Designs by BSB

Kitchen & Bath resources for consumers

Posts Tagged Lighting

Lighting up with Amber Scroll Fixtures

Aug 7

Posted by Becky Sue Becker, CKD, CAPS in Lighting, Product Reviews

Amber Scroll Art Glass 20 1/4″ Wide Ceiling Light Fixture ~ Breathtaking amber art glass forms the centerpiece of this semi-flushmount ceiling light design.    This free-form design with an aged pewter finish will add richness to a small foyer, bedroom or even bathroom.   The classic scrolling forms create a sense of drama.   Takes three 60 watt bulbs, and measures 16-1/2″ high x 20-1/4″ wide.

How about coordinating pendants for your kitchen, counter areas or dining rooms?   The Amber Scroll 6″ Wide Art Glass Mini Pendant works perfectly as a single fixture or group multiple together for larger space.  Takes one 60 watt light bulb, 19-3/4″ high x 5″ wide, and includes 6 feet of chain.

Organic Amber Art Glass 23 1/2″ High Wall Sconce is delightfully interesting as well!   It takes one 60 watt bulb, 23 1/2″ high x 5 1/2″ wide and extends 7 3/4″ from the wall.

Whether you are looking for a fixture for your kitchen, dining room, foyer or seating areas, the Amber Glass Collection will be a sophisticated style statement.   Below are additional related items:

Amber Scroll 24 3/4″ Wide Art Glass Pendant Chandelier ~ Amber Scroll 31 1/2″ Wide 6 Light Art Glass Chandelier ~ Amber Scroll 35 1/2″ Wide 9 Light Chandelier

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Upgrades to Assist Aging in Place

Aug 2

Posted by Becky Sue Becker, CKD, CAPS in Appliances, Cabinetry, Flooring, Lighting, Plumbing Products, Universal Design

Millions of people are challenged with simple functions in the kitchen and bath.  Here are a few upgrades to give serious consideration to help function more effectively.    These suggestions will increase the room’s function and be a valued asset by everyone!   Most all of these suggestions can be applied to the kitchen, bathroom, home office, laundry or craft rooms and outside work rooms.

Lighting: Center fluorescent lights are common to see in older homes.  They are dreadful for tasks!  Task lighting such as halogen, every popular Kichler Xenon (shown below), fluorescent strips and LED are all popular choices for under wall cabinets; they illuminate your work surface right where you need it.   Bonus is added ambiance!

Flooring: Slick floors are one of the biggest dangers for everyone.   Beautiful natural stones, especially polished finishes, present a huge risk for serious falls.   Consider an anti-slip treatment like Sure Step, available at your local hardware store or home center.

Cabinets:

Bending over and reaching into deep base cabinets is not easy for any person.   Design the use of deep drawers as much as possible for one step operation, or for retrofit applications add roll out trays.

Blind corner cabinet?   Half moon swing out shelves (like the REV-A-SHELF unit shown below) or Omega Wood Product’s magic corner will bring everything into sight again.

Door Handles: Replace knobs on your interior doors .. and cabinets… with easy to use pulls or levers.   These are especially helpful for older users with arthritis or Parkinson’s.   There are thousands of choices, and retrofitting is easy by adding a back-plate to cover the knob hole.   A sampling below of Baldwin, Hickory Hardware and Top Knob handles is shown below.

Faucets: Lever-handles are the easiest to operate for all ages, like these two KOHLER Models shown below.

Cook Tops & Ranges: Safety first!  Induction cooking surfaces are safe for the whole family, including children.   With induction cooking, energy is supplied directly to the cooking vessel by the magnetic field; thus, almost all of the source energy gets transferred to that vessel.   This will help reduce the chances of someone burning themselves if they have vision or memory challenges.   With gas or conventional electric cookers (including halogen), the energy is first converted to heat and only then directed to the cooking vessel–with a lot of that heat going to waste heating up your kitchen (and you) instead of heating up your food. (The striking image below shows how precisely focused heat generation is with induction–ice remains un-melted on an induction element that is boiling water!)    If you have a range, Viking makes a very attractive free standing model, as shown below.

It is important to find a Certified Aging in Place Specialist to work with you when making any modifications to your home. CAPS professionals are specially trained in the skills essential to work with older and maturing adults when remodeling and making home modifications in order to age in place.

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Energy Savings with Light Controls

Oct 2

Posted by Becky Sue Becker, CKD, CAPS in Lighting

With the trend increasingly focused on going green, why not consider a simple solution that shrinks your carbon footprint and enhances your home?  Lighting controls can make more of a room’s design while using less of the home’s energy, as well as aesthetics and, of course, the environment.

What do light controls mean in practice? Prices range from $8 for a single light dimmer to potentially thousands of dollars for a sophisticated, fully automated system—meaning incorporating light controls into a design plan is a possibility no matter the budget.
And light controls help the environment too. One of the fastest growing consumer interests relates to energy savings and the environment. Lighting consumes nearly 25 percent of the U.S. electricity budget, to the tune of $37 billion annually, and accounts for 18 percent of overall energy consumption in homes. It is for these reasons that lighting is emerging as a target for energy-efficiency efforts that can help reduce carbon emissions, protect the environment and save your clients money.
One of the easiest ways to save energy is to use light controls. The science behind a typical dimmer is relatively simple and has not changed dramatically since 1961. It works by flickering the electricity on and off so quickly that the eye doesn’t notice—120 times per second. When the light is off, no energy is being used. The longer it is off, the lower the light output. In other words, the more the light is dimmed, the greater the energy savings.
Existing lighting control technologies (some that have been around for nearly 50 years like the simple dimmer) can cut lighting costs by more than 70 percent while reducing environmental impact. Indeed, the humble dimmer switch on the wall of a home is truly an energy-saving device. The average single dimmer costs less than $20 and saves approximately $7.36 per year, meaning it pays for itself in about 26 months. And while more advanced systems—such as whole-home systems integrated with light sensors and automatically controlled window shades—obviously cost more, they all produce significant benefits.

More importantly, think about the cumulative impact of lighting controls: dimmers save enough energy each year to light 4.5 million homes for 12 months. And installing one dimmer in every U.S. home in place of a standard light switch would save $816 million in electricity annually and reduce CO2 by 4.3 billion pounds per year. That’s like taking 370,000 cars off the road.

—by Matt Donati, product marketing manager for Lutron Electronics.  For the full article CLICK HERE.

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