering color to bright floodlights for home security, outdoor path lighting or commercial property lighting.
Determine mount by subject illuminated and angle of incident.
Different outdoor lights feature different types of mounts. Some attach to the ground and shine up lighting onto trees, walls, and statuary. Others install in the trees themselves and create something akin to artificial moon light. Still others attach to the roofs of homes and office buildings and keynote important features that make the structure unique and aesthetically appealing.
Get a professional firm to help you.
These basic considerations point to a very important, ultimate consideration, that every homeowner has to make when investing in residential landscape lights. While lighting singular elements of a house, yard, patio, garden, or flower bed may be easy to do using retail grade fixtures and lamps, developing a continuity of themes between the various elements of a landscape and a house, along with saving energy and using fixtures that are built to last for a good number of years, takes a great deal of time and sometimes very sophisticated calculations.
It is also important that you realize that your community probably has, or will have very soon; dark sky laws that strictly regulate the type and level of lighting you can have around your home. Light pollution can be both a nuisance to neighbors and a safety hazard to motorists driving by. Working with a firm like ILD ensures that your equipment meets all energy and dark sky regulatory codes and that it is installed at the ideal angles of incidence to light your home and landscape as intended without violating legal restrictions on the equipment or its use.
Get a free consultation before you make any decisions.
If you live anywhere in Texas and need lighting in Houston, Beaumont, Austin, TX, or San Antonio areas, call Illuminations Lighting and Design before buying anything. We will provide you with a free consultation and a list of recommended outdoor light fixture and lamp types to best showcase the beauty and uniqueness of your property. If you move forward into a business relationship with us, understand that you are working with one of the most respected lighting design services company in the United States with 27 years of experience and expertise in five major service disciplines related to lighting, electrical services, and home automation.
Call us now at 1-800-963-1184 to get started. We are located in Houston but provide lighting and design services in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Visit our lighting blog or request a consultation online using our contact us form.Labels: Independant Residential Electrical Contractor, Landscape Lighting Professional, Landscape Outdoor Lighting, Outdoor Lights
.jpg) Ceiling lights are most effective when they produce multiple layers of light that provide a sense of sourcelessness to both task and decorative lighting types. Ideally, ceiling lighting should minimize the physical appearance of fixtures and create an even distribution of general lighting that maintains at all times appropriate levels of light necessary in whatever environment they are located. With very few exceptions found only in purely decorative, aesthetic applications such as museum or public display lighting, ceiling lighting should disperse illumination with the intent of eliminating all visible pockets of shadows in the room. This is especially true in commercial lighting projects, but it is also very necessary for quality living space in residential settings. Likewise, while bright light is often necessary both in a home and a workspace, ceiling lights should be used that feature specification grade fixture designs and advanced optics and reflectors when appropriate. This optimizes the photometric capabilities of the lamps housed inside the fixtures, and it eliminates glare that can cause discomfort to human eyes. Finally, almost all ceiling lights should compliment function with form by adding a decorative touch to the room.
There are many different ceiling lights from which you can choose that conceal themselves as much as possible above the line of sight. Concealment, as we define it, is actually a matter of degree and never and absolute. No architectural custom lighting in the ceiling is completely invisible if you stare straight up at the ceiling, so it is not necessary to waste time or money in an attempt to go to extremes of concealment. It works much better to find ceiling lights that take a “low profile” position in relation to the normal angles of view that people standing, walking, through the room or sitting in the room normally perceive. In order to correctly determine what types of fixtures you should use, whether they should be low voltage or line voltage in nature, and what number you will actually need really requires the assistance of a trained lighting consultant familiar with the many new technologies now available that can help your home or business save power, look better, and achieve new levels of décor previously unavailable even in purely decorative lighting. Working with professionals also gives you access to US-manufactured, specification grade ceiling lights that will last longer and perform much better than foreign equivalents and retail quality fixtures.
Glare and shadows are the two main enemies that work against you in virtually any interior lighting design, and ceiling lights play a crucial role in the elimination of both. Like we mentioned earlier, there are SOME settings (such as statuary and 3-D abstract art lighting) where shadows are deliberatively generated by lighting specialists in order to create special effects. In most cases, however, the opposite is almost always the rule. Shadows and glare have to be eliminated at all costs. This is where ceiling lights can shine at their brightest, so to speak. Unlike lamps and wall art lights that can often be very focused and intense, many varieties ceiling lights work to create a general “wash” of indirect light that cascades down the walls and over the central areas of work and human traffic. This will eliminate the glare that is often caused by overly relying on singular, bright ceiling lights that shine direct lighting only down onto the room. Because this light resembles a soft, ambient field more than a direct beam of bright luminance, it also dispels shadows more effectively by shining light on all points of the room at once. When objects are “surrounded by light” in this manner, shadows have no place to linger.
After this general field of light has been created in the room, brighter, direct-lighting ceiling fixtures can then be added to selectively shine additional, brighter light on work areas, artwork, aisles, kitchen counters, and special rooms within a home. While commercial and residential lighting are two separate disciplines, ceiling lights used in one discipline are commonly found in the other. Furthermore, installing ceiling lighting fixtures controlled by one or more Lutron wallbox dimmers or lighting control systems can exponentially multiply their effectiveness both functionally and aesthetically in both commercial and residential environments. Light control systems for homes and businesses can use the same set of ceiling lights to create multiple lighting effects and themes. Because there is always a practical element within aesthetic lighting, and some level of aesthetic sense intrinsic within task lighting, you can now adjust the "mix" of these two factors to become your own lighting designers simply by turning up one group of ceiling lights and turning down another. That’s sophistication at its finest and most convenient, and it is available to you now through Lutron distributors like Illuminations Lighting and Design to businesses and residents throughout Houston and Greater Texas.
Illuminations Lighting Design is the only “One Stop” destination for lighting design services, engineering, landscape lighting services and installation in the state of Texas, and remains unrivaled by any lighting firm in the United States for lighting that is art. As homes grow larger and needs become more complex, having a single resource provides home owners with peace of mind. This translates into a smoother process, reduced costs and a better product.
Like fine wine, Illuminations has matured and become a classic for those clients with a discriminating palate for comfort, mood and ambiance. Click here or call 1-800-863-1184 for an free consultation now.Labels: Architectural Lighting Houston Texas, Ceiling Lighting, Decorative Ceiling Lighting, Low Voltage Lighting, Recessed Accent Fixtures
 When we talk about home lighting systems, we are actually referring to a group of Lutron products that have the ability to automate the lighting on a whole-house level. Home lighting systems differ from home lighting controls in this manner, because one may conceivably use lighting controls in only a single room, and not the entirety of the house per se. Such a strategy is rare however, in residential settings, because today’s homeowner tends to expect a great deal more from his or her residence than the homeowner of 30 years ago. Most clients of Lutron vendors like Illuminations Lighting and Design choose to implement a comprehensive home lighting system that will give them one-touch control of everything both within and around the house. Depending on the size and age of the house, there are three Lutron home lighting system options available to clients throughout Houston and Greater Texas.
HomeWorks Lighting Controls
Lutron HomeWorks® is a popular home lighting system that is very well-known and that has witness a great deal of success over the past few years. Lutron HomeWorks features conditional logic that allows the home lighting system to be programmed for intuitive behavior. For example, the HomeWorks home lighting system can sense when it is beginning to get dark outside and turn on the architectural and landscape lights automatically. Most people report that they more secure after we install their HomeWorks system, as the lights are still on when they leave for work in the morning and have already come on by themselves when they return home at night.
This level of precision and comfort is made possible by a combination of programming and light sensitive sensors that enable the home lighting system to “sense” changes in external lighting. Interior lights, meanwhile, can be preset using Lutron GRAFIK Eye or Spacer System controls to come on at the push of a button. These effects can be further augmented by integrating controls with various other aspects of home automation, including whole house audio and home theater integration.
RadioRA® Lutron Controls
Unfortunately, many older homes cannot be fitted with the latest home automation systems due to the fact that older wiring will have to be replaced completely for newer home automation and lighting control technology to work. For these houses, ILD recommends Lutron’s RadioRA home lighting system. This system requires no new wiring for installation, and proves ideal for older historic homes and larger homes built in the late 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s.
The RadioRa has been engineered to seamlessly integrate with any floor plan and unobtrusively blend into interior structures and architecture. RadioRA home lighting systems uses wireless, RF radio signals instead of wires when communicating with its various components. They can be configured to control a portion of the home recessed lighting fixtures, specific groupings of fixtures, or the entire indoor and outdoor lighting system within and around the house. RadioRA also remotely controls lighting from your car visor with the push of a button, and it can be used to manipulate lighting around the deck or pool outside via hand-held remotes. Aficionados of eclectic home-based entertainment and cinema particularly value this benefit, as it enables them to a party at home that is better than nightlife any night of the week.
AuroRa® Lighting Dimmers
This is Lutron's latest and greatest innovation in home lighting systems. It expands the previous wireless technology of the RadioRA into new arenas of comfort, intuitive control, and advanced home automation. With the AuroRa system, you can press a button and create a safe path of light to, through and around the home with wireless control of 5 areas of outdoor lighting. One of the greatest advantages AuroRa offers the eclectic homeowner is pre-programmed capability. The system literally works straight out of the Lutron factory box.
The AuroRa system truly takes a whole house approach to lighting, unifying the functionality of indoor and outdoor lighting into an intuitive, user friendly command interface. This home lighting system can do everything from raise and lower outdoor lighting at dawn and twilight, turn off exterior lights at midnight, activate preset landscaping themes for weddings, birthday parties, and family gatherings, and light a path to the front door when you get home late at night.
Inside the house, the AuroRa home lighting system can open and close shades and control such elements as light pollution and energy conservation, sequence different lighting scenes automatically, and turn on any light or group of lights inside the home or home theater instantly with the push of a button. Every activity from dining, to movie watching, to games and social interaction can have its own specific, supportive lighting theme for optimal mood stimulation and mental focus.
Illuminations Lighting is Your Texas Lutron Source
The added value we can offer any home automation or lighting systems client is determination of exactly which system will best fit their needs, and which components and programming features need to be used to build that system. Click here to learn more about our multi-specialization in electrical services, lighting design, and home automation, and call 1-800-864-1133 for a free consultation today.Labels: AMX Lighting Control Systems, Home Automation Lighting Systems, Lutron Dimmer Switches, Lutron Electronics, Lutron Homeworks Lighting Controls
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