Great outdoor lighting provides your home entryway with a welcoming and luxuriant presentation, ensuring just the right level of illumination for the safety and security of visitors and guests. 

Now is the time to assess your property and invest in a custom outdoor lighting design to increase your home’s curb appeal and provide a luminous finish to your home entrance.

New innovations include outdoor post lamps, decorative lanterns and energy-efficient pathway lighting.

To make your nighttime outdoor environment as comfortable, safe, and maintenance-free as possible, great lighting is key.

1.  SECURITY LIGHTING FOR WALKWAYS AND DRIVEWAYS.

Outdoor post lamps and path lighting help to expand your outdoor environment, providing a tailor-made illumination toward the front door, deck, patio +/or garage.

2. DECORATIVE LIGHTING FOR HOME ENRTY ZONES.

An outdoor hanging lamp and/or wall lanterns add a customized finish and are available in a myriad of styles to complement homes from traditional to ultra modern.

3.  TASK LIGHT BY THE FRONT DOOR AND GARAGE.

Direct focused illumination on key holes and security pads should be bright enough to allow for easy access and visibility when you are entering and leaving your home at night.

4.  ACCENT ILLUMINATION TO HIGHLIGHT HOUSE NUMBERS

Make sure that your home is properly illuminated for guests as well as delivery people and emergency vehicles.  All too often, help is delayed in emergency situations because house numbers are not clearly visible at night and outdoor lighting is insufficient.

5.  “SHIELDED” LAMPS THAT EXPAND OUTDOOR LIVING SPACE AND ACCENTUATE IMPORTANT ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES.

Properly shielded outdoor lighting fixtures expand and beautify your home, without creating glare or causing visual discomfort to visitors and neighbors. A good lighting design with energy-efficient fixtures will increase the value of your property and provide majestic outdoor lighting effects.

LET’S GET STARTED…

*Rule of thumb for sizing outdoor wall lanterns:  The height of the lantern should be based on the height of the door.  If brackets are to be installed on either side of the door, they should measure about one-fourth the height of the door.  If using only one lantern, size up to about one-third the height of the door.

** “Dark Sky” compliancy and light pollution:  Light pollution is any undesirable effect of artificial light, including glare, light trespass and decreased visibility at night.  Many manufacturers offer “Dark Sky” versions of their outdoor lighting products, which “collar” the light bulb around its base to block superfluous upward emissions of light.

-Match outdoor fixture styles to the decor of your interior space.  Whether you go with classic and elegant traditional outdoor lighting or sleek and contemporary, your outdoor post lamps, hanging lamps and wall lighting should complement that style.

-If you have custom designed hardware on doors, find a finish that will work well to complement this detail.

-Don’t neglect the side yard and dark areas by side windows;  Include at least one low-level outdoor lamp for nighttime security.

-Look for finishes and outdoor hanging lanterns, post lamps and flush fixtures that are guaranteed to last.  Check out warranty information on the latest outdoor lighting fixtures; some include a life-time guarantee on all finishes and parts.

-Make sure to view your outdoor lighting after dark before signing off on a project; make necessary adjustments to refine your outdoor lighting design, focusing the light exactly where it is needed for an aesthetically pleasing look and polished illumination for safe navigation and security lighting at night.

Capitol Lighting’s professional lighting consultants will help you in selecting everything from timers and outdoor hanging lamps to path lights and outdoor post lamps.  Work with the experts to prepare your outdoor environment with quality lighting customized to enhance the value of your home.

From traditional outdoor lighting to modern and classic contemporary designs, the right outdoor lamps make a world of difference.  Beautify your home and secure the neighborhood with updated outdoor lighting fixtures to highlight your home with good sense and style.

Top Picks include:

New Traditional Outdoor Lighting from Hinkley Lighting:

“Mendocino” Outdoor Post Lamp from Troy Lighting:

Outdoor Hanging Lamp from Fine Art Lamps:

Dark-Sky Compliant Outdoor Lamps from Minka Lavery:

With energy costs on the rise, deciding whether or not to install solar panels is something that many people have considered. In the right areas, solar panels can provide clean, renewable and eco-friendly energy not only to your home, but also to your entire electrical grid. One of the greatest barriers to their installation, however, is the cost of solar panels. Although they can drastically lower your energy bills, solar panels have a relatively high up front cost. Fortunately for many, there are several different alternatives to purchasing solar panels outright. If this is something that you are interested in, there is sure to be a solution that will work for you. A great resource for solar panel information is solar-panel-info.

Solar Panel Info – How Much do Solar Panels Cost?

Many homeowners are put off by the prospect of sinking a sizeable investment into the purchase and installation of solar panels. While solar energy has been used for many years now, the equipment is still fairly expensive, and installation requires a highly specialized installer. Solar panels can vary in cost depending on the number of panels that you are interested in, and the amount of power that you would like to generate. In addition to purchasing them outright, there are also many other options for buying and installing them. Many solar installers will offer several different financing options, including solar leasing. Whenever you take advantage of a solar leasing program, you typically pay little to no upfront cost. You will sign a contract with the solar installation company to pay a monthly fee to use their equipment. In most cases, this monthly fee, combined with your new lower energy costs are lower than your prior energy bills.

Can I Install Solar Panels on My Home?

There are many different factors that should be considered when making the decision to install solar panels or not. If you live in an area with lots of sun, then you have the opportunity to generate much more electricity than in areas with less sunlight. Furthermore, you can see a greater benefit from solar power if you already have very high energy bills. You will want to make sure that your home is positioned in a way to where any installed solar panels will receive an adequate amount of sunlight. To discuss the viability of solar panels on your home, find solar panel installers in your area to provide you with an assessment. You can do so by going to solar panel info. Their experts can give you a much more accurate assessment on how much energy you can expect to generate, and whether or not the investment makes sense for you.

What Benefits do Solar Panels Offer?

The greatest benefit of solar panel installation is lower electrical bills. If your home is particularly suitable to generating solar energy, this can be a very significant change. In fact, most utility companies will even allow you to sell excess energy back to them whenever you generate more than you use. Many people are unsure of what additional changes to their electrical system are necessary. The only changes that will be made to your electrical system are the solar panels and the equipment that they use to connect to your existing electrical system. None of the components inside your home must be changed. This means that you can continue using all of your electrical devices and appliances just like before. It will just cost you less.

If you are considering solar installation, it is recommended that you research diligently so that you can understand the technology as much as possible. You can typically find many resources for local help, and general information online. One of the best resources for this is Solar Panel Info, and you can visit our website at solar-panel-info.

If you have been on the fence because of price or logistics, take some time to talk with the professionals at solar-panel-info. As mentioned above, you may find that they have a solution that will work perfectly for you. Regardless of the type of installation and financing that you choose, most Americans can save a significant amount on their electric bills while helping the environment when they install solar panels.

Click here to read more.

An email from a customer on Wednesday made our week: “I’m really late in sending you a picture of my kitchen that Pegasus helped create. Every time I turn on the under cabinet lights,  I still get that great feeling from the first time. ” And what a beautiful kitchen it is:

Fluorescent T5 Thin-Inch Light Fixtures in her kitchen remodel. We were just as thrilled with the email she sent us in the midst of the remodel:

Just wanted to let you know how pleased I am with my experiences with your website, customer service and products. I hate to be long-winded, but it”s important for me to tell you about my search for under cabinet lighting. Because I’m spending lots of money on a remodel which included gutting the kitchen, I wanted to be sure to choose the best product for the lighting under the new cabinets.

After searching at the big box stores and getting no more info than what was written on the lighting display, I tried two local lighting specialty stores. Believe it or not, I was told at one of them by the manager that xenon doesn’t have a color temperature. (I decided he had to have been born and raised on a planet with different laws of physics.) No one could really help me at all and seemed totally disinterested in trying to sell me anything. Discouraged, I came home and Googled “under cabinet lighting.”

Your website is a window on the world of lighting! Oh, my goodness, the articles about lighting, the recommendations, the product descriptions!! I was totally elated, then began to think maybe it was just too good to be true, so I revisited your website a few more times over the next few days. Then…….just to be 100% sure…….I called your toll-free number and talked with a customer service representative. I told her that I wanted WHITE light for the under cabinet lighting: standard fluorescent is too blue, daylight and LED is too green and xenon seems too yellow, so I wanted to be sure to get a color temperature that would be white. I also wanted lighting that would produce as little heat as possible. She recommended the Thin-Inch with a color temp of 4100K. We talked about my previous experiences for a couple of minutes and I thanked her for being so helpful and we ended the call.

After all that, can you believe I was still a little nervous about ordering? A couple of days later, I decided to suck it up and take the plunge. So I measured all the spaces under the cabinets, made my list using your recommendations about installing under each cabinet and filling the under cabinet width and ordered online. The shipment arrived a day early which was a very pleasant surprise. The kitchen is now mostly finished.

But the best part of it all is what the under cabinet lighting does for the backsplash! It is AMAZING!! That awesome WHITE light is perfect…….no other word describes it. And after arguing with the electrician about the placement of the fixture at the front of the under cabinet space, not the back, he agreed that the front works best as your website recommends. My experience with Pegasus has been one of the best and easiest of this remodel. Thank you so much! I’m looking forward to having it all done and sending you photos.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lea, for reminding us why we do what we do!

We are so happy you love your new kitchen.

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With the rising temperatures comes the inevitable rise in energy bills. To keep your home as energy efficient as possible, we’ll be going room by room explaining just how you can save money while keeping your home cool.

Starting with the living room, there are a few simple steps you can take to bring energy savings and make it as energy efficient as possible.

What is Energy Star? Energy Star is a program that offers energy efficient consumer products. Energy efficient appliances with the Energy Star logo typically use around 25% less power than conventional models.

Energy Star products are the way to go if you wish to use less power while also saving big on your energy bill.

As we mentioned in our guide for different types of lightbulbs, there are many options available today which offer different brightness (known as lumens) and use less energy.

By far the best options for lighting your living room are LED light bulbs. These types of light bulbs are energy saving and emit LED lights, which reduce energy consumption considerably.

LEDs might have a higher upfront cost, but they offer an energy saving edge, reducing energy consumption up to 80%.

Power strips are a clean alternative to overfilling your outlets. By conveniently switching off multiple appliances at once, you have complete control over how what appliances get energy.

Traditional power strips are simple: you connect the devices and turn off a switch when not using them. Newer versions called advanced power strips feature a variety of other features that might benefit you.

Advanced power strips are designed for areas where many electronics are plugged in, such as entertainment centers or home offices and provide greater control over energy usage through built-in features.

There are multiple types available right now including:

Some power strips also feature a surge protector which not only give you complete control over your appliances but also protects them from damage during thunderstorms or power surges.

While power strips might be of great help to any home, the main culprit for those extra costs are energy vampire appliances, or appliances that use energy while on stand-by.

Appliances like these could end up costing more than $200 per year for the average home.

Vampire energy loss, also known as vampire load, vampire power, or vampire draw is a simple term to explain the use of electricity by appliances that are in standby or switched off.

While most appliances might indicate that they are turned off, they might still be drawing power. The end result is unneeded power being wasted as appliances lay unused.

Video game consoles such as the Playstation 4 and Xbox One are notable for their high energy demand and could result in up to $40 in costs during standby.

Computers, including laptops, are also some of the biggest energy vampires, costing up to $30 if left plugged in while not in use. Laptops might need less power, but leaving them plugged in could result in yearly costs up to $15 when not in use.

To easily reduce these costs, safely group as many of these appliances into a power strip. By easily switching off the power strip when not in use, you will be much more in control of how much energy they use.

Televisions are the kings of power consumption, with 5 hours of daily use costing up to $160 per year while in standby mode as well as with daily use.

Plasma TVs are notorious for their usage of energy. Instead, opt for LCD screens which will reduce the amount of energy you draw. Also, change your TV’s settings to dial back on energy consumption.

Most TVs have a store demo option selected for the picture which ups the brightness and results in a high energy usage. This translates to higher energy bills and more heat. By using the power-saver mode, you decrease the amount of energy used.

If you have multiple appliances connected to the TV, turn them off when not in use. TV manufacturers of today have reduced the usage of standby power, but connected appliances might draw more energy.

These could include DVRs, Blu-ray or DVD players, as well as streaming devices such as Roku, Apple TV, and more. While useful, they might be putting a dent into your energy bill and end up costing more with time.

Window shades, blinds, and curtains are more than just useful for decorating your living room. Dark curtains block sunlight from entering and can be closed during the day to reduce the amount of sunlight that enters, thereby reducing cooling costs.

Blinds are as useful and can reduce heat gain by up to 45% but offer the benefit of being able to be adjusted manually.

Making your living room as energy efficient as possible might seem like a daunting task. By following the above tips and ensuring that you use only the most important appliances, you will be well on your way to ensuring your home is ready for summer.

From LED Lighting installation, to ceiling fan room installation, Bryant Electric Service can help your living room be the highlight of your home.