Ceiling Fan in Your Future??

Ceiling fans are great. They allow you to turn down the air conditioning and circulate the air so you can feel cooler. Naturally, the fans don't cool the air...they just bring air in contact with your skin and you feel cooler as your body evaporates moisture. Simple, yet very effective. In the winter months the blades can be reversed and the hot air at the ceiling can be circulated around to make the whole room feel more comfortable while you use less heat. Ceiling fans are a "green" solution in the summer and winter months allowing you to use less energy to cool or heat your home depending upon the season.

Ceiling fan styles range from Traditional to Modern and everything in between. In fact the selection is so large that selecting the right one for your home can be a challenge. If you need a fan with a light fixture, look into a fixture already outfitted with a fluorescent lamp (bulb). If it takes a standard screw-in lamp, switch it with a screw-in fluorescent. Just be sure the color temperature (a way to measure the lamp's visual warmness or coolness) is between 2700 k and 3000 k or listed as "warm white". The difference between a warm fluorescent and a standard incandescent is minimal and you will save money over the long run in electricity. 


If you are using the fan for lighting, just be sure to add table lamps or floor lamps to your lighting scheme. There is nothing worse for a room or for the people in that room than a single light source attached to the ceiling, but that's for another post.


Take a look at some of my favorites...

Work on the renovation continues...

Work continues on a house my partner and I own in a beach town here in Southern California. What should have been a fairly quick remodel has turned into a long slog with delays caused by my day job (the nerve!) as well as....well, life. It was a case of "out of sight and out of mind" for a period of time for which I was completely responsible. Had this been a regular job with a regular client this remodel would have been on the front burner and finished. I now believe that the most challenging client I can have is me. What is that saying about any lawyer representing himself has a fool for a client?

There was (and is still) quite a lot to do. The place had sat empty for several years and needed a lot of work just to get it up to 1980's standards. We are having the asbestos acoustic ceiling texture (cottage cheese) removed, as well as the contaminated flooring and duct work. This is scheduled for early November. After that comes plumbing and a new furnace and.....the list goes on and on.

We're both very pleased with how the exterior turned out. It's a different color than any of the other houses on the block and it helps to set it apart from our neighbors. Since this is a very small mid-century house, I decided to keep things simple and big for maximum curb appeal. The subdued paint scheme helps give it a more upscale feeling. The house is not located in Tuscany, so no columns or terracotta, thank you. Two large pots help frame and define the entrance, while the Energy Star rated fluorescent light fixture, believe it or not, gives off a great soft light. Helpful hint--get a very low wattage lamp (bulb) that is "warm white" or a color temperature of 2700 k. It doesn't take much light to accent the front door. The inexpensive 6" address numbers from Home Depot project off of the low wall and reinforce the general mid-century feel.

Once the front door is painted and installed the exterior will be done. Can't wait!

Ready. Set. Go.

Gee, just what the world needs....another blog!

I doubt I 'll be able to say or show anything new or different that hasnt already been posted before, and that's OK. Besides, who should care about what I think anyway?

My purpose is only to post things I find interesting and inspirational. I believe that through this exercise I will be able to become a better designer by pulling disparate ideas together and incorporating some of them in future work. And if anyone can glean anything from my process...fantastic!

So here we go.