My wife loves candles. Anytime we have guests over and it is even close to dusk, she will run around the house lighting candles everywhere. I agree they look great, but I do not really like the threat of fire, or the carcinogenic byproducts many candles give off. I know, I am a party pooper. Thankfully, Philips, sees things my way and has a lineup of nifty LED “candles.” The Aurelle LED Candles consist of a frosted glass cover, light base, recharger and adaptor. The cover is available in four decorative shapes; round, triangle, square and tulip. I think the tulip one is pretty cool myself. The light even flickers for a true candle look. Each candle is reported to run for about 10 hours on a full charge. I found a set of four online for about $70 at Skymall of all places.
Update: My wife thinks the color of these is not convincing. I still think they are cool, but their glow is a little too yellow-ish to be fully convincing when they are in a clear or frosted votive. I am going to play around with putting them behind colored candle holders and I think that will do the trick.

Michael Singer over at cnet News posted an article about a company called GNR8. The company, which specializes in swanky modern lighting, has basins and yes, bathtubs that are illuminated. This gives mood lighting a whole new twist. Probably not ideal for your vintage home. However, if your home is cutting edge modern, this might be just the thing. These tubs are great for putting your unsuspecting date in the mood when they need to use the bathroom. Just turn the tub on with a nice velvety blue glow and have a Barry White cd playing in the background. This line of thinking may partly explain how GNR8’s products wound up on MTV’s “Real World” too. Visit GNR8, where you can order their products online. Prices for the tub range from $1400-$2500 depending on lighting system. Sinks are available too for $250 to $500.

Lighting in our house has sadly become the laughing stock of the neighborhood. It consists mainly of really heinously ugly “vintage” fixtures, and in many cases, bare bulbs. Nothing says Spanish Casa like a couple exposed wires with a bulb hanging from them! In my hunt for some dark bronze fixtures I came across LBL Lighting. They are a lighting manufacturer that makes some very high quality, mostly very modern lights. They have dozens of styles to choose from, giving great design flexibility. LBL also makes some ceiling lights, chandeliers, and semi-flush mounts in addition to their line of track, monorail and mono-point lighting. Their nickel finish makes for a very modern look, while their bronze finish gives off a modern yet aged vibe.
I found awesome service, a helpful website and incredibly reasonable pricing from one of their distributors: Arcadian Lighting in California. They currently offer free ground shipping to the lower 48.
You can check also out LBL’s full line-up at the LBL Lighting website.

Lighting can make or break the ambience created inside and even outside your home. Color Kinetics, with offices in Boston, the UK, and China, is one of the latest firms to leverage the benefits of LED technology to create some unique lighting effects. A lot of their web samples are commercial, however many of the products are applicable to residential use as well. Whether you are looking for a subtle color wash on a wall, or you’re going for the full Las Vegas effect, Color Kinetics has you covered. Best of all, LED uses only a fraction of the energy that traditional incandescent lightbulbs use, and they last far longer.

Photo courtesy of Color Kinetics