Emerson Fan video

I've been hearing that a lot of our manufacturers have filmed short videos in their Dallas showrooms, but I had never seen one.... until now! Jan Zanger just sent me Emerson's, so here is the link to it: www.roberttullierproductions.com/Client_Folders/ALA3/Emerson.wmv
Not only do you get to see their new fan styles from market, but you actually get to see them in motion, so it's a different experience from just looking through pictures in a catalog. Kind of neat!

Tip of the day: How to Size an Outdoor Lantern

My favorite new catalog from Hinkley Lighting has the best description I've ever seen on How to size an outdoor lantern. I'm sure you can't read the details, so let me spell them out for you: The height of an outdoor lantern should be based on the height of the door. For 1 lantern, it should measure 1/3 the height of the door. For 2 lanterns, they should each measure approximately 1/4 the height of the door. Either way, the center of the bulb should rest 66" above the threshold of the door. Their most important tip is "When in doubt, always go larger". This is SO true! In all my years, I have almost NEVER seen an outdoor fixture that is too large for a house, but I see them all the time where they're too small. So you have to have faith in that tip!

Award from Tech Lighting

Last week we were visited by a pair of VIP's from Tech Lighting: Steve Harriott, the President, and Paul Halsch, the Vice President of Sales. They are traveling the country, presenting Strategic Partner awards to 25 key accounts ~ I am very proud to say we were one of only two distributors in our territory who received one. Here is a picture of it:

The funny thing is, not only is my staff very proud to have received the award, but my designers are going gaga over the light bulb used in the award! They call it an Early Edison bulb, so it looks like one of the old original incandescent bulbs. This seems to be another trend for 2009 ~ not only is Tech using this bulb, but so are Hudson Valley, Robert Abbey, Visual Comfort, and Arteriors. Here are some examples from Tech Lighting (see how they flipped their flush mount over & turned it into our award?) and Robert Abbey:

Trend ~ Shaded Chandelier

The trend of the day I'm going to call "shaded chandeliers". If you look through design or decorating magazines, I'm sure you've seen the drum style pendants that have become popular the past few years. But now some of our companies are putting a new twist on that style and putting the large round shade around a candle cluster like what you'd see on a chandelier. Crystorama is the first company I can recall showing this style:




Now I think a lot of the other factories have caught on to the trend, so we're seeing lots more to choose from after this year's January Dallas market. I like the bronze tones in this one by World Imports:


And then you can see in this example from Hinkley that they don't have to have crystal ~ this is a nice simple shade with a clean brushed nickel chandelier body:

Hudson Valley Lighting

Today we were visited by Wayne Falk, the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Hudson Valley, Corbett, Troy, Sonneman, and CSL. I've blogged quite a bit about Corbett & Troy, so today I thought I'd show our new favorite from Hudson Valley.

This picture from their brand new catalog is what they call a "lifestyle shot" ~ so it shows the chandelier pictured in a room as you would use it. This fixture is a good example of a relatively new trend ~ the long or oval fixture hanging over a rectangular table. Several of our manufacturers now offer these long pieces, so there are many styles to choose from.

Trends ~ laser cut design

The other trend we've noticed so far is what I'm calling laser cut design. Apparently a lot of our factories have invested in fun new machines that make it very easy to create these very elaborate patterns.

These samples are from Progress, Troy, and Besa. I find it interesting that they are using this style on everything from a more traditional armed chandelier style, to outdoor pieces, to the mini-pendant styles. We're also seeing them in wall sconces and bath lighting. What do you think of them? If you have any comments, please feel free to post them here or send me an email. Happy Friday!

Trends ~ spheres

We're starting to see a lot of our reps, showing off their new products from the January Dallas market, and I'm beginning to notice a few recurring themes. Today I thought I'd show you the ones I'm calling "spheres". Here are three examples:

Felix is by Troy Lighting, Equinox is by Progress, and the Bangle is by Corbett. We have that Bangle on display, and it is gorgeous! I just think it's very interesting that suddenly we're seeing all these similar shapes, and it's not a shape we've really seen in years past.

Tomorrow I'll show you another trend I've been noticing, which is laser-cut details on light fixtures.

Juno LED under cabinet light

We at Dominion Electric Supply like to pride ourselves on keeping up on all the latest technologies and trends. The most exciting thing to happen in our world is the introduction of LED lighting into our residential market. I've mentioned Kichler's LED under cabinet light, and Tech's LED pendants and track heads ~ now I want to show you Juno's "Pro-LED" under cabinet. As much as I adore Kichler's because the color quality is amazing and it is incredibly thin, it is a bit complicated to install because it's a system and requires remote drivers (like a transformer). The great thing about this new Juno product is that the driver is on board, so it can replace any old fluorescent or xenon or halogen in an existing kitchen ~ it wires up exactly the same way! It's a bit thicker (1" vs. Kichler's 1/2"), but for a retrofit situation, I think it's going to be a great choice. I wonder if we should stock them, so if you have an opinion about that, please Comment here!

new chandeliers from Corbett & Troy

Today we saw Liz Iacone from Zanger Associates again, showing off some of her great new products from the Dallas market. So here are my favorite new pieces from Corbett on the left and Troy on the right. We're hoping to place our order soon, so then we'll have them on display before too long. These companies both do such a good job of bringing us unusual pieces ~ not like a lot of the other factories that often all have products that all look the same!

trip to Cleveland and Kichler Lighting

I almost forgot to post some pictures from my trip to Cleveland. So here you can see the Kichler factory on the left, and on the right is my husband, Bob, then me, then Lisa Goodman & Roy Minoff (one of the family owners of Kichler Lighting). Yes, it was snowy there, but we had a great time! The Robbie Schaefer concert was fabulous, and Roy was a great host at the Kichler factory AND the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! I am always impressed that Kichler is still family-owned and operated, very much like Dominion Electric Supply, just much bigger!

Great new Hinkley catalog

Today we had our Dallas review with John Collis who represents Hinkley, Fredrick Ramond, Elk, Framburg, Arroyo, and House of Troy. Hinkley has come out with the most beautiful catalog! (That's where this picture is from.) It has great products shown, too, but I just love the layout of the catalog. In this picture they show the same chandelier in 4 different settings, and they do the same thing with a bath sconce, some mini-pendants, and an exterior lantern. They're also full of great tips ~ for example, how do you size a chandelier? We get this question a lot, and their answer is perfect: For a dining room, measure the length and width of the room and add those figures together. The sum, converted to inches, will equal the diameter of the correct-sized chandelier. They add that if the resulting measurement seems inappropriate due to the size of your table, size your chandelier half the width of your table. In most cases, the bottom of your chandelier should sit approximately 30"-32" above the table top. We'll feature more of their tips in the coming weeks, but you can also email me at cschla@dominionelectric.com if you'd like to hear some right away!