And then there was light

So the latest decision sucking up our time is how to light this great new house.

Our architect started with a plan using a lot of recessed lights with MR-16 bulbs. Then, after our initial plans came in over budget, we revised the lighting plan to use flushmounted track lighting that gave us more flexibility in the placement of lights along with the hope of some cost savings.

Well, we had our walk-through with the electrician on Wednesday to confirm placement for the lights, switches, outlets, etc. We posed a couple questions to him:

- Are we really saving money with the track lighting?
- Do each of the rooms have the right amount of light?
- And, where do we have opportunities to contribute to our LEED certification with either Energy Star fixtures, fluorescent or LED lights?

It's our understanding that we need 4 Energy Star, fluorescent or LED lights in "high traffic" areas of the house (e.g., hallways, kitchen, family room).

After that conversation, Stu and I sat down to revisit the electrical plan with a real sense of urgency since the electrician was starting wiring that afternoon. Nothing like a little pressure to accelerate the decision-making process.

Our salvation came in the form of a recommendation from our contractor to Linda Jacobson at Muska Lighting in St. Paul. We sat down with Linda for a couple hours walking through all the iterations of the lighting plans. We were able to confirm that we had the lighting "right" in a lot of areas (whew!) but also had opportunities to cut down costs by either reducing the number or type of lights we were using (yeah!). She also had some really "neat" suggestions for lighting (e.g., install flood lights on dimmer in the backyard to give the feeling of a full moon).

We are also able to identify a number of places in the house to use lighting that qualifies for LEED certification. For example, we talked about using fluorescent blubs in the candeliers over the dining room table and in the front hall, low-voltage LED's or fluorescent bulbs over the penisula in the kitchen, and a combination of line-voltage MR-16 cans and low-voltage LEDs in the main hallway. Still need to confirm the details, but definitely feeling better about things.

We definitely walked out of our meeting feeling more comfortable with our lighting plan. Now, we just need to get the "tweaks" to the electrician ASAP on Monday since he's already started work. Again, no pressure!

Many more decisions await us, but at least I walked away from our meeting with Linda with more peace of mind than I have had in quite awhile. Next big set of decisions...cabinets.