Of Brushstrokes, And Sledgehammers

Lighting is the top hat on Fred Astaire.
You don’t need it to dance, but without it, something feels unfinished.
A little underdressed.
A little… pedestrian.

I’ve spent nearly twenty years designing and fabricating lighting.
Residential.
Commercial.
Custom work that had to perform, last, and still look right years later.

I’ve watched clients spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on sofas.
Italian fabrics.
Hand-stitched seams.
Cushions stuffed with something ethically harvested and emotionally reassuring.

Then they hang a $39 ceiling light and call it done.

That’s not design.
That’s quitting at the shoes.

Here’s the thing about lighting.
It doesn’t care how expensive your furniture is.

The right lighting can make a thrift-store chair look deliberate.
Thoughtful.
Almost smug.

The wrong lighting can make a $20,000 sofa look tired, flat, and vaguely regretful.

Notice I didn’t say good lighting.
I said the right lighting.

Good lighting is bright.
The right lighting is controlled, selective, and a little manipulative.

Which brings me to dimming.

If your lights don’t dim, they’re not finished.
They’re just on or off.
That’s not atmosphere.
That’s a warehouse.

Dimmers aren’t an upgrade.
They’re the point.

Lighting without control is a blunt instrument.
Like painting your walls with a sledgehammer.

Lighting with control edits the room.
Like brushstrokes from an artist’s hand.

And while we’re here, let’s talk about the big light.

The ceiling-mounted interrogation lamp.
The single switch that floods everything at once and forgives nothing.

No room needs to be lit all at the same time.
That’s not living.
That’s processing.

Good rooms aren’t lit.
They’re layered.

A lamp here.
A glow there.
Nothing shouting.
Everything in a quiet conversation.

LED RGB lighting gets misunderstood a lot.

It feels like mood, but most of the time it’s a shortcut.
Materials don’t know how to behave under purple.
Skin looks tired.
Wood looks confused.
Everything starts to feel like a nightclub that should have closed an hour ago.

If color is doing all the work, the lighting probably isn’t.

The right lighting hides imperfections.
It forgives seams.
It softens edges.
It decides what deserves attention and what gets to stay quietly in the background.

But when the light does expose flaws, you’d better pay attention early.
Because those flaws don’t go away.

They scatter.

Like roaches, they scatter when the light turns on.
And if your solution is darkness instead of fixing the problem, congratulations.
You didn’t solve anything.

You just taught the roach where to hide.
Fucking roach.

Lighting is rarely neutral.
It either flatters or tells the truth.

That’s why people cheap out on it, they overlook it.
Not because they don’t understand lighting.
But because they don’t always want to see what it reveals.

You don’t need designer furniture to have a beautiful space.
You need intention.
Restraint.
And lighting that knows when to speak up and when to shut up.

Put the top hat on.
Finish the thought.

The room will thank you.