Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
From Disaster to Dream Home! takes you inside the homebuilding process, from the ground up. In each episode, acclaimed interior designer Jana Rosenblatt brings you both the time-tested practices and the latest trends in homebuilding through conversations with leading architects, designers, and industry experts. Whether you’re building a custom home, rebuilding after a natural disaster, or renovating an older home, From Disaster to Dream Home! is your trusted source for the insights and connections you need to bring your home dreams into reality! www.FromDisasterToDreamHome.com
This is the EWN Podcast Network. Lighting is literally the most illuminating aspect of the design of our homes. It should not be approached without the guidance of a skilled industry luminary like Lev Arashanian, our guest on today's episode of From Disaster to Dream Home.
Speaker 2:Welcome to From Disaster to Dream Home, the podcast that takes you inside the home building and rebuilding process. When interior designer, Jana Rosenblatt, had an 80 foot tree fall in her house, she saw the opportunity to create the customized home of her dreams. From Disaster to Dream Home provides you with the information and resources Jana wished she had during her rebuilding process. Now she's sharing with you the expertise of leading architects and home builders and the newest products and materials on the market. Here's your host, Jana Rosenblatt.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to From Disaster to Dream Home, the podcast that takes you inside the process of building or rebuilding a new home from the ground up. After the framing of the house is complete, the plumbing is roughed into the open frame, and the exterior walls are built as quickly as possible, the next team on the job are the electricians who will roughly install all the electrical outlets and fixtures to provide for the fixtures in the house. There will be an architectural plan for them to follow, but as an interior designer, I like to make sure the client clearly understands all the decisions that have gone into the plan and tweak the plan while it is still easy to make changes. My guest today, Lev Arashanian, began his career in the lighting industry more than fifteen years ago as LED technology was being developed for use in lighting fixtures. Lev has worked with a variety of different manufacturers, products, and industries all revolving around lighting.
Speaker 1:His experience ranges from energy efficient lighting, builder grade commodity lighting, to architectural specialty lighting, and all the way to stage and entertainment lighting. His firm, VLS Design Center, located in Van Nuys, California, has predominantly focused on luxury residential lighting fixtures and design with a goal to provide knowledge and expertise to the design community in this sector. Today, Lev will help us grow our knowledge and expertise in relation to rebuilding our homes, renovating, or building a new home from the ground up. Hi, Lev. Welcome.
Speaker 3:Hi, Jenna. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm great. It's so nice to have you today.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:You're welcome. Lev, start with tell by telling us a little bit about what your position is with, VLS Design Center.
Speaker 3:I am the founder of VLS Design Center. VLS stands for Valley LED Supply, and it was cofounded by myself and another gentleman, Shelly Colvin, who is no longer part of the organization. And we've gone on to reinvent ourselves post COVID into VLS design center.
Speaker 1:Very cool. So there's been an evolution, and you've been at the helm the whole time. How did you get into this line of work? What was your first spark, may I may I say?
Speaker 3:I took a position with a company called Sphere Lighting years back as LEDs were being developed for lighting fixtures, and this company was at the forefront of, you know, developing those technologies. And I I don't know how I landed there, but I did, and I stuck to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, you seem very committed to the to your sector. Can you describe the range of products and services and light fixtures that you carry kind of providing an oversight of that you provide for your residential customers?
Speaker 3:Sure. So we we do act as a design firm, and we are a distributor. And, as a distributor, we sell all brands that are available in the marketplace, including commodity lighting, architectural lighting, and decorative lighting. Obviously, with the ex exception of, you know, certain exclusive lines that are, you know, distributed by only a handful of outlets. But for the most part, we we are vendors for hundreds and hundreds of various lighting companies, residential, commercial, and all.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. So it sounds like you can handle coordinating with all of the main, you know, California styles, like Mediterranean and contemporary, and there's a lot of traditional here, New England traditional, all that?
Speaker 3:Sure. But on the decorative end, we do represent well over a hundred decorative lighting lines Mhmm. That have all, you know, all of those design styles that offer those design styles. And then, obviously, the manufacturers of architectural and functional lighting, those are another group of manufacturers, and we have dozens of manufacturers that we work with.
Speaker 1:Very nice. So as you're located here in LA, where we have many disasters that can affect us
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Have you worked with clients who are rebuilding, having lost their homes?
Speaker 3:I have. And, specifically, I've done multiple projects in Malibu that were that were destroyed during the Woosley fires.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, yes, in short, we have worked on the rebuilds of the Woolsey Fires.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. That's the my most recent rebuilding projects as well as then Woolsey fire. There were so many properties that needed us. So for a new home or rebuilding project, does the customer come in with plans from their architect or interior designer that includes a light fixture list?
Speaker 1:How do they first approach your your business?
Speaker 3:So we've we've gone to market offering our services to trade, so to speak. Trade being, you know, architects and designers. So we work a lot more with the designers and the architects rather than the homeowners, but, obviously, we do service homeowners also. Some some interior designers will do reflected ceiling plans for their clients. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Some that are not so knowledgeable about lighting, they will they will use our services to provide those plans for those projects.
Speaker 1:So you will, take the client or the designer that comes in and and identify if they've got the information they need to move forward. And if they don't, you guys can provide those services.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So, we ask that you know, we ask for the floor plans, and we ask preferably the CAD files because CAD files do also have, elevations. If, you know, if we're working off of a PDF, we would need to physically verify elevations to run proper photometrics. Because when when doing the reflected ceiling plan and developing the lighting plan, it's quite important to know the lighting levels that you will have on certain elevations and levels, for example, on the floor, on a countertop. So and, you know, especially because architectural lighting does get quite expensive these days as Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, prices of all material has gone up. I don't believe in eyeballing or guesstimating Right. Especially especially on larger projects. And, you know, now homes are having very extra high ceiling heights and
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna get into that a little bit longer a little bit later in the program because, that that's a bit a big issue. So so what you so a reflected lighting a reflected ceiling plan is what we do, and you can do for your client if they come in without it, is to actually on the floor plan mostly, but then also on walls if if there's gonna be lighting sconces and things like that. You're gonna represent where the light fixtures are so that you can calculate, in many different ways, how much light is in the room for the overall lighting and where you need task lighting and things like that.
Speaker 1:So it's like a road map that Correct. Will be a communication tool. It sometimes starts with the architect. It certainly will start with the the Nuheary designer. And if not, you're gonna pick up the Slack and do that with your customers.
Speaker 3:Correct. And, you know, with with providing the reflected ceiling plan, we do act you know, with that reflected ceiling plan, there are, as you know, on plans, fixture schedules. And Mhmm. With with when when a client, either a homeowner or an interior designer work with us, once we have developed gone through our developmental stage of the project and we've come up with that RCP, reflected ceiling fan. In the next stage of documentation, we do provide a full submittal package.
Speaker 3:And the submittal package is very important for the contractors, the general contractor, the electrical contractors, the framers, and drywallers because nowadays, you know, everybody's going for the trimless flushed look, and that requires the entire team that's working on the project to work together to have cleaner finishes
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because lighting today requires a bit more to install lighting today requires a bit more tech technical effort and from multiple trades. Like I said, it's not just the electrical contractor working on it.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:They'll need support from the framers and the drywallers to have a clean install. And for this, they do require submittal package. So and submittals package is not just the spec sheets, but also the installation instructions.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:And, you know, if we need to go through them and, you know, lay out the, you know, the details of the submittal package to the contractors, we will also have follow-up meetings to do those as well.
Speaker 1:That leads me into the next question, which is when is the best stage of a project for the clients to come in with their design plans? When should should we be consulting with you?
Speaker 3:I believe that we should be involved from the very beginning from the conceptual stages of the project Because most of the time, we come in a bit too late when there are already existing conditions. Right. That we come in and develop a a ceiling plan, a reflected ceiling plan, or a lighting plan that that the existing conditions can't support or is so much harder to make those changes. So the short answer is that you're you know, just like your plumbing consultants or you know? Yeah.
Speaker 3:This should all be we should all work as one cohesive team in developing the plans for the project from the from concept.
Speaker 1:An an interior designer's brought in before the architect completely finishes, and then I would be the one that would be, you know, like, you know what? We have to at least take a look at what our lighting options are in case there's anything we wanna incorporate in specifically into the framing that might not be on the plan. So, you know, of course, at any stage, there are decisions that we can make, but we're gonna wanna start as soon as possible is the answer to that question. I I agree. So when a customer first comes into the showroom, if I'm a designer and I bring in someone, where do we start?
Speaker 1:What will you ask us to help determine, the direction that we wanna go with the look and the style and the function of the light fixtures that we could incorporate?
Speaker 3:So, of course, our initial meetings will revolve around the functional and the architectural lighting because in the beginning, you know, I am not aware of the aesthetics of the home and the various parts of the home. So when we start developing the lighting plan, we we start that stage from the functional and the architectural portion. And, you know, our our we have a full lineup of questioning about, you know, furniture plans because the reflected ceiling plan
Speaker 1:is Right.
Speaker 3:Directly correlated with, you know, your furniture plan. Then we ask about artwork. Many many custom homes have unique pieces of artwork that need to be shown. And, again, with LED technology, there are many lighting products available for the residential sector that are, you know, no short of almost museum grade lighting Mhmm. To light up some of these very expensive art pieces that homeowners tend to have.
Speaker 3:So, you know, as far as where do we begin, we begin with the functional and architectural lighting. As far as
Speaker 1:describe the term architectural lighting? Because I may be using a different term. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So architectural lighting in a residential home to me is predominantly the recessed lighting for
Speaker 1:it. Okay. So it's what I call the room light is the Sure.
Speaker 3:You
Speaker 1:call yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:The the
Speaker 1:overall it's the blanket of light that, yeah, we'll talk about in a minute. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So so, you know, kinda to me what's what the difference is between a builder grade recessed light and an architectural recessed light is the fact that I have control over what where light goes with architectural lighting, you know, with, you know, having play with beam angles and glare control. Whereas the builder grade recessed lighting that goes in, there's just absolutely no control of this light, and you end up with that blanket of light.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:It's it's something that, you know, designers and lighting designers especially will agree that to add drama to a space and to add ambiance to a space, there has to be darkness and light for that contrast. And, you know, you have to be able to control beam angles because things just don't look good with the monotone layer of light.
Speaker 1:Okay. Interesting. Yeah. You've you've taken that to a next level in my understanding of the difference. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1:So in recent years, LED lighting has revolutionized the lighting industry. Can you help us understand the evolution and benefits of LED lighting?
Speaker 3:Well, there's just so much initially when LED started being developed for use and you know, LEDs were around for many, many years. You know, your remote remote control had a little red, you know, little red light on it.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Or you know? But and we've had little red diodes, green diodes. But as LED started being developed for use in luminaires and lighting fixtures, I think initially, you know, the the thought was the conservation of energy.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And that was the enormous push behind the technology, and it was to you know, in developing the diode, it the the the fight was to get more light output out of as little power usage as possible. Mhmm. And when we were you know, when these fixtures were being built and installed in various applications, the initial thought was to conserve energy. Well, we got past that, and then LED is obviously you know, it's technology. And technology, as we know, grows very fast.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. And the the LED itself, the LED technology, the power supplies for them really you know, they they they took off, and the form factors, the sizes of the diodes themselves, the sizes of the power supplies, they kept on getting smaller and smaller and putting out more light. And then came the use of lensing and aluminum extrusions and, you know, the various types of LED applications, whether they be a large diode on, you know, a small heat sink or a bunch of little LED diodes over, like, a sheet of what you would call, you know, sheet of paper, but not on a sheet of paper or on on tape life where, you know, we're lighting up soffits with just the LED itself took on it took a life of its own.
Speaker 1:And Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:Now the decorative fixtures that you're seeing
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And the, you know, the wild designs with you know, of chandeliers
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It it's it's that evolution.
Speaker 1:Expanded the design, possibilities because it's not you're not dealing with a single bulb.
Speaker 3:Not a light bulb.
Speaker 1:And so are there still some uses of some of the older technology, like incandescent halogen or fluorescent that that we haven't substituted LED or because everything available now that you would do with with one of those, available in LED?
Speaker 3:So a lot of my friends who, you know, are are very deeply entrenched in decorative lighting
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And, you know, we and tradition there's still traditionally styled homes that are being built and require a traditional lighting fixture. And a lot of people would agree that some of those, you know, chandeliers that have crystals or specialty glass on them, they still look better with a traditional light bulb, a traditional caddy bulb and a incandescent.
Speaker 1:That sounds a constant debate. Right?
Speaker 3:Well, again, because of the continuous development of LED technology Yeah. The bulb manufacturers are really you know, they're making strides at mimicking those Right. Color temperatures of light or the the same look and that the incandescent would give you. So are they is incandescent going to be completely phased out? I think so.
Speaker 3:In California, it's really been it really has been phased out. A lot of, well, certain light bulbs are, you know, there are laws in place now in California where you can have certain incandescent bulbs, and a lot of manufacturers will not ship certain products Yeah. Certain incandescent bulbs to California. But, honestly, I I don't see it a big problem because I you know, when I go out to lighting trade shows, I see that it they're continually developing. And every, you know, every month, every other month when I attend the trade show, I see the technology still moving forward and Yeah.
Speaker 3:Incandescent bulbs are going to be completely phased out.
Speaker 1:You've heard it here first. Not surprising. LED lighting also brings the feature of a variety of color temperatures. Can you explain what that is and how you determine what a customer might prefer in terms of daylight spectrum or cooler light and warmer light?
Speaker 3:So, you know, there are many studies that have been done around color temp and, you know, what is healthy living because hell you know, healthy living is a big deal now. You know? We spend a lot of time under lighting fixtures whether we like it or not. And so there are medical studies that show what, you know, our nervous system reacts to at what time of day and what moods are set with lighting. There are you know, what human centric lighting is a big push now, and, you know, it's a technology that's being developed.
Speaker 3:There are manufacturers that have human centric lighting fixtures. And, really, what that means is the light fixture does change color temperature. Now whether that be with a simple dimming function Uh-huh. Whereas, for example, at peak power, if your dimmer is at, you know, a %, they'll have fixtures that'll be at either 3,000 Kelvin or 4,000 Kelvin. And as you go to dim the fixture down, those fixtures will dim down to 2,200 Kelvin or even 1,800 Kelvin, which is almost like candlelight or very, you know, warm tones.
Speaker 3:And I do believe that, you know look. Our bodies are used to natural sunlight. Okay? And the sun is at diff during different times of the day, it's at a different color temperature. What what I believe should be used in a home really does depend on the aesthetics and the design of the home and the preference.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. I do see some very obnoxiously white and cool lights being used in homes that I think are just really obnoxious at, like, you know, into five into 5,000 Kelvin, which is a, you know, a very cool and white light. And, you know, medical professionals have proven that, you know, you should not be spending much time under these lights. You know, those lights are meant to be used in warehouses where you don't spend, you know, hours reading or doing other tasks, you know, but you're pulling boxes. And though I'm again, I'm no medical professional, but the eye and the biology of the eye consists of logs and cones.
Speaker 3:And one is for, you know, daytime vision. The other is for nighttime vision. And in animals like, you know, dogs, their night vision is more developed rather than the human eye.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:So in the nighttime when the moon is out, which the moon puts out a very cool white light
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And it activates that night vision in animals' eyes for them to see better, it actually does the same in the human eye. So if we're talking about warehouse spaces, you know, large, we're talking quarter million square feet, half million square feet. You obviously don't wanna use a ton of energy to light up the space, especially if we're just pulling some boxes and reading
Speaker 1:some number. So when focus. Right.
Speaker 3:So when you use a higher color temperature of light in these spaces, the employer, the individual that's in the warehouse looking at certain numbers on boxes with lower lighting levels, they they're able to still see and read those numbers and not have, you know, very high lighting levels in that space. So So cool lights are used then? Yes.
Speaker 1:So in in terms of residential use, you know, it used to be earlier in my career, the recessed lights, we would put in a series of recessed lights in in one of the rooms of the house, and then we would get different color temperature floodlights that go into them. And we would put them in in one color tone, and we'd have the client take a look. And then we would have you know, take them out. We put in the next tone. But now, you know, the wonderful thing about the LED fixtures is that you can actually change the color temperature on the bulb with an adjustment.
Speaker 1:So, you know, we put a room full of lights in, we bring in the client, and we can have them experience the cooler kind of daylight spectrum lighting as well as, you know, some people want that kind of warmer look like they're living every day in a romance novel or, you know, something like that. So it's amazing what the technology allows us to do just by, you know, the existence of that option.
Speaker 3:Right. So, there are many fixtures now that come color selectable Uh-huh. Both, you know, functional architectural lighting and now, into decorative. A rule of thumb, if it's going to be one set color temperature in a living space, in a living room, in a bedroom, the warmer lights are you know, they are more comfortable to spend extended periods of time under. Right.
Speaker 3:So, like, the golden rule, that 3,000 k, you can't go wrong. Sometimes people mistake color temperature for brightness.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:Which is
Speaker 1:Like me.
Speaker 3:That could be farther from the truth. Uh-huh. You know, color temperature is only color, where brightness is, say, volume of light.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you can have the same volume or amount of light out of a 5,000 Kelvin, 4,000 Kelvin, 3,000 Kelvin fixture. You can have the same amount of light. The re the reason why people mistake it for brightness is, again, because of what I mentioned, the logs and cones Yeah. Of that make up our vision. The cooler white turns on or activates the night vision, and it tricks the eye into thinking that there's more light Yeah.
Speaker 3:Which there is not. Uh-huh. And somebody that's, again, better versed than myself in this one time explained it to me as, you know, the eye being tricked into thinking that it's brighter.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Mostly. Longer durations, it does cause stress on the eyes.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh. And mostly, it's ultimately an emotional response. You know, people who feel like the cleaner look of of a of a brighter white versus the warmer white, it's it's just about taste.
Speaker 3:Correct. Yep. It it and, you know, as the eye ages, the cooler whites are more comfortable for
Speaker 1:Uh-huh. That's what
Speaker 3:I was thinking. People.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Actually, currently, I'm, you know, working on taking on a project in the Conejo Valley where we have a client who has a degenerative eye
Speaker 1:Oh, wow. Disease. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And, you know, in discussing with the designer as to, you know, what a good strategy is to approach it Uh-huh. I actually felt that we need to discuss this with her the doctors that provide care for this homeowner Right. And get their opinion of, you know, what she's and and it's not the the client has has this disease which is continually progressing. Yeah. So something that we put in today, you know, two, three years down the road might not work for her.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:So this you know, we go as far as to even say, you know what? We're not qualified to answer this, and, you know, we need the opinion of of the doctor as to what type
Speaker 1:of Right.
Speaker 3:That's a great
Speaker 1:service. I mean, you know, someone's not just going to Home Depot and buying a light fixture. They're actually needing to look at the whole picture and and how they're gonna live in the space. So the residential lighting includes several specific categories. And I what I call room lighting, you call architectural lighting is, is the the lighting that blankets the whole space.
Speaker 1:Then there's accent lighting, task lighting, ambient and diffused or reflected lighting. Can we go through those one by one and just kind of describe what those, terms are referring to when we look at the overall design of everything that's gonna go into the house? So let's start with the with the the room lighting, the architectural lighting, my my new term of the day. So what are the the fixtures that are mostly used for that kind of blanketed lighting?
Speaker 3:So the one big thing with recessed lighting is, you know, for many years, everybody has been used to, you know, four or six inch fixtures, four inch and six inch apertures. And people have thought that, you know, well, if we go with the six inch, it gets a bigger bulb, so it's a brighter fixture. With LED technology, that has completely changed now. We have manufacturers that are making half inch apertures where the opening of that recess light is literally half an inch wide. And though it's half an inch wide, it'll put out, you know, a thousand lumens or over a thousand lumens of light with various beam angles, again, from this fixture.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So as you know, basically, everything we knew in the past is really moved. It is
Speaker 1:No. That's amazing. So I used to plan the amount of recessed lights in a room by the amount of circle that that light will will, you know Cover. Out when it yeah. Cover.
Speaker 3:So You had a cone.
Speaker 1:So now with the FDG, is it so is it no longer that a six inch fixture will put out a larger circle of cone than the four inch?
Speaker 3:No. At especially with that architectural grade fixture. Uh-huh. If we're talking about the builder grade product, the builder grade products are, you know, 600 lumens out of a four inch fixture and, say, 800 lumens out of a six inch fixture or, you know, a few hundred lumens this way or that way with no beam angle control. You know?
Speaker 3:Most of these come out at sixty, seventy, 80 degree beam angles.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:So, again, I don't believe that these fixtures are fit for custom homes. I believe that using those builder grade fixtures in somebody's custom home is a disservice to that homeowner and should should not be spec.
Speaker 1:And that designer should be shot.
Speaker 3:Well, no. I I mean, here's here's the thing. The the the interior and I I'm really gonna speak to the Southern California marketplace. Uh-huh. I don't you know, I can't speak on other parts of the country.
Speaker 3:Uh-huh. But in Southern California, there's really a a shortage of resources when it comes to lighting.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And unless a designer really goes out there and tries hard to seek information
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's not readily available. Uh-huh. For example, what I noticed is that a lot of interior designers are a whole lot more educated on cabinetry Yeah. On surfaces, on wall coverings Yeah. You know, on furniture than on lighting.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You know, Lev, I think that it's because of the, the LED the, growth of the LED industry. Because, you know, unless you grew up unless you're much younger and you didn't know a lot about lighting before, the transition has been challenging for us more experienced yet older interior designers. It and and finding places to gain the information is difficult, which is why I I rely on professionals like yourself. I mean, I I can't know everything that needs to be known, but I know who does.
Speaker 1:And that's the beauty of it. So as you said before, it's creating that team. Are there other lights that can participate in that overall room lighting? Like, you know, are are ceiling mount fixtures, you know, part of that that overall?
Speaker 3:So we I can go on days talking about recessed lighting, but I I think I think we've talked enough about it. The, you know, the next layer that creates ambiance in the space, a lot of people today put in soffits in their ceilings
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And you see a lot of lit up soffits.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of ambient and reflected light?
Speaker 3:Correct. Or, you know, they they incorporate LEDs into their crown molding detail. Right. There's various products, plaster products, aluminum products Yeah. That you can use to, you know, do do I I you know, I don't know if crown molding is a good term to use, but I guess so people light up either crown moldings, and that's a very nice indirect light.
Speaker 3:It's all about hiding the light source
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And not having the eye come into contact with the light source. That is when glare is caused. And that is why I'm so much against the builder grade recessed lights being used because the surface area of the builder grade recessed light is really wide, and we've seen them all over the place. You know? The the wide ring around and with the big white lens that is, you know, a half an inch or three quarters of an inch recessed above the trim.
Speaker 3:But those light sources are completely exposed on a ceiling. And in your peripheral vision, you can see them and they cause a ton of glare. They they they do cause a lot of glare. So when doing indirect lighting, you're literally hiding the light source and having it spill out
Speaker 1:Experience the light instead of seeing the light.
Speaker 3:Correct. And and, again, when when talking about architectural recessed lighting, it is about, you know, insetting the light source deeper into the into the aperture and, you know, using glare control, to stop you know, to keep the eye from coming into direct eye contact. So as
Speaker 1:As we as we, you know, look at spending more time in our room and different rooms are gonna have different amounts of this, there's the task lighting, the more specific lighting. What are the the fixtures we're looking for to, help us, you know, at our desk and at our, you know, kitchen counters and things like that?
Speaker 3:What are the pieces? So for for task lighting in a kitchen setting, it's obviously your under cabinet lights. The this is gonna be light that's gonna put, you know, light directly onto your countertop as you you know, as the kitchen's being used, then that's, you know, simple task lighting. A lot of import cabinet manufacturers are incorporating are incorporating the lights already from a factory level. We work with many cabinet manufacturers here locally because, again, it's all about, you know, recessing recessing these light fixtures into the cabinets rather than surface mounting them.
Speaker 3:Because you remember the old days of the fluorescent under cabinet lights. Right? About three, four inches wide, about an inch thick. And so so now, you know, as cabinets are become you know, we're starting to use less and less skirting under a cabinet. So there's no skirts.
Speaker 3:The box just, you know, is flush underneath. So if you have a big under cabinet fixture, it's gonna be visible. So, know, lights get recessed in. And then inside the cabinets themselves, you know, as the door opens up, switch you know, switches to activate lighting inside the cabinets. Those are also task lighting.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And those are in the kitchen.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Sorry. You could that can be incorporated into closets and, you know, integrations. You can have spaces that are built into the casings of the door frames that will allow light to go on and off.
Speaker 3:Correct. And one thing I have realized, you mentioned closets. You know? No matter how many recessed lights we put in the ceiling of a closet or put a you know, some of these closets get fairly large, and they deserve some decorative pieces over, you know, an island or, you know, inside the closet. But once the, you know, once the closets start getting filled up as you populate the closet, you realize that it really darkens up and Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know?
Speaker 1:It'll so you absorbed.
Speaker 3:You know? And you need lighting task lighting inside closets, which can be in the form of the the hanging rods. You know, they there are products where the hanging rod is in you know, incorporated with an LED strip light in there. And now, you know, all the clothes that are hanging off of this hanger are so nicely lit, and you can identify the different colors of, you know, clothing in that closet as they're hanging there and not pull it out, hold it under a light to look at. You know?
Speaker 3:So that's in closets. If if we move into, for example, studies, libraries, living rooms
Speaker 1:Yeah. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:Task lighting, you know, for for a little while as, you know, modern modern fixtures were becoming very popular, there was a shortage of what we call in the lighting world portables. When portables are your floor lamps, your table lamps. They go we call we have a blanket term for them, and we call them portables. Uh-huh. Now a lot of manufacturers have come out with some beautiful portables that can be used as reading lights.
Speaker 3:You know? A lot of people were getting rid of their little night lamps and stuff. But now, you know, they have beautiful arched portable floor lamps that can be used again. And this is this these you know, if you wanna sit and read a book and the light fixture you use, it's a task. You know?
Speaker 3:You don't wanna have the entire room brightly lit. You just wanna sit there and read your book, and there are beautiful portable products that will be for the for those applications for, you know, reading or in a library, used as task lighting.
Speaker 1:Okay. And then so I think that we've kind of covered the major categories. So my my next question is how important is the option of of dimmable light? Where is it best used, and where is it not as important?
Speaker 3:Mandatory.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:There there there's no there's there should not be any lighting fixture inside the home that is not dimmable. Everything everything should absolutely be dimmable. Mhmm. And, honestly, I think for the most part, we've conquered that unless something is really pieced together. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And, you know sorry for the sorry, Mickey Mouse. I love you. But unless something is Mickey Mouse unless something is Mickey Mouse, then there's no reason why anything you know, everything we talked about, including the lights inside that closet, there's, you know, absolutely nothing that should not be
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Because it especially allows us as we age and we require and desire different amounts of light to be able to control the light. And there's no reason nowadays to you know, for any switches not to be dimmable, even though I have tell you, it is a conversation I have all the time with both contractors, electricians, and clients.
Speaker 1:So, I am also pro dimmer.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:So in terms of selecting specific fixtures now, the kind of jewelry of the house, how do you help a client start to focus on what they're really interested in for the pendants and the chandeliers and the wall sconces and the way the the look and style of things?
Speaker 3:So because I don't come from, you know, the that design background, I really I'm I'm not the best at helping homeowners. I'm you know, this is the truth. Because, you know, if I'm not involved in picking their furniture and the aesthetics of the home and design designing the home, like you said, it's jewelry. You know? It's it's really hard to come forward and, you know, help them identify.
Speaker 3:It's it's one of it's one of the things that I'm working on myself because I'm so new to this sector that, you know, every day is a learning experience. Uh-huh. When I work with interior designers
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:I take their leads. Yep. But, you know, and even homeowners as well. I have them go online and provide some inspirational photos or Yep. Yep.
Speaker 3:You know, designers as they're rendering, they'll show me their inspirational photos or something that they found and incorporated into their into their design. But the thing is some of these design softwares where you have, you know, three d models of chandeliers, These are nonexistent. They're just cartoons, really. Yeah. Right?
Speaker 3:So I have a lot of design
Speaker 1:to a style. You know, it'll show you whether it's, you know, a sparkly crystal or or an ironwork piece or something like that. So that will help a little. But I I'd like that answer because I the aesthetics is really important to me. But what I wanna make sure I have your expertise is in my next question, which is that how do you determine the appropriate placement and size of light fixtures in various rooms?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, I'm one thing I am good at is deciphering spec sheets and scale.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:And That's good. You know? Today, again, with these grand entrances that we have where ceilings are, you know, 20 feet high and really grand staircases, it's quite important to fill in the vertical space with these chandeliers. So I I let the interior designer take the lead as to, you know, the aesthetics, and then I try to consult and, you know, try to advise on size and scale of picture to be used.
Speaker 1:Yep. That's great. Yeah. Then that once again leads us into our next question, which is the ceiling question. I mean, you know, ceilings used to be eight feet.
Speaker 1:Now they're nine, twelve. You can have an entry that's, you know, two stories high. So especially with the recessed lighting, how is that where we might use one that's a four a six inch versus a four inch? And, you know, how do we best light for those taller expanses?
Speaker 3:So going back to my previous statement, that, you know, diameter of a fixture today is completely irrelevant Okay. Because we're able to because we're able to get high levels of lighting output out of very small aperture recessed lights. Yeah. Now, you know, the software that lighting designers would like to use, there are two that do photometric studies for us that show lighting levels on, you know, certain services. And the softwares are AGI 32 and Dialux.
Speaker 3:And my firm utilizes both of these softwares for photometric layouts to get readings of lighting levels. With with those
Speaker 1:CAD plan into those programs? Or
Speaker 3:Yes. We can Cool. It it's much easier when it's a CAD file because, like I said, CAD files do have elevations. Right. Whereas we can also put in a p sometimes, you know, clients don't have CAD files.
Speaker 3:So we're also able to import PDF floor plans and then physically verify the elevations of the ceilings and input that into either AGI or Dialuxe. And one so the the file like, you know, Revit, they have Revit files, right, which is three d file of a certain, right, illustration program. So for lighting fixtures, the file is called IES, the IES files of a lighting fixture. And what the IES file of a fixture tells us is the color temperature, the, you know, the light output, the beam angles. And when we put these lights in a ceiling over a floor plan, it will even render for us
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, that cone that we discussed. Yeah. Now we're able to see it in a actual three d model and see what light levels we get on, you know, on certain surfaces. The surface might be, you know, hey. I want 20 foot candles of light.
Speaker 3:By the way, foot candle is the unit of measure Yeah. For the amount of light on a surface.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:So for me, for you know? And for certain small spaces, it's okay to you know, we have many, many years of experience in you as well to, you know, guesstimate
Speaker 1:Yes. Right.
Speaker 3:If we're doing a small bedroom or, you know, closet or it's really about these large dining rooms and living rooms Yeah. Kitchens that I'm really interested in seeing that we have the right light levels in the space. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. So so my answer to that question also is experience, but you're right. It is very hard to rely only on experience with those with the extreme spaces that can be part of our residential design. And, it's good to know that there are, you know, reliable systems that can help us kind of see what the the choices we're making will, look like and what will amount to.
Speaker 1:So when in the process do you discuss pricing and budget? Do clients come in with a budget allowances from their builder on, you know or when when do you start to know whether your client can afford, you know, choices from one place or another?
Speaker 3:So, again, it's something that I believe should be topic of conversation from the very beginning. Uh-huh. Reason being is, you know, we end up with a lot of projects that land on our desk from architects or designers that the client is only visiting us to source the materials. Right? And when we get into quoting these projects, the customers are caught off guard saying, woah.
Speaker 3:That's high. You know? Well, unfortunately, you know, the the designer or the architect that specified that project really wasn't aware, but it's not easy for them to get pricing, you know, pricing for even sometimes on the specialty fixtures, IMAP pricing is not something that's published. So, you know, the design is done without any conversation about about budgeting. So what ends up happening is, you know, client says, well, this is way out of budget.
Speaker 3:Then we have to essentially sit down and what they call value engineer, something that's already been engineered by someone. And it's really, like, taking it back down to the bones and starting to respect an entire project. Though, again and because we are a full service firm Mhmm. I I don't want to use our resources in developing the lighting plan that is not going to be within the budget parameters of that client. So, again, that is a conversation that I like to have from the very beginning.
Speaker 3:Just, again, unfortunately, the other you know, people that are designing lighting packages don't necessarily have that information
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:To be able to really discuss budgeting.
Speaker 1:Certainly. Most most contractors don't have the information. Because you think I mean, I realize I'm behind the time sometimes with understanding the changes through LED lighting and the options available. Contractors are spending much less time doing that research and understanding the differences between lighting choices today as they were five, ten, twenty years ago. And, you know, when we're one of the things in the in building and rebuilding homes after they're lost to fire or whatever, you know, takes them down is that that there the tendency is to build a bigger house.
Speaker 1:Whether you're adding square footage just because you're raising the ceilings, you know, three to four feet over what you would have in in your existing home before, or you're adding rooms so that you can add value to, you know, to your property. And and no one is looking at all the things that add up. They're thinking, oh, well, adding, you know, 50% to our budget will give us this much bigger a house. But they're not adding in the light fixtures and the molding and the, you know, the things that then have to cover a more expensive home. So it's really it can really be a challenge.
Speaker 1:And so then when when you do have to regroup, when you realize you have to cut a certain amount of budget off, are there, budget friendly options that you can kind of bring into play that might not have come up in the original conversation?
Speaker 3:There are. Again, to me, depending on the project, you know and both of us have been in this business quite some time, and I haven't just been on the lighting side. So I'm aware of what it costs to build a custom home in our territory. And, again, I don't want to talk about the different parts of the country. I just want to really focus on Southern California.
Speaker 3:And, you know, I don't wanna talk dollars now, but what's unfortunate is, first of all, everybody in the conversation will talk about the importance of lighting. But, yeah, unfortunately, more times than not, lighting is something that is discussed very far along into the project. Yep. When a lot has been already done, where, you know, in the roughing in stages of the electricians, things were roughed in that, you know, can't be changed, and now we're shopping for products. And the and what I find, again, troubling is the budgeting requirements of some of these homeowners.
Speaker 3:And when you look at you know, we talked about Malibu today.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I I see plenty of homes in Malibu, and, you know, the Woosley fires took down a very exclusive neighborhood in Southern California. And so these homes being rebuilt have to have a certain level of design and quality.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:And though we walk in and see, you know, other other sectors and the quality of them, the cabinetry, the surfaces, the exteriors, the doors, the windows. Mhmm. But when we look at the lighting Yeah. There are very disastrous lighting systems Yeah. In these homes that are very custom and very exclusive.
Speaker 3:And, unfortunately, there was no design no real design work done. And the grade of material used is just simply put builder grade.
Speaker 1:I Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:You know, I don't want to refer to it as anything else other than builder grade. You know? And it's being used in a $20,000,000 home Yeah. In Malibu. This homeowner, you know, the homeowner, maybe a doctor, a lawyer, a realtor, they're not qualified to make these decisions or go picking products.
Speaker 3:And then, you know, there are contractors and designers involved, and the lighting, unfortunately, just gets brushed under a rug
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Some time until the the and, you know, I can't necessarily blame the electrical contractor because the electrical contractor is there to provide their services, and they're not a lighting design.
Speaker 1:They're not designers. Yeah. Exactly.
Speaker 3:So they're they're
Speaker 1:Right. I think the problem lies with the education of the of the architects because they're well, and maybe the contractors, but but nonetheless, the goal of this show is that if you have listened to these episodes while you're working with your architect instead of waiting until the framing begins and the foundation is poured on your house, then you will have looked at all of these questions. You will have come up with answers and directions even if you don't choose your exact wall sconces and chandeliers until the building starts, at least you know the scale and the, the amount of fixtures and the things that you're gonna put in and and you've really thought through the process.
Speaker 3:K.
Speaker 1:So, clearly, lighting is a topic in the process of building and renovating a home that has a huge number of factors to consider. Lev has agreed to join us for a second episode to dive more deeply into the subject of lighting design and selections for each specific room of the house. You can find out more about Lev's company at www.vlsdc.com. And on our website, you can follow the link. For that link, you will go you should go to wwwfromdisastertodreamhome.com where you can link to all of our previous episodes and learn a lot more about what you're doing every step of the way in the building process.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining us on this episode of From Disaster to Dream Home, the podcast that takes you inside the home building and rebuilding process. Each week, we bring you time tested practices and the latest trends through conversations with top professionals in the building industry. You can find other episodes of From Disaster to Dream Home at ewnpodcastnetwork.com as well as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, and most other major podcast streaming services. Need design help? You can contact us or find out more about our guests at fromdisastertodreamhome.com.
Speaker 2:Until next time, let us guide and inspire you as you create the home of your dreams.