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Coming up.

In this week's first hour of the show, Wendy Glasester is back in the studio to talk about lighting secrets for your home.

Did you have you heard about like how men and women experience lighting differently?

Hold on, let me grab my glasses.

Yeah.

You know my husband has dark eyes and has olive skin and dark curly hair.

He's handsome but and I am very blonde and very pale and I have blue eyes.

Every morning he gets up and comes down here in the kitchen and looking at my kitchen and he turns on every blessed light.

So grab your toolbox, put on your thinking cap and let's get to work right here on around the House with.

Eric G.

Welcome to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

I'm Eric G.

Thanks for joining me today.

This hour is brought to you by my friends at Monument Grills.

Check out your new barbecue for spring@monumcgrills.com we have my friend back in the studio today.

You've listened to this show for a while, Wendy Glaister, Wendy Glaster Interiors.

And we're going to talk about one of my favorite subjects, the art that no one sees when you do it correctly.

It's called lighting.

Welcome back, Wendy.

Thank you so much for having me.

Yes, lighting is my favorite too and I'm so excited to hear all of your perspectives on it.

And it's just, it's so different, don't you think, than it was 10 years ago and in all the coolest ways that you could imagine.

So this is so much fun.

Thank you for inviting me for this topic.

This is so much fun and you can have the most beautiful designed project and if you skipped lighting class, it doesn't look as great as what it could.

And then somebody comes in there and does the lighting right.

And it's like it amplifies at 10x.

Oh yeah.

There is no replacement for a really outstanding lighting design.

And I'm really fortunate here where I practice in Central Valley in California, we have a family owned third generation retail store called Philips Lighting Home.

And my friend Carrie Arnold is a co owner with her mom and she's a lighting designer.

And around Covid we started working together on projects and approaching lighting in a way that I'd never done before and she's taught me a lot.

But I'm certainly no lighting designer, but the things that we've pulled off together because she's smart, but wow, these things are just incredible.

And it's so much fun.

And it's almost like clients see this beautiful thing that we put together for the first time.

It's like they're watching fireworks.

They get so excited and they're so happy and they can't believe how beautiful it is and all the little details, it's just.

It's a thrilling thing.

I think so.

Absolutely.

I had my sensei of lighting, Al Thomas.

He worked for North Coast Lighting up here for years.

And he was the guy that when he spoke, I shut up and just listened because I knew that he had forgotten more little details than I was ever going to learn from him because he was just that good and really opened up my eyes to what really good lighting design was.

And going into a retail location that's got that lighting lab feel to it, where you can go in and really see the difference between stuff in a practical application and from then on out, every time I walked into my house, someone else's house, and I saw the 6 inch cans, and I just wanted to tear them out of the ceiling and fix it for them.

So I joke with Stephanie and Layla, the two designers that work with me all the time, that there's not enough Botox in the world to help disguise my face when I see a bad lighting plan.

Eric, I'm working on this remodel with this client, this couple, and they want to do it themselves.

Oh, no.

I'm just like a advisor.

When they get stuck or upset, they call me after they made the mistake.

I've never really done anything like this before.

I'm sure you've never experienced this.

And Stephanie and I walked in one day and I looked up and the guy proudly says to me, so what do you think of my lighting plan?

Oh, no.

It was 28 cans in a family room.

And I that's ugly.

It's so hard because I know people ask you questions and people are excited about their home and all these things, and you don't want to be a stinker or disrespectful.

So I try very hard to be diplomatic.

I.

Yeah, I had nothing I could say.

All you could say was, I guess if that's your first time, that's not so bad.

But really, you're stuck.

And I just said, this is definitely a lighting plan.

Yeah.

And may I ask how you came about this plan?

I did it with a professional electrician.

He's Very seasoned.

Okay, nice.

Does he work with you in the food service and prep industry?

Oh, no.

Yes, he does.

Okay.

I said okay.

I get it.

Yes.

For that application.

He did super.

Awesome.

This would be great.

You're gonna get so anxious sitting under that.

It was so hard.

It was lit like a tanning bed.

So we took them all out, and I just thought, that's a bad actor, because that electrician knew better than that.

And he was just taking advantage of a homeowner who didn't know.

And, oh, these are Halo cans.

And they're so great.

And they are.

They are.

But they're also 40 to $80 a whack.

Yeah.

So all that labor and all that material.

That's mean.

Yeah.

So I was taking those cans back.

Those are going out in the garage on the shelf someplace.

I couldn't look at Stephanie.

I was just like, I know better.

I know better.

Yeah.

And I don't know.

I've got.

I'm going to turn into a lighting snob here.

But every design client I've ever worked with have.

I walk into that kitchen before the kitchen remodel, and they're like, we want to do something right away first to get this better.

And then in two years we're going to do that.

But you're here for the bathroom.

And the first thing I go is, we're not going to have to tear the ceiling up in here.

Why don't you?

The drywall is upstairs doing the bathroom.

Let's do the lighting down here.

Yep.

Let's design the kitchen out how you're going to do it.

Let's do the lighting plan down here.

Just make this so it looks better.

Exactly.

Tear out all those 6 inch cans.

I would.

I'd usually put 2 inch, 3 inch even ones at times because those can be really sexy if you've got a low ceiling.

Yeah.

And go small.

My garage, I got 3 inch cans in it because I wanted to give me the right light in there.

It's fun.

I just.

And I think people think lighting is just turn on a switch and the room is lit.

That isn't really true because for whatever room you're in, there are certain purposes and ways you will use that room.

And you want to be sure that the lighting that you have available to you in that room will serve the purposes of.

Of the room and what you'll be doing there.

And so many times.

So cute.

Carrie did tell me she's.

And this is nothing against architects because they have to know so many things about so many Things.

Yep.

There's like a little standard, little lighting sheet that goes through whatever it is that you're doing.

There's.

In every bedroom, there's a can, there's a fan and four little hands.

Yep.

Builder's best.

Yep, Exactly.

Carrie, that kid's going to get migraines every day of their life because they're going to have this strobe effect with the fan and the cans and the.

Yeah.

But if you.

Instead she taught me.

And I'm so grateful for her just to take the time to explain because I know when you're really great at what you do, it is hard to always be mindful that whomever you're speaking to does not know and that they need clear education.

It's like talking to a brain surgeon.

It's like, dump it down for me.

What do you got?

Yeah.

And she's Wendy.

If we could light.

If we could use directional lighting.

You light the wall and it's reflected back into the room so it's easier for you to receive.

It's not this harsh, oppressive light you get when it's straight down.

It's not.

You're not lighting particulates of a room in the air anymore.

You're lighting a surface.

It gives you a nice soft effect as it comes across your eyes.

It glows.

Yeah.

And then you don't get that strobe.

Oh, my gosh.

And it's so simple, but people don't think about it.

And I'm just.

I always have fun.

That's the first thing I do, is I change all those little things in those rooms to try to help out.

We've been doing some cool things lately and maybe, I don't know, maybe you would want to do this on some of your new builds.

There's a designer who works with this incredible lighting designer.

She's in the uk and I can't remember his name, the lighting designer, but she's Sophie Patterson and she has beautiful work and she works all over the world, but she and her lighting designer work together constantly.

Kind of like Carrie and I do.

But we're in the Central Valley in California.

Nice.

We're not in Dubai yet.

No.

Yet.

Yeah.

But there are these gorgeous tiny 1 inch little recess cans, but it goes in the foundation.

Nice.

So it shines up out of the floor.

So out of your incredible hardwood flooring or out of your concrete or whatever to highlight all those amazing architectural details.

And you don't even really notice because it's so tiny.

But we're going to do it at this new project that we have up in Groveland for this family who's building a brand new build.

And we're doing this wall washer with these tiny little guys and it's poured into the foundation.

To find out more information, head to aroundthehouseonline.com don't change that.

Dial around the House.

We'll be right back after these important messages.

Be allowed to be so hot.

So many people without.

Welcome back to the around the House show.

The next generation of home improvement.

Thanks for joining me today.

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monty McGrills.

Check them out at montymcreels.com now let's get back to my friend Wendy Glaster from Wendy Glaster Interiors.

We're talking lighting inside your home and.

You don't even really notice because it's so tiny.

But we're going to do it at this new project that we have up in Groveland for this family who's building a brand new build.

And we're doing this wall washer with these tiny little guys.

And it's poured into the foundation.

And we're so excited because it's starting at the outside of the house on this rock wall.

And going into the house, we're bringing the rock all the way through.

So it's just going to be like.

And it's up by this airplane hangar.

So it has a little nod to that, too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A little Runway lighting.

Cool.

Yeah.

Excited.

Okay, that's next level.

That is next level.

That is cool.

I'll get you some information on it because I think you would love it.

Send it over.

Yeah, send it over.

That is solid right there.

Yeah.

And it's.

Lighting's great.

I really got into it probably 20 years ago when I was doing kitchen and bath design.

Kitchens were big and.

Oh yeah.

Unfortunately, back then when I first started, it was the fluorescent tubes under the.

Cabinets underneath with the little switch.

Hated them.

But then as soon as the halogens came out, I went into those.

But those caused problems.

I'd always have to.

I'd always have to ask where they put their butter because that happened one time.

They put their butter on the butter dish inside and she moved into her kitchen the next day.

She's.

I got a problem.

What?

I have a stick of butter on my countertop now.

Cause it melted.

The butter came out of the cabinets and went down because it was warm enough to turn that into liquid inside the cabinet.

And it was like, all right, that's a problem.

You have like a Messy person.

And they stack a bunch of papers on their counter underneath the halogen light.

Oh, it smells a little warm.

Yeah.

And I've had hoarders like that that I've done projects with that you had to take that into account.

Yeah, I've had those where they come in and they want to do a new kitchen or a new bathroom.

And I walk in, and it's.

I'm 6 foot, so there's 5 foot, highest stuff stacked in the house.

And there's a single track going through the house.

And I had to have that hard conversation going.

Yeah, we can do the bathrooms.

And she just wanted countertops and vanities, something simple in there.

But I'm like, you need to give me four feet right here.

But she was also a unicorn because she invited me to come back and do the cabinets or countertops in her kitchen the next year.

And when I was doing the first project, oh, yeah, I'm retiring here in two months, and I'm going to get this house in order.

And in my head, I went, I've never seen that actually be successful without professional help.

And I understand this.

The disease.

And I just went, oh, awesome.

That'd be really cool.

I'd be happy for you.

And I came back, and it was down maybe.

Maybe 12 inches high.

And I could see around, and I'm like, you're 70% there.

Awesome.

I felt good for her.

I was like, oh, she's getting herself dialed in.

That's awesome.

It's so rare to see because I.

The people.

Everybody has dreams, but you come out into those.

And I'm like, ooh, I don't know how we're gonna do this.

And what's funny is the sense of unreality.

They'd be like, yeah, I'm not into germs.

Can I.

Can you take your shoes off when you come in?

And I'd go, joe won't let me do that.

I've got to have protective footwear in here.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Those are sad.

Yeah.

You can't design someone well, healthy.

And that took me a really long time to learn as a designer.

And that's.

It's tricky.

That's a tricky thing.

We can have a side mark for me.

Yeah, Side mark for me.

And we'll go back to lighting here in a second.

But a little sidebar on that.

I knew if I didn't say no to two or three clients a year, I wasn't being picky enough.

And I wrote them down.

I kept numbers on my whiteboard in my office for the year because usually that means I'm taking a project on.

If I was into November and I only had one up there, I was rethinking things, going, that should have been number two.

And it's maybe because here's the thing, we're all human personalities sometimes don't work.

Correct.

And I always took my job as a designer was to make sure that I found those times before that it wasn't going to work.

And I've handed cabinet projects off to other companies and then they called me back up a year later.

I went, don't send me referrals like that anymore.

I just got nine months out of a lawsuit with them because they were hard to work with.

And I went, I had no idea.

I just knew they weren't a good fit for me.

Yeah.

You know, but they're like, like maybe you need to be more picky.

I was trying to help you.

But you know when you can smell those, it's always good to move on.

Yeah, yeah.

But lighting is one of those things that now every builder basic house out there and it doesn't matter if it's entry level in a price point or a 1 1/2 2 million dollar builder basic place, which what I would call in some instances on the west coast to be a mid range house lighting is usually horrible.

And it was done by somebody in the office or the electrician went that'll be good enough.

And it was based upon the price point of the light fixture and not about the overall design.

Yeah, I don't, I honestly don't think that you will see a lot of thoughtful lighting design unless you invite a lighting designer to the project because it's just not something that people really assign value to yet.

Nobody's trained.

But when they do get it and they do understand their project is so much more beautiful.

So right now, even when I have a discovery call with a client and I know it's a new build or it's a gut job remodel, I say I really highly recommend that you hire Carrie to work with me and that we collaborate with as a team with the electrician so that when we are done your home is really well lit.

And by that I mean there's drama where there needs to, there's task lighting where there needs to be.

You use light fixtures or a sculpture now than as a light source.

There's just so many things to know and it are this, Is the switching programmable?

Are the outlets programmable?

Are you doing control four?

Are you doing a Lutron system.

Are you doing LeGrand and Adorn and all those different things.

It's not the builder.

Basic fan with four cans on a light switch with a remote.

Exactly.

It's just not if it's high end design because.

Yeah, yeah.

Great example of my neighborhood.

Okay.

So I could buy around here an entry level home for 575, $600,000 little ranch.

Sure.

That's what it is.

There is.

There are builders in my neighborhood that I've walked through.

Homes that are building custom ish houses for $2 million.

And if I walk through those, there's not a dimmer in the entire house.

That's my warning sign.

Which is a dimmer on paper.

That's a warning sign to me.

That lighting you don't care about.

It's hard.

It's hard.

It's all about the dollars.

Yeah.

The value is.

And honestly, the last.

I've been very fortunate.

Our ASID chapter here, locally, we've won four years in a row for multiple projects, all of them included Carrie, except for one.

Wow, that's awesome.

That's awesome.

I'll tell any of my clients, yes, that's a beautiful project and yes, I'm very grateful and everyone on that project was very gifted.

But it shows up the way it does because of Gary.

So like for example, we did this two story house in Ripon, California.

It's a darling community.

It's worth the investment that they did on this gut job remodel.

Because homes their self are so much more.

They're a huge value.

We wanted something special on the staircase.

So we were just chit chatting one day, carrying me in her office.

Cause we love to go in there and shut the door and just go to town on these fun ideas.

And I said, what if we lighted each tread underneath?

And so I did that on my.

Stairs pucks on the whole.

I did, I did under tread lighting on my stairs in my house with strip lighting and so pretty sexy.

And you turn it on and you.

Oh my gosh.

Incredible.

Mine is on 24 7.

It is always on.

It's on in the day.

I've used the switch for it.

The little remote that I have for it.

I've used it maybe twice.

Yeah.

And I just.

It's always on.

It's the best nightlight during the day when you've got it adjusted.

It just looks gorgeous.

Yes.

In the middle of the night, going downstairs, it's so easy.

It's again like a Runway light coming in.

It's here's your stairs to find out more about us, head to aroundthehouseonline.com don't change that dial around the house.

We'll be right back with more lighting secrets from Wendy Glacier.

We will be right back.

Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Thanks for joining me today.

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monty McRills.

Check them out at montemcrills.com now let's get back to my friend Wendy Glasester from Wendy Glaster Interiors.

We're talking lighting inside your home.

I've used the switch for it, the little remote that I have for it.

I've used it maybe twice.

Yeah.

And I just, it's always on.

It's the best nightlight during the day, when you've got it adjusted, it just looks gorgeous.

Yes.

In the middle of the night, going downstairs, it's so easy.

It's again like a Runway light coming in.

It's here's your stairs, you know, but.

Beautiful when you don't see.

And it's really great because as designers, we get to know, like our teams and our buddies and the people who are more willing to try something new.

So we worked with our flooring guys at Wallace to figure out what kind of reveal do we need and what, how deep does that stair tread have to be and what is the rise is code, obviously, but all those little parts and pieces and how are we going to wire all that?

And then when clients have the objection, you know what happens when this burns out?

Easy.

LED light from Lowe's.

That's one thing.

That's one thing.

LED light from a high end lighting showroom, that's another thing.

And I'm running into that too, with a lot of the commercial work that we're doing because we're using lighting as art itself itself.

So again, with Cari's help, I can't do this by myself.

We're running light that just floats across a hallway and then turns and goes at an angle down the wall.

That.

And it's wonderful because what it does is it takes your eye back and forth down a hallway.

So this is in a dental office.

And it's been shown that when you're anxious, if you just have to see one long haul uninterrupted, it ratchets up your anxiety.

Your eye experiences it as it, as you move down the hall, it takes it back down.

So that light insulation going back and forth and across the hall and the hole.

And it was just incredible and so much fun.

Who knew you could Play with light.

That's just the new frontier, Right.

It's so exciting.

Yeah, it is.

Great example.

And I want to touch on this because that way people really know the how important this is.

What you said there is so important about lighting.

If you go into your retail location, your big box store.

Great example.

I have nice light fixtures in my master bathroom.

I am on in four years.

I'm on my third set of name brand LED bulbs, and I'll use the word Sylvania third set.

Now my lights, who have been in my kitchen for another year and a half or two years, which are from the lighting store, no issues whatsoever.

Nora.

Actually, it is.

How did you guess?

Because I have a really good friend named Carrie Arnold who's a lighting designer and taught me all these great things.

I have Nora.

Exactly.

Yeah, I have Nora.

I have Nora.

3 inch boxes in there.

They're big boxes that go up in the little light and you can change out when you put them in.

It comes with a bunch of the different lenses to how do you want the light shaped?

So like exactly that filter that does this cool thing and it has that little, like a little switch.

And you can go from 2700 to 3000 to 4000 for the color temperature.

So for people, I'm big on tuning.

In my color temps.

Yeah.

So 2700 is probably the easiest to live around.

That's your incandescent light bulb, right?

Yeah.

3,000 gives you more if you need to more for task or specialty things around the house.

And in my office of our studio.

Studio, we have 4,000 because it's absolutely clean.

So that way, when we're doing color selections and we're choosing materials, we are absolutely certain that grout color is going to work with that tile.

Because you're not adding color from the light.

Figure out the color temperature of the lighting so that it would be accurate.

Because oh, my gosh, as an interior designer, if I'm not picking the right colors, I have no job.

So let me tell you something that's interesting.

Here's a trick that I learned from my years of doing tv.

There is an app that you can put on the phone, on your phone called the light meter, and it tells you the color temperature of the room and you can see.

And what's cool is if you walk into a room and turn the lights off and there's a lot of glass.

Now you can see how the window glass, maybe the UV coating or whatever is doing that.

So if you want to add to that and change with that, of Daylight, you can actually put lights in that don't fight that color temperature to be on the same plane and that same.

So you're not dragging that another way or having them be two different colors so you can walk into the room and go, wow, this is a 3400 kelvin color in here.

With no lights on, UV coating or the trees or whatever, or reflection off the water or whatever it is that has bent the light a little bit.

You can walk in and go, boom.

That's what it is.

And now I'm going to see if I can get that close.

Wow.

Very cool.

So that's one of my little tricks that I got into the weeds on.

I need to do.

Yeah, that's cool.

You know what I mean?

So that way you don't have.

You don't have a 32 and a four fighting each other in the same room because it doesn't feel right.

Plus, if you have a beautiful project that you've just finished designing and you have a photographer come in, you're gonna always take them with the lights off and with all of them on.

And when they fight, oh, it's embarrassing because there's pink over here and yellow over here and clean white over here, and it looks like garbage.

It's.

So anyway, that's my little trick to when you have a lot of sunlight in there, because I've noticed that.

I've seen where the windows can really change that depending on what the coating is, or even what the reflection off a lake or ocean can do, or.

Even trees in the backyard.

This is green in here right now, right?

Yeah.

So it'll tweak that a little bit.

So it's a good little trick that I do.

Super clever.

It's a free app on your phone.

Come on.

I have the tool.

Sorry.

Level up, Wendy.

Come on.

Ah, there we go.

I have a goal.

Every episode, I'm going to give you one more little thing.

I love it.

That's great.

I'm grateful.

I'll take it.

Thank you.

Oh, we all will.

It's just.

Oh, cool.

Another tool in the toolbox, right?

Yes, for sure.

It's so fun with.

Especially when you get into.

With lighting design.

People that have art or even exteriors are so much fun.

I geek out on exterior lighting because you can do amazing stuff.

And no, I'm not talking about walking down your home center and buying the plastic stuff off of that.

I'm talking go buy your lighting store and get the stuff that's anodized aluminum or stainless that's got A coating on it or whatever you're trying to do that you'll put in, and 10 years later, you'll forget that you did.

Other than keeping them clean, you had something to do to these things.

Agreed.

Yeah.

This year we won an award for best outdoor space and specialty kitchen for the NKBA awards at kvis.

And again, Carrie was a big part of that because she helped me light up the interior of the pergola.

And then we had these beautiful pavers, limestone pavers in the backyard.

And we.

She.

We.

That's really not fair.

She shot a beam of light this way, and then on the next paver, it went that way.

You're just weaving it.

So beautiful.

And then.

That's cool.

The light fixtures that we used out there were much more about a sculptural interest piece than it was about lighting anything.

Because she had done it all without being able to actually see.

See anything.

And I think that's a really fun part of a lot of the work that we're doing now.

Just like recessing or bringing the ceiling down to leave a tiny recess to put in the lighting.

Like, we did that around this big steam shower recently.

Or the mudden LED linear lighting where we had this huge window over a sink vanity in a master bath.

And we wanted to have a beautiful mirror, too, so we did a custom mirror that was suspended from the ceiling joists.

But there was no opportunity for a light there.

Right.

We did this whole mudded in beautiful LED frame on the window.

My gosh, it was so much fun.

And even, like, lighting up.

I'm sorry, you can tell I geek out.

I'm just going on and on.

Yeah, no, no.

Like that channel around.

We had this beautiful dimensional marble tile around this fireplace at the mantelpiece.

And so we did our same little trick like we did on the stairs.

And so that whole thing, you can see it do this.

Yeah, I did this with my.

I built a wine rack in my dining room.

It's kitchen, dining room.

One room.

And so holds 85 bottles.

And it's the post style, where you can stack like three bottles on there.

Pretty.

And so what I did is I made it out of plywood that I painted the same color as the wall.

And I made it inch and a half thick.

And then I stood it off the wall three quarters and I routed out the back so I could put my LED type lighting in the back of that and bounced it back off the wall this way.

So I got this loading line rack that is backlit around all four sides that's backlit, like a backlit mirror.

Very cool.

Money.

And then I've got front lighting because I've got the, I did a bus turn punch, LED hanging fixture there.

The wagon wheel kind of looking one that hangs down.

Yeah.

And that's hitting the front of that.

And it just turned out really cool in the contemporary.

Oh, my go.

Gosh, that's very cool.

Turned out really fun.

But to find out more about us, head to aroundthehouse online.com.

don't change that dial around the house.

We'll be right back with more lighting secrets from Wendy Glacier.

We will be right back.

Welcome back to the around the HOUSE show, the next generation of home improvement.

Thanks for joining me today.

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monty McRills.

Check them out at montymcrills.com now let's get back to my friend Wendy Glacier from Wendy Glacier Interiors.

We're talking lighting inside your home.

Know that I thought it was like a ha.

Isn't this funny?

Little joke on Wendy.

Yeah.

Nice disco tech.

Nice discotheque.

Excuse me.

So, yeah, that was a good lesson in reading the room better.

Yeah.

We've all had those where I'm like, you were serious.

You know, one other thing I always do and it's a habit of mine, and it's just on function, I usually will over the over light the room by 20 or 30%, you know, okay, they need to be here.

But I will, yeah, I will go well above that.

So if somebody loses an earring, if something gets dropped, if you're cleaning, you can go, bam, I want to see everything.

Yeah, you can always jack it up.

Okay, where'd that go?

And then real life is down here.

But there's a ceiling above it.

So we could sit there and crank it up for those instances.

And I always tell people, I'm like, every room needs to be dimmed and it's designed for that way.

Don't ever just go all the way unless you have a specific task for that.

But that's not what this is meant for.

Agreed.

Which that was my trick that I always did.

And I've seen other lighting designers do that as well.

But it's nice to have that upper ceiling.

Yeah.

When you need it.

It's nice to have for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Did you have you heard about, like how men and women experience lighting differently or blue eyes versus brown eyes?

Experience it differently.

Totally.

And then of course, age goes with that as well.

On the other direction, too, somebody that's 25 versus 55.

Yeah.

That's the truth.

Not that I know what end of life.

No, hold on.

Let me grab my glasses.

Yeah.

So my husband has dark eyes and has olive skin and dark curly hair.

He's handsome, but.

And I am very blonde and very pale, and I have blue eyes.

Every morning, he gets up at 5:15 and comes down here in the kitchen.

I'm looking at my kitchen, and he turns on every blessed light, and I always come down to give him a hug, and we pray together and I say goodbye, and I send him off to work and I have my coffee, and every time I go behind him and turn all like, what?

And he's let there be light.

Like, no, Mark, you're like, this is too much for this time of the day.

But it's the man.

I'm guilty.

And the light dark difference.

And more and more that's being written about.

But I appreciate it because he used to think I was just being a pill, but now, from all the little Instagram things I've sent him, scientific facts out there.

Now, to support your argument, I'm the same guy.

I've got.

I've got a system in there.

Touch screen on that when I come in, and if I hit a diagonal, it cranks the kitchen lights up in the morning.

Yeah, same kind of thing.

I walk down there and I'm, like, half awake, just going for the coffee cup, and I go swipe up, and it's, boom, we're in cleaning mode.

I'm doing what I tell my clients not to do, but I'm not going to sit there and go, kitchen ceiling.

I just know if I do that, it'll kick the kitchen lights on.

It's the one program gesture I have in it, and I just.

It comes on, and I don't care who's over at their house.

They're coming.

Wow, Eric, that's a little harsh.

Yeah.

Yeah, it worked.

It got me to the coffee maker.

That's the thing I think Mark needs.

Damn, I'm waking up.

And I'm like, let me just get a minute.

Yeah, you're like, we're starting a candlelight and working from here, and I'm turning the stage lights on.

I'm like, here in the middle of a movie, and you hear that chunky chunk like a gymnasium light.

I'm that guy going, let there be light.

So, yeah.

So note to all designers.

Think about eye color and morning routines when you're lighting the kitchen.

And that's the thing.

And here's the cool thing, guys, is for any of our Homeowners out there or even contractors that DIY that stuff.

And I mean it's DIY because you're not a lighting designer.

It still is.

But I just recommend to run down to your local independent lighting store, make your new best friend and spend the time and if you have to pay them couple grand to come out and do it, you will get that tenfold in the livability of your home.

Agreed.

I appreciate that you said that too about your local retailer.

Because just watching Carrie and her family run that store and trying to stay alive in the age of the Internet and online people, people shop them all the time.

And by that I mean they're reaching.

Jump on Amazon and go $400 and I can buy it for 22.

Yeah.

Yes, maybe you can.

But it will come in hundred thousand pieces that you have to figure out how to put together correctly.

And if anything is wrong with it, there will be no one for you to call and there will be no way for you to figure it out or troubleshoot.

But if you go see Carrie or another family owned retailer who really understands lighting in whatever area you live in, you're giving jobs to the people in that area.

You can't work at a lighting store and not understand lighting.

So it's not like flipping a hamburger.

You're not talking about a minimum wage job.

You're talking about lighting professionals who have devoted years to the craft to understand it, to know the lines, to understand the best things for the best places and the best effect and the right switches.

This is not child's play.

Anybody can do it.

And I think it's heart.

It's heartbreaking for me to see how our opportunities as people living in homes today, if these stores are not supported and aren't taken care of, experience in our homes will be much lesser experience than if we support these incredible craftspeople and artists and frankly mathematicians who live in our communities and have these beautiful stores in this incredible service.

And it's a difficult thing to try to educate someone about.

No, that lighting that you're getting from Lowe's is going to fail.

The lighting that you're going to get, the Nora from Carrie and Philip lighting at home is not.

And if it does, she call and get you a replacement because she has a relationship with the manufacturer.

And it's just, I guess I'm passionate about it, but like I am too.

I'm just kidding when I said we've won all these great design awards.

But honestly, Carrie was on all of those jobs.

That is not a coincidence.

And These lighting designers are the people that show the electricians how to light the room.

The electricians are no shade towards you electricians out there.

You're the scientists that make sure the power goes to the right place and it meets code.

That's great.

But that's awesome.

You are an integral part of this process.

The lighting designer is as well.

Yeah.

That yahoo who put 28 cans in a recess in a family room is not a lighting design.

Exactly.

And that's.

We have some of the neatest relationships now because Carrie has two things.

She's a woman and she's a lighting designer and an electrician.

A standard old school electrician doesn't care about a lighting designer and sure as heck doesn't care about a woman.

So it's interesting to have Carrie come in there and say what she says.

And then later the electrician will be on site with me for a job walk.

And usually it's a.

He will say, I don't know.

And I look at the contractor and I say, if Carrie's plan is not executed in this home exactly as she intended, we'll have a problem.

Yep.

And then I leave.

And then it's amazing because that electrician is so much nicer when he comes back because he did it the way Carrie asked.

Gorgeous.

And he learned a lot.

And then he starts using all the vocabulary that she uses and starts to have her technique.

And that's the one fun thing too, is that when I look at this is one.

One thing.

It's refreshing.

Up here in the Pacific Northwest, I'm seeing more and more female electricians on the job site.

That's awesome.

It is awesome.

And I think some of that is because we have such heavy electrical places up here because we have like in the Portland metro area where there's thousands of electricians that work for Intel.

Yeah.

And there's on the chip manufacturing.

They're always tweaking stuff around.

And I know of a lot of female electricians that worked out there at some point.

And then at some point they're like, oh, I'm going to go into remodeling or whatever.

And they go off and do their own thing.

But it's refreshing to see that.

And it's really changing the minds of job sites like that as well.

So.

Which is super fun.

And the fun.

The collaboration.

That's what I mean.

I don't care if it's a tile installer.

Exactly.

The framer, whoever it is.

When I hear I've been doing it this way for 30 years and then I start back with my fighting words and go, what's it feel like doing it wrong for 30 years?

They don't really like my answer.

Just kind of smile and nod and think, this might not be a good fit.

But I get back, sometimes, what's it like doing it wrong for 30 years?

I'd feel horrible about it.

Usually not that abrasive when you.

I just call this paid sometimes.

That's cool.

Good for you.

You got to.

We're running out of time here.

There's so much we can talk about lighting, but I think just for people to think, my takeaways on lighting is hire the professional designer to help you with that.

Make sure anything you.

Everything you can dim.

Give yourself the most control about it.

Agreed.

And what you pay for fixtures is like your dishwasher.

The better stuff costs more money.

And the reason why.

Yes.

Cry once.

Yes.

Rather than three times for your vanity light bulbs.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

The stuff you learn.

The stuff you learn.

And.

Yes.

And the reason why that bugs me is one over.

My vanity is out this morning, and.

I'm like, hey, it's a fresh wound.

It is.

It is a fresh wound.

It just is.

Wendy, how do people find you?

Since you're doing projects all across the country and you're waiting for your first Dubai client to fly out there, how do people find you?

You can find me@wendy glacierinteriors.com and Glacier is spelled G, L, A, I, S, T, E, R.

And you can find me the same on Instagram, Wendy Glacier Interiors, and follow all our little adventures, and hopefully you'll find me again on this podcast with my friend Eric again soon.

All right, Wendy, thanks so much.

We always have a great time.

I look down and go, where did the time go?

I know, it's really fun.

Thank you so much.

All right, Wendy, thank you so much for taking the time.

I'm Eric G.

You've been listening to around the House.