Lighting Design Seminar

You are invited to a seminar on Lighting Design. This seminar identifies the lighting tools required to illuminate prestigious residential spaces. Lighting techniques such as accent lighting, wall-washing, wall-grazing, cove lighting and general ambient lighting will be discussed along with information regarding today’s most popular light sources (lamps) and their color, intensity and energy consumption attributes. Project photos demonstrating the various lighting tools will bring these techniques to life. Relevant energy and construction code issues will be considered as well.
Please review our invitation for times and locations and RSVP information: Residential Lighting Seminar Invitation


I'd also like to thank Cooper Lighting for sponsoring this seminar and putting it all together for us. It should be a great event!

Go Green!

Today's post is courtesy of Diana Kemon, Toni Bonvicini and Valerie Ramos from our Arlington showroom:

Go green and upgrade with energy friendly fixtures in your kitchen this year.

Add a light to a small kitchen table or an island. Even a little change goes a long way in decorating. These fixtures below are from Minka Lavery and are Energy Star rated. The Noble Bronze finish adds a warm comforting touch along with is gently curving lines. The beautiful etched marble glass diffuses light to lessen glare and adds character to this wonderful fixture. (Visit the Arlington and Laurel showrooms ~ they are on display for you to see.)

Put a little more light in your life by adding some under cabinet lights from American Lighting. Their new Priori T2 fixture is a sleek, low profile design that will add the perfect task light under your cabinet. This fixture includes the fluorescent T2 bulb,a high-low switch, and easy access to the bulb. Come ask the lighting consultants in our showrooms to help you pick just the right size Priori T2 for your cabinets.

Take another step into being green by adding LED recessed lights to your space. With Cree lights you can create the lighting effect you desire with the energy savings you want. Cree's lights are dimmable and give off the equivalent light of a 65 watt R lamp. This is a great way to add general lighting to you kitchen or any space. Our displays do a wonderful job of showing light output and quality. We will also help with finding everything you need for this light and help you lay out the lights for your space.



Visit us in our showrooms and bring your lighting questions. We are more than happy to help.

$5 off Snowman Coupon

Well since we're just now plowing ourselves out of a record snowstorm here in Chantilly, VA, I thought it would be a good day to share our cute little snowman coupon! We think we had 20" of snow at my house, so it is certainly a Winter Wonderland around here!

So just print out this coupon and bring it into any of our 3 showrooms for your $5 off anything in our stores!

I'll be on vacation until January 4th, so this is my last post for 2009. We'll see you in 2010! And don't forget to sign up as a Dominion Facebook fan ~ when we get to 300 fans we'll raffle off that $100 gift certificate! We're almost 1/4 of the way there already... :)

new kids' lights section

Cute children's lights are so hard to find! But we just found a new company called Eglo that has some adorable things, and we also added in a few more from Elk Lighting. Here's a shot of part of our new area in the showroom:

And here are some of the catalog shots from Eglo:

We have the kite on the ceiling and the little airplane guy.

Aren't these bugs on a track the cutest?!

And here are a few of the catalog pictures from our Elk Lighting selections:

Aren't these fun?!

new Artcraft on display

We've been hanging new pieces from Artcraft Lighting the past few weeks, so I wanted to show off my favorites:

This one of course appeals to that "Diamond Lil" side of my personality! So sparkly!

Love this rectangular shape from their Monterey collection.

Isn't this guy fun? Or maybe I should call it a gal since the white sculptured panels remind me a bit of a skirt!


This is definitely one of those pieces where the picture does NOT do it justice! When Kaity in my showroom first saw it, she was almost speechless, she loved it so much! So you'll have to come visit us and see it in person.

And I just adore the shape of this glass, and love that the metal is chrome. Gorgeous combination!

Artcraft is based out of Canada and is proud that they maintain a full North American manufacturing operation, which is increasingly rare in our world! Their website is http://www.artcraftlighting.com/ if you want to see more.

Dark Sky

Just happened to notice this article in today's Washington Post Local Living section about Dark Sky:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/09/AR2009120901796.html?sub=AR

I talked about Dark Sky in March, so you can read more about MY thoughts on the subject there, but I wanted to share this article, too. Bob Parks of the International Dark-Sky Association said, "One good rule of thumb is that if you can see the bulb, then there's too much glare."


And then I wanted to tell you that we have some new Halo LED recessed lights on display in Chantilly, Arlington, and Laurel:



We aren't stocking them just yet ~ the technology is changing so fast, we're afraid as soon as we stock an LED product, it'll get improved and changed and then we'll be stuck with the old stuff! But Halo has it all in stock, and they ship really quickly, so for now at least, we'll order them for you as needed. But you really should come see them ~ we think they've done the best job with trims and diodes and brightness and color. And we DO still stock and display the Cree/LLF LED recessed, which were the first GOOD product on the market!

Washington Post's Tip of the Week

I get a Home & Garden "Tip of the Week" from the Washington Post and had to love last week's. Check it out:

I know, I keep posting things you can't read! But it says, "If a bathroom in your house has seen better days, but a major renovation is out of the question right now, consider a mini-makeover. There are many little things you can do that will spruce up your space without spending a lot of your time or money." And their #2 tip? "Swap an oudated or builder-grade light fixture with something more modern.... A chandelier is a fun option, which can add a little drama to a small space." They say to avoid fluorescent lighting because it can cast an unflattering light, but that is actually not true of today's fluorescents. Most of today's lamps have a very high color rendering index with wonderful color temperatures, and of course they are very energy smart! So if you want to conserve energy, do not be afraid to use fluorescents. However, I will admit that I generally prefer to use incandescent or halogen lamps and then dim them. My bathroom dimmer is the one I could NOT live without! I start off my day with it super dim so as not to jolt my system, and then gradually make it brighter as needed. And remember that dimming will save energy AND extend the life of your light bulbs, so why NOT dim every light in your house?!

On another note, we were very sad to hear yesterday that Washington Spaces magazine is folding. We LOVED that magazine and looked forward to every issue. So it's a very sad sign of these rotten economic times to see it close.

Don't forget our Facebook contest! Become a fan and you'll be automatically entered to win a $100 gift certificate when we reach 300 fans. Tell your friends!

Facebook contest

Check out our Facebook contest!

In case you can't read the fine print, it says:

Become a Dominion Facebook Fan for your chance to win a "Major Award" ($100 Dominion Electric Supply Gift Certificate). Fan Dominion on Facebook and send in a picture of your most Peculiar Portable (most unusual table/floor lamp) for your chance to win a $100 Dominion Electric Supply Gift Certificate. When our fan base reaches 300 you will be automatically entered into the drawing. Sending a peculiar portable picture is totally optional and just for fun. One winner will be chosen at random. Dominion employees and affiliates are not eligible.

If you're already a fan, you can speed up the contest by having YOUR friends become fans. Here's how you do that: Log into your facebook page, go to your fan pages, select Dominion Electric Supply (so you have to be a fan first) and click the link under our picture "Suggest to Friends" then it automatically sends out the suggestion to all your friends. Pretty cool.

new Triarch lighting

Today we're hanging new fixtures from Triarch International Lighting. This is a really neat line, with lots of unique offerings. Here's a sampling of what we just added to the Chantilly showroom:

These arms are wrapped in leather, the bobeches are clear cystal, and it's made in the USA! (we don't see that tag line often enough these days, in my opinion)

I love the finish on this piece ~ it's a darker antique nickel, which is richer than the more common brushed nickels we see on a lot of things.

I love pieces that have the iron arms with just a bit of crystal, like this one.

This piece reminds me of the DC area after an ice storm ~ the arms are coated with an icy looking crystal, just like the trees around here look during some of our winters!

Home & Design Designers' Choice award

I am proud to announce that Dominion Electric Supply has been named as the "Designers' Choice" for Lighting Dealer by Home & Design magazine!



They say this award is the result of voting by area designers and architects on their top picks for everything from kitchen cabinetry and counter tops to top design professionals and service providers. Dominion Electric Supply is the winner in the Lighting Dealer category.

I found it especially interesting that 3 of the partners from my "Team Solutions" networking group were winners in their cagegories: Integrated Media Systems for Home Theater, Charles Luck for Surface Showroom, and us. It's an honor to be in such good company!