david k warfel
Better lighting can be easy as 1-2-3. It is no big secret that I love light and enjoy finding new ways to deliver it to our lives. As a professional lighting designer, I spend a good deal of energy dreaming up solutions to everyday challenges and spend time regularly learning about new products and new... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I saw a LinkedIn post from another lighting designer featuring a photograph of a hallway under construction, with three parallel ceiling joists running down the hall. Each was filled with a round duct for heat and air conditioning. There was no explanation; there need not be. One look and I understand the pain: there... Continue Reading →
Lighting designers could help builders…if we can change our ways. [Image 01 A Builder’s Story] Residential builders are often the most reluctant of the major stakeholders to support custom lighting design, and with very good reason. In a previous post, I meandered through the overlapping territories of lighting and building and thought about how lighting design... Continue Reading →
Lighting designers and builders often complain about each other…instead of partnering for the benefit of all. Custom residential lighting design – the way it is normally done – can be the enemy of a builder’s desire to complete the project on time and on budget. Great lighting requires more planning (adding cost and time), better... Continue Reading →
An unpredicted grand finale to my 1THING posts takes me to the darkest places of our homes. It is early December as I sit down to write the last 1THING: New Build post of the year. Like my own life, I started with a plan and a clear vision for where I was headed with... Continue Reading →
I once read that the easiest ways to increase the sale price of your home were to paint the front door for a good first impression and add a deck to the back yard. I suppose adding a deck makes the back yard more enticing, perhaps even subconsciously saying to the buyer "purchase this home... Continue Reading →
Today marks a continuation in my 1THING: Plug In series and a reminder that my quest to simplify lighting can result in oversimplification of the profession. Why? I focus in this post on one plug-in solution for landscape lighting, boiling down to the most essential, most beneficial, or most impactful solution that can be achieved... Continue Reading →
I go on a nightly neighborhood lighting patrol. Sort of. When our family divvied up the dog duties, I drew the just-before-bed nightly walk. Albus, our 9-year-old cockapoo, gamely trots around the block while I curse the neighborhood porchlights. Okay, I do not curse the porchlights. But I do wonder how my neighbors would react... Continue Reading →
Today we are going boldly into the great unknown, the vast universe beyond the dining room. Ahem. Sometimes I get a little carried away. Okay, often I get a little carried away. Especially when it comes to coming up with creative ways to talk about light and lighting. So please forgive me when I wax... Continue Reading →
It is particularly difficult to change lighting in a bathroom without hiring an electrician. Most baths are filled with tubs, showers, toilets, and vanities that leave little to no room for tables and lamps. And plug-in lamps near a tub are a bad idea from a safety perspective – electricity near water is a time-honored... Continue Reading →
the language of light 