david k warfel
A year ago, when I was planning my 2022 blog writing, I imagined a series on gear where I could talk shop about different fixtures and technologies. I saw myself geeking out on light bulbs, recessed adjustable downlights, tape light, step lights, and any other piece of equipment we use in our work every day.... Continue Reading →
Budget conversations are my least favorite part of the lighting design process, though I have learned to dive right in rather than soft-pedal the costs and cause everyone bigger headaches down the road. The simple (unfortunate) truth is that really good lighting cannot be delivered for the same price as really bad lighting. Complicating the... Continue Reading →
What makes a pretty good house? My first exposure to the Taunton Press was as an avid reader of Sarah Susanka's The Not So Big House books. Taunton is also responsible for Fine Homebuilding (to which I subscribe and for whom I have written) and Fine Woodworking, among others. Now Taunton has published a new... Continue Reading →
What happens when you get a couple of opinionated lighting geeks into an unscripted conversation about light? I never know where the Get a Grip on Lighting podcast will go, but each time it is good rollicking fun. Wow. I just used rollicking in a sentence. It's all downhill from here, friends! Check out my... Continue Reading →
"What is the lighting budget for our new home?" "We have 68 recessed cans at $150 each." The Lord of the Rings books and films are staples in our household. The kids share LOTR memes, we have the extended-way-too-long movies, and there are copies of all the books strewn about the house. The beloved stories... Continue Reading →
I could make this my shortest blog post yet: the 1THING I recommend for home office lighting that does not require an electrician is to simply add a pair of table lamps to your work surface. The end. Explaining my reasoning might take a few more words and conceptually mirrors my recommendation for hard-wired new... Continue Reading →
"We don't want any recessed cans in our home." Architects, interior designers, and homeowners occasionally tell us they do not like recessed can lights in their projects and homes. My habit is to get defensive, to fight back, to draw upon decades of lighting design experience to tell them why they do want recessed cans... Continue Reading →
My THINK LIGHT series is my outlet for being a lighting geek. Perhaps I should rephrase that - this is my outlet for being a lighting pseudo-geek. I do love the science, geometry, biology, psychology, and technology of light, but I am no scientist, biologist, psychologist, or technologist. There is a limit to how geeky... Continue Reading →
This post brings dining rooms into my 1THING: New Build series, but you'll have to skip ahead or slog through some early morning musings to get there. Sorry. Blogging is a bit of weird phenomenon. Here I sit, week after week, writing about lighting with no deadlines, no paycheck, and no guarantee that what I... Continue Reading →
My Gear Talk series is an excuse to geek out a bit while attempting to simplify some of the complex conversations we have about lighting. It is less about the theory, science, and application and more about the tools. And one of those tools has almost nothing to do with the photons themselves: voltage. We... Continue Reading →
the language of light 