Global Lighting Introduces New Designs from Karman

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Take a Look at the Lighting

The fresh designs by Karman are Domenica, Ginger, Mek, Nando, and Mono. Domenica and Nando are designed by Dario De Meo and Luca De Bona, Ginger is the creation of by Edmondo Testaguzza, Mek is the masterpiece of Bizzarri Design Associates, while Mono is the brainchild of Giovanna Colapristi. Domenica is a fixture than resembles the gorgeous bells that are found in all of Italy. Ginger is made up of three identical pieces which bring to mind vintage candy jars.

Their triple-layered glass frames emanate an otherworldly glow. Mek are three pendants which resemble engine parts. Actually, they are named after automobile engine parts – camshaft, crankshaft, and clutch. The pendants are available in white, black, or bronze ceramic. Nando is a cluster of pendants which pays homage to the Lambretta motor scooter which was created by design genius Ferdinando Innocenti. The fixtures are made of punched metal and have lacquered finishes in white, gold, and gray. Mono is a gorgeous pendant.

Global Lighting

Global Lighting is a company based in New York renowned the world over for its architectural and artisanal lighting fixtures. The fixtures it offers are used in residential and commercial environments. The company was established in 1991 by Larry Lazin and has grown from strength to strength. It is now one of the best sources of contemporary lighting. Its fixtures are UL compliant and are sold in online stores, showrooms, and by lighting reps.

The company has collaborated with Karman to enhance accessibility of innovative lighting elements. Karman produces expressive fixtures that respect tradition and continuously experiment with materials.

What lighting fixture is your favorite?

2015 New Year Re-Design a Room Project – Updating My Foyer with Del Mar Fans & Lighting

Moving into my 1987 home five years ago was a joy. Moving from an ultra-modern 2007 built-home that lacked character and was too big for me and my hubby to keep up with led us to our current fixer-upper home that is charming in more ways than one. The downside of moving into a 1980’s home is embracing all of the outdated finishes and brass lighting fixtures that fill the house. My foyer with its vaulted ceiling has always been striking with the fresh green I painted the wall but the carriage chandelier lighting fixture has always been an eye sore!

All images: Stagetecture

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I was delighted to pair with the online lighting company, Del Mar Fans & Lighting to choose a fixture to give my foyer a facelift and bring modern appeal to my foyer.

Out with the old chandelier and in with a modern one!

I decided to play up the darker undertones of our wood floor and foyer table by choosing the modern Del Mar Fans & Lighting Kichler 2343OZ . I love the Olde Bronze finish and minimal detailing. I also chose this fixture for it’s adjustable stem length, as I knew my vaulted foyer ceiling might need extra length.

The REVEAL! My foyer looks like a modern home

I was extremely pleased with the finished result. The Olde Bronze finish stands out against the white, creamy yellow and green walls and the lights cast a soft glow as opposed to the bright beam the “candle” light bulbs used to cast.

Not only does the foyer look better, but also it gives a whole new dimension to our family room. Thanks Del Mar Fans and Lighting for helping me say goodbye to our retro brass foyer chandelier for a modern and sleek one!

If you are trying to transform an area of your home this year, consider replacing lighting fixtures. They are cheaper than a complete renovation or purchasing entire rooms of furniture. It’s amazing what one lighting fixture can do for a room!

For more lighting ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

When it comes to lighting, there’s no room for imperfection. Outdoor home lighting affects the general ambiance of the surroundings. It will definitely have an effect on how everything looks inside and out. But more importantly, it is the comfort that is compromised when lighting is not appropriate.

So, what can light do with your outdoor setting? Well, there’s a lot! Just imagine how your outdoor home will look like without proper lighting. It will certainly look dull and gloomy. But you don’t have to worry about perfecting your outdoor lighting. There are various ways to ensure your outdoor lighting is perfect. Check out these outdoor lighting design essentials:

Image via: Tom Kessler

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So, next time that you want to do an outdoor makeover, start with you lightings. This will ensure that you’re making the right, first step moving forward. Of course, when it comes to lightings, you don’t settle for anything less.

Path lighting

This one creates beautiful and pleasing effects on your outdoor landscape. But the primary benefit of this idea is to provide safety to the walkways. You will never worry about hitting or bumping on anything along your way. Plus, you get to enjoy the views of your pathway.

Image via: Rozewski & Co., Designers, LLC

Accent lighting

If you want to enhance your curb appeal or a specific area, the accent lighting idea is a perfect choice. You can have your still lighting focus on your chosen object, landscape or area to command attention to your guests. But you still have lightings around, only that it’s dimmer than that of your highlighted spot.

Image via: Escale Design

Spread lighting

The name speaks for itself. The lighting is evenly spread out into the whole outdoor area. This will ensure that everything in your landscape glow beautifully as you want it. The distribution of lighting will allow you to move comfortably and see the beauty of your outdoor surroundings.

For more outdoor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

If your outdoor home is needing curb appeal this summer, look no further for ideas to bring color to your exterior home. From architectural elements to landscaping, lighting fixtures, and more, here are tips to create curb appeal that beckons for guests to come inside.

Image via: BHG

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Painting & Lighting Fixtures

The easiest way to upgrade the look of your home is to either apply a fresh coat of paint or update your home’s color scheme. Complement the painting with exterior lighting fixtures. Use lantern-style scones on the both sides of your front door. This symmetrical composition will add to the door accents besides providing safety to the visitors.

Make the Entrance Inviting

The entrance of your house is the focal point of the curb appeal. Place larger-scale potted plants to give the shape of a well-poised entrance. Create a nice balance with a wooden gate and a flower-laden iron arbor in front of it. You can also use flowering vine on your patio’s entryway to create a warm and inviting entrance.

Make a Statement

Dress up your front door with a blast of color or install a custom wood door. A colorful wooden door with metal knob and metal polish on the door’s fixtures will strike a nice balance. The same effect can be achieved by hanging a mailbox outside of the entry gate. Color it in bright yellow or orange to catch the visitors’ eye.

Image via: BHG

Wooden Deck

If you are willing to spend a good amount of money to add curb appeal, think of installing a wooden deck with stairs in front of your patio. It will span the front of your house and expand the outdoor living space. Paint the deck, stairs, and their rails with the same color used in your home’s exterior. Create flowerbeds on the both sides of the stairs or place potted flower plants on each side of the steps. The lush foliage will create a soft look while the whole structure will add drama and privacy to the entrance.

Window Treatments

Add a new dimension of color and style to your home by adding shutters to the windows. The shutters should be decorative as well as functional so that they can offer the privacy, functionality, and style you are looking for. For privacy issue, raised-panel shutters are ideal for first floor while louvered shutters can be used on second-floor and upwards as they allow heat to escape. You can make the windows more dramatic by placing colorful flowers in the window boxes. Choose the flowers in a hue that complements the shade of your home.

Image via: Country Living

These changes will definitely add to the curb appeal of your home. They will make onlookers to stop and admire your home from street, invite visitors, and attract potential buyers.

For more curb appeal ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Your kitchen needs the most light of any room, as it is undoubtedly the most functional place in a house. Unfortunately, people tend to either under-light the place, leaving one standing in shadows, or over-light by using too much wattage. In fact, a kitchen should have proper lighting with plenty of task lights to cover the work areas. So, let’s see how can you brighten up your kitchen with right type of light fixing.

Image via: Venegas and Company

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Mix Different Types of Lighting

A clever combination of different lighting types such as natural, ceiling, and under cabinet lights benefit a kitchen most. Underabinet lights helps brightening the workspaces apart from augmenting the general lighting and recessed lights give general illumination by being uniformly spaced on the ceiling. On the other hand, a chandelier on the ceiling ensures concentrated task lights in the kitchen.

Consider the Color of Lighting

While the size of the kitchen determines the number of fixtures to be needed, the color also plays an important part in this matter. A light color like bright white may let you reduce the number of fixtures or at least, lower the bulbs’ wattage. White-colored walls, ceiling, and countertops can offer a well-illuminated kitchen by expanding the light provided by the bulbs. On the other hand, a dark color will absorb light and you have to use more light fixtures to illuminate the place.

Image via: Baker Court Interiors

Under Cabinet Lighting

You can choose either xenon or fluorescent lights for undercabinet lighting. Lighting fixtures in this place help shedding even light across the countertop, allowing the cook to see his or her workstation clearly. The height of the fixture should be equal to that of the shelf and the lights’ color should be such to make the foods and everything else appearing pleasing and natural.

A hidden spotlight can be used in the dishwashing area. A theatrical effect will be created especially if the over-the-sink area is made of beautiful tiles.

Ceiling Lighting

Choosing a ceiling light can be a daunting task, as there are hundreds of different styles to fit every kind of décor. Pendant lamps are also a good choice for this purpose. Stylish pendants change the look of a kitchen within a moment. While these lights are usually hung at a certain height, you can also use adjustable cable pendants for adding interest to the space. A chandelier is also a perfect fit for this function, as such lights are no more limited to dining rooms only.

You can use monorail lighting too that are highly stylish but practical. It can be bent around any curved surface to create salient contour patterns. This lighting system can be mounted in any location, even under irregular ceilings.

Image via: Arcadian Home

Choosing lighting doesn’t have to be difficult. Choose lighting that inspires you while provides sufficient and ample light ton create a kitchen you love to be in.

For more kitchen & bath ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Lighting has come a long way from the basic home fixtures and in today’s homes the lighting often takes center stage of the room. Lighting is one of the single elements in a room that will change  the mood instantly.

Image via: Interiors by Studiom

Whether you are opting to change the mood of your room or you are wanting an eye-catching focal point that will make you do a double take, here are some wonderful inspirational ones.

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Simplicity in the details

Image via: Contemporist

Bring on the drama!

There is something so amazing about lighting fixtures that command you to stare at them. This fixture fits the bill perfectly. Bold, intricate, and almost mesmerizing.

Image via: Thisis

3 Copper pendant lamps

Image via: Inside the Loop.Tumblr

Whether you are looking for ‘eye candy’ or you are thinking about adding an eye-catching focal point to your room, these fixtures will truly do it!

For more home decor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

If you’re trying to make the grounds, or exterior portions of your home look better, you need to focus on curb appeal boosting ideas. Especially when selling your home, your curb appeal can make or break the buyers opinion about your home, before they even step inside your home.

Whether you want to boost the curb appeal for yourself or just to compete with your neighbors fabulous lawn.. here are some tips from DIY Life.

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With all the effort we expend in making the interiors of our homes look passable, sometimes curb appeal — the way our homes look on the outside — falls by the wayside.

What if you don’t have the budget to revamp your entire facade? Don’t sweat it. There are a host of easy, inexpensive DIY fixes that can pump up the volume of an otherwise ho-hum exterior. Here are eight ideas to get you started. Even better? Each one of the following projects costs no more than $50.

1. Invest in some cool house numbers.

Switch out those tired old digits and give your address a makeover. House numbers can be screwed in or easily glued on with adhesive — and there’s a staggering array of styles and materials to choose from — check out the vast array of modern house numbers by Atlas Homewares (about $12 to $20 per number). For even more oomph, paint or stain a tall newel post ($25 to $50) the same color as your front door or shutters, then attach some new, stylized numbers and sink it into the ground either at the end of your driveway or near your home’s entry. (Best to expect some neighborly copycatting on that one.)

2. Upgrade the front door hardware.

Basic front door hardware is a cinch to replace. You’ll find a wide array of bells, doorknockers and escutcheons (plates surrounding bells, keyholes, knobs) at hardware stores and flea markets (from $5 to $30). A doorbell upgrade (under $30) is also easy, as there’s often no need to replace the actual chime — just the hardware surround. (But if you do want to switch out the entire doorbell, there’s only minor rewiring involved.) A kick plate (about $33) — typically made of polished metals like rustic pewter, aged bronze, or satin nickel — boosts a door’s “wow” factor while shielding it from stains and scuff marks. First, measure the width of your door — since most are 36 inches wide, you’ll need to screw in a plate that’s either 6 inches high by 34 inches wide, or 8 inches high by 34 inches wide. Buy one with a clear, rust- and corrosion-resistant finish. Understandably, switching the lockset (about $22 and up) is the most costly change you’ll make to the entry, as protection is priority. Sink screws into preexisting holes, or do some bush-league drilling. For a cohesive, stylized look, choose accents with the same finishes, and be sure they’re stylistically similar to your home’s design.

3. Repaint or stain a wood door.

If you’re not ready to spring for a new door, this is the way to go. There’s no excuse for the front door looking anything but shipshape because paint and stain are so inexpensive (around $32 per gallon of paint/primer; around $12 for 32 ounces of stain — or potentially free if you have some lying around). Door and hardware removal comes first (or you can tape around hinges and knobs if you’re feeling confident and have a steady hand). Next, surfaces need sanding (fine, 180-grit paper should suffice), dusting, priming and two to three coats of paint. Go with the grain; follow the same procedure with stain and varnish.

4. Tidy up the landscaping.

Has your home ever been referred to as Grey Gardens? Time to break out the pruners. It costs little to nothing (except for time clocked) to trim overgrown hedges, edge walkways, pull up weeds and cut out dead growth. Transplanting is free, too: Move those gorgeous dahlias to the front yard, where they’re sure to be noticed. Also, clip massive hedges that inhibit views from the inside out. Mulch is another winner: Spread a layer of grass clippings (free, collected from a lawnmower), straw (about $4 per bale at your local garden center or nursery) or tree bark-based mulch (about $12 for 2 cubic-feet at garden centers and nurseries, or sometimes offered for free by your town after it has chipped dead trees) at the bases of trees and flowerbeds. Doing so not only protects plantings and improves soil quality, but beautifies your yard, too. How much will you need? Use an online calculator: just plug in the area’s square footage and desired thickness.

 5. Replace light fixtures.

Strategically placed lighting always goes a long way. It highlights lovely landscaping and all the other wonderful things you’ve done to your home. Size and scale matter here, as does general attractiveness and brightness. (NASA shouldn’t be able to see your home from space.) Match the style and finish of the new lights to other elements in your entry and you’re generally good to go. Expect to pay about $25 each for brushed copper Flemish-style lights and around $30 for a slick, industrial stainless-steel lantern. You can also opt for solar-powered lights, which have three significant advantages over their hard-wired electric counterparts: There’s no assembly required, they save energy and you can move them around with little effort. Sink a few attractive lantern-style lights ($18 for six) into the soil that flanks walkways and the driveway. You’ll be amazed at how good this actually makes a home look.

6. Upgrade the mailbox.

Wobbly, dented mailboxes are unsightly. (Everyone would rather forget about last season’s nasty snowplow incident.) Changing the box is a great way to add personality. Installation of a bold door-side mailbox (about $50) requires only some simple drilling. A good-looking, durable freestanding mailbox ($40 to $50) just needs a hole dug for the post.

7. Dress up (and clean!) those windows.

Good-looking architectural details are no longer prohibitively expensive, or difficult to add on. Mullions, moldings and decorative brackets can really make your exterior pop, and installation is as easy as clicking in a PVC grid (a sample mullion kit costs $22 and covers 12 square-feet of glass) over existing windows, or screwing wooden brackets (about $21 each) into existing structures. Sometimes, the act of simply cleaning the windows — inside and out — is all you’ll need to massively improve the view. Dish detergent (or plain old vinegar) and a microfiber rag (or a piece of newspaper!) should do the trick. For hard-to-reach windows, use a cleaner formulated for outdoor use (about $10 for 32 ounces at hardware stores) that attaches to your hose. It should dry to a smudge-free finish, and there’s no need to remove screens. Just wash on a cloudy, non-windy day, as breezes and sunlight dry panes too quickly, leaving unsightly streaks behind.

8. Wash dirty siding and dingy decking.

You could pressure wash any type of siding (save for wood shingles), but you’ll pay upwards of $100 to rent or buy a machine — and possibly do some major damage in the process. Instead, use some good old elbow grease, your garden hose (on a medium-spray setting), a long-handled scrub brush and a bucketful of water mixed with a few squirts of dish soap. For wood porches and decks, oxygen bleach (about $13 for 56 per container, at supermarkets) is the way to go. Plus, it’s nontoxic to you, and to pets and vegetation. Mix a few scoops into a bucketful of water, dip the brush and scrub away.

For more outdoor living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.