Tech Crescendo

We just hung this fabulous chandelier in the showroom ~ isn't it terrific?! I've always thought this would be the perfect piece for a contemporary foyer. It has 7 free-floating arms suspended by aerial cable, each tipped on both ends with frosted lamps and white flight paper. So unique!

Lessons in Lighting

Our Lightolier rep, Kevin Brady, stopped by today and suggested something for my blog. Lightolier offers an online education program called Lessons in Lighting. It can be found here: http://www.lightolier.com/resources/edu_lessons.jsp

If you are an architect or someone needing continuing education credits, Lessons in Lighting can count for these Professional organizations:
• (ALA) American Lighting Association
• (AIA) American Institute of Architects
• (NCQLP) National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions
• (NAILD) National Association of Independent Lighting Distributors, Inc.


I think one thing we can do to take advantage of a slower economy is to spend a little more time educating ourselves. When business is crazy busy, it's very hard to find the time to learn anything new. So if we find ourselves with a little free time these days, these Lessons in Lighting are a great resource!

Architectural Digest

One of my co-workers pointed out this picture to me in the February issue of Architectural Digest (thanks, Toni!) ~ it shows a chandelier we have on display in Chantilly by Tech Lighting, as well as a reading light on the wall that could be Holtkotter (or someone similar). It's always neat to see one of our display pieces featured in a room ~ it makes it come to life!

Team Solutions

Where does the time go? I can't believe it's been a week since I posted anything here! Today's going to be another crazy day, but before I forget, I wanted to mention the great event my networking group (Team Solutions) held last week. Team Solutions is made up of Integrated Media Systems, Charles Luck Stone, Hadco Appliances, and Dominion Electric Supply, of course! We had an intimate gathering at Hadco Appliances made up of designers, builders, Kitchen & Bath professionals, remodelers, and an electrical contractor. We showed new products (of course Dominion showcased our favorite LED products), had a fabulous roundtable discussion, and then were entertained and fed by Mark Salter of The Inn at Perry Cabin. Wonderful!

It was such a success, I'm sure we'll be planning another one soon, so if you're interested in getting on the invite list, please let me know!

Dark Sky Lighting

Light the ground, not the sky!

That's what Seagull Lighting says about Dark Sky fixtures. Today I thought I'd do a little education piece because I'm guessing a lot of people have never heard of the Dark Sky movement, or how we in the lighting world can help. There are 2 main schools of thought behind this movement: to cut down on "light pollution" so we can see the stars, and to save the turtles. Yes, turtles! As Progress Lighting states in their "Green" catalog, "There are often many artificial lights near highly popluated beaches that can deter females from nesting and disorient hatchling turtles on the way to their ocean home. Turtle-friendly lighting helps to shield these light sources and preserve our dwindling turtle populations."


As for star-saving, Hinkley Lighting says, "Dark Sky fixtures come equipped with a captive reflector or other design feature that minimizes or eliminates light glare upward into the night sky." Other manufacturers, like Kichler Lighting, offer Dark Sky Accessories for some of their fixtures:
Lots of our manufacturers offer at least a few options for Dark Sky fixtures, so if you're interested in seeing more, please let us know!

Murray Feiss Druid Hills Collection

It feels like spring here in Chantilly, VA today! Hard to believe just one week ago we were practically snowed in! There's nothing quite like wacky March weather around here.

I don't know if this lighting collection could be called springy, but I wanted to show it anyway! Last week we had our Dallas review with our Murray Feiss rep, Terry Mullen. They have a really cool twist on my favorite drum shade ~ they've added a ring element, so it's almost a combo between my drums and my spheres:


And they don't leave it just as the drum type ~ they also offer a chandelier style with candle bulbs & shades, and also a foyer piece:










One of our buyers was telling me that when they went to Dallas in January, this was one of the pieces they immediately fell in love with. Very fun & mod looking to me!

Holtkotter ~ 9621/15 & 5145/4

We just had a visit from Jim Toole, our rep for Holtkotter Lighting. Holtkotter is a German company that has the most fabulous designs. You might get the feeling if you read this blog that I'm in love with all the new possiblities with LED lighting? Well check this out:

Holtkotter was really the first to have the adjustable, long pendants like this. Recently a lot of people have knocked them off, but their hardware and design is always top-notch and is never really knocked off very well. This LED piece has that wonderful pull-down capability, and it's the first one of its kind that I've seen. It comes in 4 finishes: Satin Nickel, Chrome, Hand-Brushed Old Bronze, & Brushed Brass. It emits 1350 lumens, but it only uses 28 watts! Amazing!

My other new favorite from them is this gorgeous drum shade pendant:

I know a lot of people have drum-shaded pendants, but this one speaks to me for some reason! It has what we call a 6-way lamp feature ~ it has a 3-light cluster plus 1 more socket towards the top, all which take 100-watt lamps, with two pull-chains to operate them. So you can have 1, 2, or 3 of the light bulbs in the cluster on, and then you can pull the other chain to have the 4th bulb on top come on. This one also comes in 4 finishes: Satin Nickel, Hand-Brushed Old Bronze, Antique Brass, & Polished Brass/Brushed Brass. There are also 4 shade options: Kupfer, Kupfer Diamond Logo, Satin White, & Satin white Diamond Logo. Gorgeous!

Tech Lighting Configurator

Announcing ~ The New Tech
Lighting Product Order Configurator

Tech Lighting has come out with the neatest new tool! They call it the "Product Order Configurator", and you can try it out at: http://configurator.techlighting.com/. I just tried it for the first time, and my favorite thing is you can choose a pendant color, and then it shows you all of the choices in that color range. It gives you list pricing, and we discount off of that ~ if you want to know how much, please email me. The hardest thing about these low-voltage system has always been trying to figure out what parts & pieces you need to make a complete system. Well this configurator does it all for you!

Snow!

I just wanted to say.... In case anyone was wondering... We ARE open today, despite the snow! My commute, which usually takes 15 minutes for 8 miles, took an hour, but I made it! Eileen Naughton is here as well, and Amanda is on her way. So if there are any snowbirds out there, come visit us! We ARE here! :)