Illuminations Lighting Design Testimonials

Illuminations Lighting Design is the only “One Stop” destination for lighting design, 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.

Labels: Houston Electrical Contractor Testimonials, Lighting Customer Comments, Lighting Testimonials, Residential Lighting Plans

posted by xinger at 3:28 PM

Commercial Outdoor Community Lighting

How can we upgrade our building lights from older equipment to newer technology without having to remodel our exteriors?

Commercial communities can be upgraded with a number of commercial outdoor lighting fixture types that do not involve renovating buildings. If you have covered walkways between your buildings, a great way to provide lighting for safety and security is fluorescent canopy lighting. These fixtures have considerable lamp life and are very energy efficient. Canopy lighting can make your entire campus look full of light simply by illuminating spaces between buildings that would otherwise remain in the dark. The electrical work requires no reconstruction work on your part and can be done very easily by our electrical services team.

Similar to canopy lights, but mounted in a much different manner, are wall pack units. You probably already have some sort of wall-mounted fixtures affixed to the sides of your buildings. If these units are several years old, chances are they contain incandescent lamps that are costing you more money than you think both in terms of replacement costs and power consumption. Incandescents are also environmentally unfriendly, and they will all inevitably have to be replaced at some point in the future. Fluorescent fixtures are again the most cost effective equipment purchases for commercial lighting projects you can invest in, and they are also very good power savers.

For interior lighting design, there are countless retrofit options for everything from hallways to conference rooms and storage areas that we can cost effectively install within your office space. It is best to schedule a free on site with us to discuss these options so we can recommend the best possible retrofits without having to remodel your interior.

How much light do I need for security?

The intention of security lighting is to light only the buildings and ground without light spilling into neighboring businesses and homes. This alone can differentiate your commercial community with lighting, because more than likely you will be the first on your block to be proactive about dark sky friendly technology. In order to do this, it is necessary that you take the time to have a photometric lighting calculation made of your property. This will help us to determine how much lighting will be needed around areas such as buildings, public areas, walkways, and landscape features. Trying to light your commercial community without a photometric analysis is literally taking a shot at lighting in the dark. Most building owners get talked into over-lighting their premises, thinking brighter is better. The reality of lighting is very different. Typically speaking, a shadow-free environment that provides enough comfortable lighting for walking through the grounds is really all you need for security. The belief that blinding lights are the only lights effective in deterring crime is a myth. If cameras, guards, and law enforcement can simply see what is going on in your commercial community, then potential trespassers will be discouraged simply because they can clearly see they have no place to hide.

I need my property to look decorative as well as safe. Will it not cost a small fortune to invest in decorative fixtures?

It does not have to. Home security lights can be many things. Bollards installed in common areas can be a great way to illuminate large, open green spaces. Decorative bollards can be purchased from us in all shapes and sizes. Most of them are low-voltage fluorescent luminaires that use negligible amounts of power.

If you have fountain or pond, we can install energy efficient, or even LED lights, in and around the water. If installed professionally, lights around water features can appear magnified by the refractive qualities of water itself. This is another excellent way to illuminate commercial apartment community landscapes with very low-voltage, power saving lights.

Do you have energy efficient floodlights that can provide perimeter lighting at low costs?

Yes. Please give us a call to talk about some new technologies that can not only operate flood lights at a lower wattage with higher light output, but also better target the light toward only desired areas so that spill light beyond your property line is eliminated. Also, motion control sensor technology as well as integration with other security systems can automate your floodlights. Again, these are custom configurations which we can better address with an onsite consultation from an outdoor lighting contractor.

Illuminations Lighting Design is the only “One Stop” destination for lighting design, 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.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and lighting design in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.

You can reach us toll free at 800-863-1184 or locally at 713-863-1133.

Labels: Community Security Lighting, Houston Texas Landscape Lighting Services, Landscape Community Lighting, Outdoor Apartment Community Lighting

posted by xinger at 3:40 PM

Townhome Outdoor Community Lighting

Townhome communities are in many ways a blend of residential communities and luxury apartment community living. Most townhomes are privately-owned, making them for all intents and purposes small houses that the homeowner can decorate, renovate, or upgrade at will. Deed restrictions apply in much the same way as they do to houses. Certain guidelines mandated by the homeowner’s association what can and cannot be done to an individual unit in terms of how it will affect the surrounding units. Most townhome exterior lighting, as a result, must be coordinated and paid for by the homeowner’s association that governs the townhome community. In order to fully satisfy both the needs of residents and an increasingly regulated industry, it necessary to work with a company like Illuminations Lighting Design that has both the electrical engineering expertise to safely and properly install equipment, and that also has the design background to create and aesthetically pleasing end result.

Parking areas in townhome communities require sophisticated parking lot lighting solutions that must meet with a variety of regulatory standards. One is foot candle minimums. By law, all parking lots must have a minimum of 4 foot candles per foot to be considered safe for vehicle and human traffic. In addition, the homeowner’s association should invest in commercial grade lighting fixtures with advanced optics engineering that will limit glare and spill light. In the future, we anticipate almost every city in the United States, regardless of size or geography, to adopt some form of dark sky legislation. Regardless of the current presence of such legislation in the surrounding city or countryside, it is wise for a townhome community to invest in outdoor street lighting that will illuminate the parking area without blinding the eyes of motorists and pedestrians, and without shining unwanted light into the windows of sleeping residents. In high-end communities where looks matter almost as much as safety and performance, decorative poles and fixtures can be installed that will comply fully with all governing codes and simultaneously create a better sense of home and comfort than the standard commercial lighting poles used to light the typical apartment complex or retail center.

Most townhome communities also invest a good percentage of their homeowner’s association fees in landscaping and gardening. Lighting design service professionals can help accentuate the many features of a landscape so that residents and guests can enjoy them throughout the evening and early morning hours. It is never a good idea to take the cheap route and attempt to have the lighting maintenance crew install retail-grade lighting fixtures in these areas. For one thing, cheaper lights have a shorter lamp life and will ultimately cost the association more in the long run when one factors in the replacement costs. They also tend to lack the necessary engineering required to for more sophisticated angles of light distribution. Certain elements of landscaping require very precise angles of incidence that only a commercial grade fixture can produce. Tree lighting, for example, requires specially-made mercury vapor lights designed to specifically emulate moonlight. It is almost impossible to find a retail equivalent of the type of fixtures we can obtain directly from world-class manufacturers. Other landscaping elements such as walkways and pathways can be effectively lit by outdoor path light fixtures that require only minimum power to produce exceptional safety and aesthetics. For the townhome community that is looking for lighting that can produce a long-term savings in the form of reduced replacement and energy costs, there really is no other option than commercial-grade, professionally installed fixtures.

Virtually every townhome complex has a community center that requires lighting in and around buildings and common areas. This is perhaps the most important aspect of townhome and apartment community lighting, because the community center is the very heart and soul of the complex and a hub for its many activities. A typical community center will have one or more sports areas, a swimming pool, a picnic area, and an office area for professionals and crew on staff. Very large town house complexes may have one or more tennis or volleyball courts for residents, and they may even have a meeting hall for resident meetings and indoor events. All of these areas in the townhome community will require lighting installation from an outdoor lighting contractor on a professional scale. Architectural and building should be carefully planned in such a way as to minimize replacement costs and to avoid excessive power consumption. Any sports lighting indoors or out will no doubt require commercial grade fixtures in order to create the necessary levels of light for safe play and to ensure a reasonable life expectancy for the fixtures themselves.

Because every townhome community is unique, any lighting system installed must be highly customized to meet the specific challenges of the environment and the personal tastes of the residents. It is almost impossible to create such a system without a photometric analysis of the property and an advance plan for design. One of the many advantages that ILD offers over competing contract firms is the ability to produce sophisticated layouts of commercial lighting systems for homeowner’s associations to review in advance prior to the initiation of the project or the installation of any equipment. New communities can trust Illuminations Lighting to not only do the job right, but to let them know up front the specifics of that job, the actual costs of labor and materials (without surprises), and the estimated return on investment in the form of lower maintenance and reduced power costs through superior technology which is longer lasting and much more energy efficient that short-cut, store-bought solutions.

Striking such a difficult balance between décor and safety is something that our commercial lighting projects have been doing in townhome communities, corporate office parks, residential neighborhoods, and private residences for over 27 years now. With a skillful blend of science and art, Illuminations Lighting Design can help any apartment or townhome community light its world with the highest level of quality and the best energy saving equipment available in today’s market.

Illuminations Lighting Design is the only “One Stop” destination for lighting design, 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.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and lighting design in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.

Labels: Community Security Lighting, Outdoor Apartment Community Lighting, Outdoor Community Lights, Townhome Community Lighting, Townhome Exterior Lighting

posted by xinger at 12:52 PM

Houston Texas Electrician Job Openings

Illuminations Lighting and Design offers employment and job opportunities for Houston, Texas journeyman and apprentice electricians with outstanding skills in communications, superb creative design ability, and demonstrable computer literacy. Unlike staffing-agency or temporary employment in Houston, TX, Illuminations Lighting Design recruits and hires direct.

As a multi-disciplinary electrical, landscape lighting, and home automation consulting firm, Illuminations Lighting Design develops highly individualized, custom lighting, electrical design, and home automation systems for upscale residential and commercial clients throughout Houston, Texas.

About Illuminations Lighting
We are an exceptional organization looking to add impeccable personnel that will both develop within our team and later work to develop our team. Employment opportunities currently exist in each of our five major disciplines as well as other areas within the company.

Employment Contact Us Form

Home Automation Technician
Residential Apprentice Electrician
Residential Journeyman Electrician
Residential Service Electrician
Tree Climber
Warehouse & Assembly

Houston Electrical Jobs

We want to educate you and train you (on our dime, with your investment of reasonable time) in an area of specialization that you can then offer service to our community of clientele.

Trabajos Electricia en Houston
Journeyman Landscape Electrician
Audio Visual Employment
Electrical Construction Jobs
Empleo habil de Comercio
Skilled Trade Employment
Electrical Technician Jobs

Moving from one of these cities to Houston Texas?
Austin Texas
Beaumont Texas
San Antonio Texas

Illuminations Lighting and Design offers a wide array of outstanding benefits in addition to generous pay and potential to advance employment. The Houston, Texas Medical Center and its world-famous treatment and care lie within the reach of every single staff member. We have medical and dental benefits and provide paid sick leave for every person, regardless of position or rank. All Houston, Texas employment opportunities at ILD include company-paid training in product development and installation, and every position rewards dedication and labor with paid vacations and merit-earned pay.

We invite you to view all the specific job postings in each of our five major disciplines, and contact us today. Call us at 713-863-1133 or toll free at 800-863-1184. Employment in Houston, TX has never been brighter than it is today at Illuminations Lighting and Design.

Labels: Electrical Job Openings, Houston Electrical Contractors, Houston Texas Employment Opportunities, Landscape Lighting Jobs, Skilled Employment Houston Texas

posted by xinger at 12:05 PM

Lighting Quotes & Lighting Design Proposals

In many private mansions, upscale commercial properties or luxury resorts, LIGHT is understood in its functional aspects. Rarely is it understood in terms of its artistic qualities. Lighting is more than utilitarian—it is theater! How an object is illuminated is just as important as what is being focused upon. That is what makes Illuminations Lighting Design unique lighting resource. We combine practical experience with aesthetic taste to light the stage of your everyday experience and can turn those dreams into a custom lighting proposal. When it comes to your home or business, why settle for anything less?

Residential Lighting Design
Developing a residential lighting plan with the help of a professional lighting designer can both magnify the general appeal of your home’s physical structure and work to unify your lifestyle with your sense of art, decorating, and peace of mind. People often feel much more comfortable in their homes after they have taken the time to invest in planning a residential home lighting design services that will illuminate the finer elements of lifestyle and décor they have worked hard to give to themselves and their children.

Commercial Lighting Projects
Illuminations Lighting Design develops commercial lighting projects that systematically and completely address every aspect of task and decorative lighting. As a multi-service vendor specializing in 5 major disciplines, we offer businesses the unique and very cost-effective convenience of using our firm as a single-source vendor for their entire electrical and lighting design requirements. Our cross training in architecture, interior design, and landscaping further enable us to develop systems that layer lighting in a fashion that customizes every commercial lighting project to form, function, and utility. Most importantly, we develop some of the most cost-effective commercial lighting projects found anywhere as vendor of the world’s most sophisticated energy-saving outdoor tree lighting as well as parking lot lighting equipment that reduces overhead without sacrificing visibility, safety, or aesthetics.

Resort & Country Club Lighting
Lighting is a reflection of luxury. It combines the Universal, the functional, and the aesthetic in a phenomenon that is both a science and an art. Resort and Country Club lighting represents the highest level of sophistication found in the lighting design services industry, representing a synthesis of multiple disciplines applied in such a fashion as to separate and elevate the experience of a luxury resort to the level of the timeless and the impeccable.

Illuminations Lighting Design is the only “One Stop” destination for lighting design, 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.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide expert lighting 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 Proposals, Custom Lighting Quotes, Houston Texas Landscape Lighting Services, Lighting Design Proposals

posted by xinger at 9:13 AM

Residential Apartment Community Lighting

An apartment complex must have quality community lighting to maintain its business and its reputation. People will not stay around for very long when they cannot see well at night and do not feel safe. Property managers who are constantly wrestling with high turnover might want to pause and consider that it may be for this reason that so few tenants are choosing to renew their leases. These same managers may also want to consider as well the many liabilities that could result if inadequate lighting in the community contributes to an injury or criminal attack. Managers who leave it to maintenance to purchase and install lighting fixtures from retail sources are a great financial risk by placing short-term savings over long-term gains. Both the quality of equipment and design are always better when developed by a firm who specializes in community landscape lighting.

One of the most important places to light correctly in an apartment community is the leasing office. Burglars often target this building to steal money orders to cash on the black market. One burglary can literally result in an entire month’s rent being lost. Burglars can also use the rear entrance to the leasing office to gain access to a gated community if the lighting behind the building is poor or lacking. To prevent this, it is necessary for the entire structure to be surrounded by a perimeter of home security lighting, usually generated by a combination of building lights and motion-controlled sensor flood lights.

Common areas around laundry rooms, swimming pools, pet areas, and walkways leading through the apartment community are particularly vulnerable places because they are usually covered by the shadows of nearby buildings. Attempting to light these areas with cheap fixtures usually creates glare that disturbs residents. Managers often settle for leaving certain areas dark to avoid getting complaints. However, this does not need to be the case. Professional firms like Illuminations Lighting and Design install only specification-grade fixtures that are manufactured with special glare and light pollution control technology. These luminaires will only light specific areas in the community without spill light shining into people’s living rooms and bedrooms.

For high-end properties where aesthetics is an absolute must, community lighting must be superb and professionally done without cutting corners on equipment or installation procedures. This is particularly the case in high-end luxury apartment complexes that have invested heavily in professional landscaping. Water works like ponds, fountains, and waterfalls need special underwater outdoor lights that only trained professionals can install. To properly accent vegetation and outdoor sculpture, selective lighting blended with shadow is needed in order the three-dimensional forms of objects and plants. Otherwise, too much brightness distorts and flattens their appearance. Special up lights must be used in gardens, flowerbeds, and shrubbery areas. Large have to be lit with special tree-friendly outside tree lighting fixtures professionally installed in concealed places in their branches. At the same time, any scenic pathways in the apartment community need lighting for security and safe visibility that blends harmoniously with the decorative elements surrounding it.

Striking such a difficult balance between décor and safety is something that our commercial lighting projects have been doing in apartment communities, corporate office parks, residential neighborhoods, and private residences for over 27 years now. With a skillful blend of science and art, Illuminations Lighting and Design can help any apartment community light its world with the highest level of quality and the best energy saving equipment available in today’s market.

Illuminations Lighting Design is the only “One Stop” destination for lighting design, 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.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.

Labels: Apartment Community Lighting, Architectural Lighting Houston Texas, Outdoor Community Lighting, Outdoor Landscape Community Lights, Residential Community Lighting

posted by xinger at 5:05 PM

Residential Community Lighting & Outdoor Lights

An increasingly large number of residential communities are more like cities unto themselves. They have their own security patrols, restaurants, country clubs, and shopping malls. Many have their own schools as well. As such, the many amenities included in such a residential community is paid for mostly by the homeowner associations that govern the neighborhood. Since most are technically unincorporated, the municipality in which they reside typically provides rudimentary street lighting. All other areas within a residential community, however, will require architectural outdoor lighting systems that are custom designed and privately funded to ensure that public areas are both safe and aesthetically pleasing.

Perhaps the best example of this is the residential community center that you normally find at the heart of such a neighborhood. The community center is usually more than a single building. It consists of a number of facilities grouped together. Everything from public meetings, administration, special events, and after-school programs are held at residential community centers. Lighting these areas effectively requires an advanced understanding of interior and exterior architecture, along with the most energy efficient fixtures available in the commercial lighting marketplace. Superior optical design is also necessary to guarantee compliance with dark sky regulations that limit light pollution. Planning committees serve themselves best when they invest in the best equipment and lighting designs services up front. It only costs more money down the line to have to replace inferior fixtures which burn out unexpectedly or that fail to remain in compliance with new legislation.

Most residential communities know a lighting or electrical contractor services provider who has all the necessary skills to install this type of equipment. However, many independent contractors working on a limited local scale often lack an extensive vendor network. They may only carry lighting fixtures from two or three major manufacturers, and as such can offer only a limited amount of options to a community.

One the other hand, a residential lighting and design firm like ILD will typically represent dozens of world-class US manufacturers. This allows access to literally thousands of luminaires and gives residential communities a full set of options to consider. Residential landscape lighting systems can be highly customized to any building or landscape as a result, and cost-savings can be built into the proposal by locating the fixtures that offer the best distribution of light with the lowest possible power consumption that today’s technology will allow.

Planning committees can actually participate in designing and planning their outdoor lighting, parking lot lighting and indoor lighting systems when they work with a professional firm that will itemize the features, advantages, benefits, and cost of each piece of equipment proposed in the system.

This goes hand in hand with the evolution of residential communities continue to evolve into self-contained spheres of living space, open space, and public space. As neighborhoods become more autonomous and introspective, the importance of both safety and aesthetics in community lighting systems increases proportionally. Working with a company like Illuminations Lighting and Design offers private subdivisions and custom home developments the opportunity to create a world of light within their neighborhood that meets their community needs on a highly personalized level and speaks directly to the values and the lifestyles of its residents.

Illuminations Lighting Design is the only “One Stop” destination for lighting design, 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.

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.

Feel free to call us at 800-863-1184 or locally at 713-863-1133.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.

Labels: Commercial Site Lighting, Community Security Lighting, Custom Lighting Proposals, Custom Lighting Quotes, Outdoor Community Lighting, Outdoor Landscape Community Lights, Residential Community Lighting

posted by xinger at 1:05 PM

Outdoor Fountain & Pond Lighting

Does ILD use special types of fixtures for fountain lighting?
We use a variety of surface-mounted lights and LED underwater light fixtures to light ponds and residential fountains. Most clients who call us have noticed that their fountain looks great in the moonlight, but not so great in their standard outdoor landscape lights. We specialize in creating the most innovative and eclectic fountain lighting upgrades that will improve the centrality and attractiveness of these water features on the landscape.

Can we buy a fountain lighting kit and do it ourselves?
First, it is never safe to install tree lighting or electrical yourself around water. Because a fountain can look like anything from a cherub pouring water from a vase to a fairy queen holding a magic bird bath, there is no one-light-fits-all fountains kit on the market. Even fountains that do not have ornamental statures are nonetheless three-dimensional keynotes on any landscape. They need the expertise of a outdoor lighting contractor with experience in outdoor lighting, architectural lighting, and sculpture lighting who can conceal the fixtures from view and let only the water, pond, and any ornaments be see under what appears to be sourceless light.

Why is sourceless light so important?
Because light itself is a sourceless origin of vision. We do not actually see light; we see color. This has puzzled everyone from Plato to quantum physicists, and is truly one of those mysteries of reality that people love to explore, but do not really want to solve. We actually use this mysterious element of artistic lighting in much of our design work—especially when it comes to lighting fountains, ponds, and statuary.

Consider this: the more the water looks like light itself, the more magical the effect will be on the senses.

How does ILD conceal lighting fixtures in fountains and ponds?
There are two ways to conceal the lights themselves. One is to place them over the fountain and aim them down to create pinpoint spotlighting effects. This works very well with fountains that have figurines or birdbaths in the center, because it causes light and shadow to combine and emphasize the three-dimensional nature of the structure and lowers maintenance contracts. The other approach is to install underwater fountain lights. These can be halogen lights that are very bright and focused, or they can be LED lights that can diffuse throughout the water and produce up to 16 million colors under a waterspout or waterfall.

What type of fixtures would you use in my fountain?
That depends on two things: location and preference of effect. If your fountain is near a large vertical surface or is surrounded by trees, we can place halogen fixtures in the water to send bright light through its moving surface. This refracts the light just enough to make it dance on the surface next to the fountain.

If you want a more diffused or multi-colored look of water uniting with light, then LED is the way to go in custom home lighting. It can turn every drop of water in a fountain into a sub-dimension of the rainbow, and it can fill the surrounding pool with all the variations of primary and secondary color.

Be sure to read our lengthy articles on LED and Fountain Lighting as well. They contain more information on aesthetics and safety that you need to keep in mind when contracting any lighting designer to illuminate your pond, swimming pool, or ornamental fountain.

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 house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond. Our toll free number is 800-863-1184 and our local number is 713-863-1133 to request a consultation or service.

Not really ready to schedule the work yet?
Would you like to first have someone come out and meet with you to discuss your project? No problem, try using our online Contact Us Form or Request Assistance Directory. These handy online tools allow you to tell us more about your project, attach files or identify an individual responsible for processing your specific request!

Labels: Houston Fountain Lighting, Texas Landscape Lighting Designers, Underwater Lighting Contractor, Waterfall Lighting

posted by xinger at 9:03 PM

Lighting Antique Cabinets & Furniture

The lighting store we bought fixtures from said they cannot help us with lighting our antique cabinet. Why?
Most lighting stores do not install fixtures; they simply sell equipment and refer you to a display lighting contractor who can install them. When it comes to antique cabinet lighting, few electrical contractors will touch this type of work. Antique cabinets are fine and valuable forms of furniture that represent a very big liability if damaged. Any significant amount of cutting into an antique cabinet and destroy its value. Also, most standard linear strips will not look good in an antique cabinet. Antique cabinets are mostly custom-built, and standard light fixture dimensions will not fit them.

Many of our clients and lighting consultants contact us because they have experienced the same frustration you are facing now. They feel they must either leave the cabinet unlit, or risk damaging it to illuminate its contents. There is, of course, a third alternative.

What is that alternative?
The only way to successfully light an antique cabinet is with customized cabinet lights and special wiring techniques. Only a few fine art companies in the world of design are willing to show this type of flexibility when working on a project. It is analogous to playing cards, and being willing to make the most of the hand you are dealt. Because every cabinet is different, you have to treat it as a unique and special project on a case by case basis. You have to work wires through existing space without making visible cuts in the wood, and you have to use cabinet lights that will not be seen once installed. The same holds true in new home wiring or electrical remodel work.

Can Illuminations Lighting Design do all of this?
Yes. We have worked for over 25 years in the world of fine art and display lighting, and have literally installed lights in thousands of antique cabinets over the years. As a Houston electrical contractor our specialists combine strong, practical wiring and electrical skills with a keen eye for design and aesthetics. Most antique cabinets are built using saw brackets and cleats to support the horizontal shelves. The small spaces between the shelves and the vertical sides provide opportunities for hidden wiring—providing the electrician has the patience and skill to do so. Our home lighting design team does, and also has access to highly specialized cabinet lighting strips that can be concealed underneath the shelves and powered with these hidden wires. Only a few screw holes are what are needed to install the strips and contact pads, and the value of the cabinet is preserved along with its presentation power being enhanced with interior illumination. The lighting fixtures themselves cannot be seen by people looking at the antiques in the cabinet, which appear to be softly bathed in a warm luminance that appears sourceless and multi-dimensional.

What services other than display lighting does ILD offer?
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, and phone systems.

How can I reach you to schedule an appointment?
Contact us at 800-863-1184 today to talk about your next lighting project or visit our lighting and home automation blog to learn more about our products and services.

Labels: Antique Cabinet Lighting Houston, Antique Furniture Lighting Specialists, Low Voltage Display Lighting Experts

posted by xinger at 4:13 PM

Pond Lights & Underwater Fountain Lighting

Our underwater pond lights have gone out. Should we try to replace them ourselves?
This is not advisable. Even if the fixture is dead, the wire can still be very much alive and shock you. It is also a bad idea to simply leave the dead fixture in the water. If the power is one, it can electrify the pond and still pose a shock hazard to humans, pets, and wildlife. We recommend scheduling an appointment with a outdoor landscape lighting contractor to replace your pond lights as soon as possible.

What types of replacements do you sell?
Since we do not recommend do-it-yourself work anytime there is electricity installed around water, we actually perform the outdoor landscape lighting services for you and give you equipment options to choose from. You have more than likely been using halogen low-voltage underwater lights to create reflective ambiance that emanates from beneath the water and dances on surrounding trees and walls. Halogen lights are very powerful, but they suffer from a limited lifespan—only 5,000 hours at best.

Do you have a longer lasting light than halogen?
If your goal is to make the water itself glow with life, and if reflectivity can be created off of extremely nearly-by structures, then LED pond lights are the way to go. While LED does not have the intense focus of halogen lights, it provides an excellent, diffused underwater light source that can literally create a rainbow of colors that burst out from under the surface into shorelines, fountains, and waterfalls.

Are LED pond lights affordable?
LED lights are also the most economical fixtures to operate. Once the initial investment is made in the installation of the equipment by a landscape lighting design team, the fixtures will last 40,000 lamp hours on the average—which means that they are approximately reliable for a good 20 years. The investment one makes in the cost of an LED pond lighting retrofit is easily recovered in a relatively short period of time. Because these fixtures use only 20% the power of incandescent-based lights, they literally will pay for themselves.

Does ILD specialize in LED pond lighting?
While Illuminations Lighting and Design specializes in all forms of landscape and water feature lighting, we do not insist on a single technology over another. The reason for this is every water feature is different and best served by a specific type of luminaire over another. It all depends on the size of the pond, its proximity to walls and trees, and the presence of a fountain or waterfall. LED lights will offer a great deal of luminance to any number of these elements when professionally installed in concealed locations where they will remain undisturbed and unseen.

In addition to landscape lighting we routinely create home lighting plans and lighting floor plans for both residential and commercial projects. You can contact us locally at 713-863-1133 or toll free at 800-863-1184. No other lighting design firm is able to provide such a well-rounded service line or a more informative Lighting & Home Automation Blog. But do not just take our word for it. Just ask Lance Armstrong, Tracy Mc Grady, Mayor Bill White, President George W. Bush, or dozens of other commercial clients or residential clients, large and small clientele, across the great State of Texas who have enjoyed our lighting services.

We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.

Labels: Fountain Lighting, LED Pond Lighting, Outdoor Founting Lighting, Underwater Lighting Contractor, Waterfall Lights

posted by xinger at 6:25 PM