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Speaker 1: house Whisper dot design for more details. All right, we
Speaker 1: are talking today part two of a two part series
Speaker 1: on trends and predictions for twenty twenty five. It's the
Speaker 1: last show, the last weekend in twenty twenty four. I
Speaker 1: do this every year. I've got so much more for you.
Speaker 1: But right now it's top of the hour and it's
Speaker 1: time to go to the phones find out what's going
Speaker 1: on with you and your home. I want to talk
Speaker 1: to Nicole A. Nicole, Welcome home.
Speaker 2: Hi, good morning, Dean, thank you. So my question is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, oh sorry.
Speaker 2: I'm in the process of choosing a kitchen countertop and
Speaker 2: I tend to use bleach based cleaning products regularly. Could
Speaker 2: you recommend a countertop that is resistant to bleach or
Speaker 2: that could stand a frequent cleaning with these kind of products,
Speaker 2: I'm looking for something that's durable and affordable.
Speaker 1: And yeah, yeah, okay. Well, as far as I mean
Speaker 1: being resistant to bleach, about any natural stone will do that. However,
Speaker 1: the bleach is going to affect the seiler that you
Speaker 1: put on the stone, and that means increasing the amount
Speaker 1: of time that you spend resealing the stone. Like on
Speaker 1: granites and things like quartzites. There is some concern that
Speaker 1: people have had when it comes to quartz countertops, meaning
Speaker 1: synthetic countertops with heavy amounts of bleach as well, although
Speaker 1: most quartz countertops, that is, man made synthetic countertops tend
Speaker 1: to be far more resilient to that kind of harsh
Speaker 1: chemical than the natural stones in general in general. So
Speaker 1: I get it. More important to me, though, is what
Speaker 1: you're using your countertops for. You cook a lot that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. Give me some insight there.
Speaker 3: No, not really cooking a lot.
Speaker 2: I mean I do cook, but it's just I like
Speaker 2: to clean. I'm a bit of a germaphoe. Okay, everything
Speaker 2: just gets bleached.
Speaker 1: Okay. Let me ask you this. Do you have anything
Speaker 1: against a dark countertop?
Speaker 2: No other than I have dark floors.
Speaker 1: Okay, but you could put a lighter cabinet in between
Speaker 1: the two if you want it. The only reason I'm
Speaker 1: asking is if you want a natural stone countertop that
Speaker 1: is in fact the ultimate in uh in clean ability.
Speaker 1: If you want something that's truly bomb proof, then you
Speaker 1: should take a look at soapstone countertops. Okay, soapstone is
Speaker 1: it is soft? Now, when I say soft, some people
Speaker 1: run for the hills, like, no, can't have it. It's
Speaker 1: a rock. Okay, it's a rock, all right. So it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's soft as a relative term,
Speaker 1: it's stone. But the thing with soapstone is that it
Speaker 1: is the most dense natural stone that we use for
Speaker 1: counter materials that is available to us on planet Earth.
Speaker 1: Soapstone is so dense. It requires no ceiling, zero ceiling whatsoever.
Speaker 1: You can do anything to it anything. And I speak
Speaker 1: not only from design experience and builder experience, but I
Speaker 1: have soapstone island in my sitting in my own kitchen
Speaker 1: for this very reason, because I do cook a lot. Okay,
Speaker 1: and you remember when we were in school, in chemistry class,
Speaker 1: you were sitting behind those dark countertops and chemistry class
Speaker 1: soapstone and the reason they're there one hundred percent heat resistant.
Speaker 1: You can take. I can take a cast iron skillet
Speaker 1: out of a five hundred degree oven and just set
Speaker 1: it on my soapstone island directly. No trivet, no anything,
Speaker 1: does zero things to the soapstone. I can pour acid,
Speaker 1: wine vinegar all over my soapstone countertop will not etch.
Speaker 1: It cannot be etched by acid, cannot be burnt by
Speaker 1: conventional cooking methods whatsoever, does not need to be sealed.
Speaker 1: And to bring its vibrants back, all we do is
Speaker 1: we'll take a cloth and put a little bit of
Speaker 1: mineral food grade mineral oil like the stuff that you
Speaker 1: use to condition a cutting board, and give it one
Speaker 1: wipe across the surface and boom, all of its vibrants
Speaker 1: right back at you, and it will last that way forever, essentially,
Speaker 1: so you can clean it with just about anything you
Speaker 1: want to clean it with and have the peace of
Speaker 1: mind knowing that with zero porosity, there is no place,
Speaker 1: no place for germs to get below the surface and
Speaker 1: high and as and as a result, as a result
Speaker 1: uh nicole, you don't have to clean it with as
Speaker 1: caustic a material as uh you know, as as you
Speaker 1: would be led to clean other countertops with, because there's
Speaker 1: literally it's like it's like having a stainless steel surface.
Speaker 1: There's literally no place for germs or bacteria to hide
Speaker 1: down in the porosity of the stone. And so there
Speaker 1: it is. It's just that easy to take care of
Speaker 1: and it's that trouble free. So that would be a recommendation.
Speaker 1: The reason I asked, though, the qualifying question, it's not
Speaker 1: going to be for everybody because it's a dark material.
Speaker 1: It comes in absolute black. The lightest that it gets
Speaker 1: is kind of a sea foam blue or green. But
Speaker 1: but it's a darker material. But it's worth checking out.
Speaker 1: You should. You should check it out and look at
Speaker 1: it and just know that, yeah, well, Dean was right,
Speaker 1: that's the most bomb proof material. It can be integrated
Speaker 1: beautifully into a kitchen if you're if you're down for
Speaker 1: the dark countertops, that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's I'm not opposed to dark countertops. Like
Speaker 2: you said, it just seems to go right around the cabinets.
Speaker 3: So that's yeah.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you, Gosh, what to release?
Speaker 1: All right, there you go. Call. It looks like it's
Speaker 1: going to be a good new year for you. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for the call. Great question, great question.
Speaker 1: There are no stupid questions everybody. There are only stupid
Speaker 1: answers from stupid radio hosts, and I try not to
Speaker 1: be either one of those, although you know, not one
Speaker 1: hundred percent. Anyway, more of your calls when we return.
Speaker 4: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 4: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on the program today. We're talking
Speaker 1: about trends and predictions for twenty twenty five. We'll get
Speaker 1: back to that in a bit, but right now I'm
Speaker 1: taking calls. I want to go back to the phones.
Speaker 1: Let's talk to Linda. Hey, Linda, welcome home.
Speaker 3: Oh Dean, so glad you took my call.
Speaker 1: I have a question regarding go ahead.
Speaker 3: Oh sorry, I have a question regarding self cleaning ovens.
Speaker 3: I had an old one, like in nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 3: Oh keeping merit double oven and use the self cleaning
Speaker 3: all the time, all the time. Then I moved here
Speaker 3: and the appliances that people put in iseving new and
Speaker 3: is a oh my goodness, it is a w What
Speaker 3: is that? Anyway, it's a newer unit and I haven't
Speaker 3: used it, and I just recently started hearing about not
Speaker 3: using this self cleaning device because it has such high temperatures,
Speaker 3: which I know it does, that it will destroy the
Speaker 3: heating elements.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, well that's yeah, Okay, So here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Self cleaning ovens are a real thing, and that feature
Speaker 1: is there and it works. However, any modern day oven
Speaker 1: will oven manufacturer will tell you to not overuse the
Speaker 1: self cleaning feature, and because it's true, it was even
Speaker 1: true of the old ones too, But it's true in
Speaker 1: general that the more you use the self cleaning feature,
Speaker 1: the more you kind of wear out the oven. Doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that it's gonna that any self cleaning cycle is
Speaker 1: going to destroy the heating element. It just means that
Speaker 1: the heating element is really designed on an oven to
Speaker 1: go from you know, one hundred plus degrees one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty degrees up to five. Some go to five
Speaker 1: point fifty, but roughly that. But when you self cleaning oven,
Speaker 1: you're ramping that up by another two hundred degrees or so.
Speaker 1: That's why the door locks so that nobody can accidentally
Speaker 1: get access to it. The door locks off because it
Speaker 1: gets above seven hundred degrees inside that oven in order
Speaker 1: to get to carbonize essentially whatever stuff is stuck to
Speaker 1: the inside of the oven. The way that a modern oven,
Speaker 1: a lot of models that are coming out, like literally
Speaker 1: last year, this year and so on, make up for
Speaker 1: that is a lot of them will have a what
Speaker 1: they call a missed cleaning feature, in which you either
Speaker 1: it's either built in, you know, connected a water line
Speaker 1: connected to the oven that steams it, or you can
Speaker 1: actually fill up a steam reservoir, or you can just
Speaker 1: simply put a pan with water in the oven and
Speaker 1: allow it to steam out the oven. That's not as
Speaker 1: intense as the self cleaning function. In fact, you don't
Speaker 1: have to kick it into self cleaning mode. But what
Speaker 1: it will do is if you do that more frequently,
Speaker 1: then you can avoid the major you know, what we
Speaker 1: call the nuclear option on cleaning the oven using the
Speaker 1: self cleaning feature. So yeah, there is a there's amount
Speaker 1: of truth to the fact that a self cleaning feature
Speaker 1: will put does put a lot of stress on an oven.
Speaker 1: Now have I any experience whatsoever personally with self cleaning
Speaker 1: a newer oven messing it up zero? I have no
Speaker 1: personal experience with that whatsoever. I do know this, though,
Speaker 1: that every appliance guru I've ever talked to has said
Speaker 1: that the older the oven gets in age, probably the
Speaker 1: less you should use the self cleaning feature, because it
Speaker 1: does put a lot of stress in strain. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like you got a Okay, I've got
Speaker 1: a fifteen year old car with three hundred thousand miles
Speaker 1: on it. Maybe not the best idea to drive it
Speaker 1: cross country at one hundred miles an hour because it
Speaker 1: puts a lot of stress and strain on the mechanisms
Speaker 1: that are aging there. So I don't see if there's
Speaker 1: any reason to avoid self cleaning. But I would always
Speaker 1: just tell people, and I try and practice this myself,
Speaker 1: you know, just deal with the little spills gradually as
Speaker 1: you go, and use the steam cleaning function if it
Speaker 1: has one, or just get some internet advice as to
Speaker 1: how to do that yourself if it doesn't have one,
Speaker 1: and avoid the self cleaning as much as possible. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've got a really good double oven. I've got a
Speaker 1: ge profile double even that I absolutely love, and we've
Speaker 1: never used the self cleaning feature on it because you know,
Speaker 1: I just tend to I do my best to keep
Speaker 1: up with the little spills and the issues as we
Speaker 1: go so that we don't have to throw it into
Speaker 1: nuclear mode.
Speaker 3: That's what I was doing the other night. I was
Speaker 3: cleaning it with spots and stuff that I had gotten
Speaker 3: on the even. But you know, I thought about the
Speaker 3: thing that I was reading about the self cleaning, right, Oh,
Speaker 3: this is a question for Dean, and I just wanted
Speaker 3: to make sure that I was doing the right thing
Speaker 3: by use it or not using it. So far, in
Speaker 3: the fouries i've lived here, I haven't used it, but
Speaker 3: by Ovin is spotless at the same time, so you know,
Speaker 3: I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go, There you go. I mean I
Speaker 1: kind of look at it. I think if you just
Speaker 1: kind of keep in your mind that it's the nuclear option.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, Heaven forbid that we ever have
Speaker 1: to use the nuclear option. That's kind of my approach
Speaker 1: to it. I will, I will not the real nuclear option,
Speaker 1: but my oven, you know, uh, you know if I
Speaker 1: have to, you know, because I like to keep it
Speaker 1: clean oven. So if I've gotten to the point where
Speaker 1: if something has happened in there, like something exploded or
Speaker 1: something something that I just literally like the normal methods
Speaker 1: aren't cleaning it, then gosh, dang it, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm going to lock it up and use the self
Speaker 1: cleaning mode. But I don't I'm not going to use
Speaker 1: it regularly, and I'm going to do everything I can
Speaker 1: to avoid using it because I know the kind of
Speaker 1: stress and strain it puts on the system itself. That's all.
Speaker 1: It's just simply that much. It's just that everybody shouldn't
Speaker 1: run to first.
Speaker 3: I believe that. That's why my old nineteen seventy eight
Speaker 3: Okeith Merritt last fits for long. I only used it
Speaker 3: once a year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 3: I'm grateful for that, but I didn't know that this
Speaker 3: was a problem possibly in the future. So anyway, regardless,
Speaker 3: I like your answer, and I appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 1: Thanks Linda, have a great new year. Thank you for
Speaker 1: the question. All right, y'all, when we come back more
Speaker 1: trends end predictions for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 4: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1: You are Home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper. That
Speaker 1: is me. We are spending the final weekend of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four talking about trends and predictions in the world
Speaker 1: of design, home design and decor and so on. For you.
Speaker 1: I've got a big list and I'm just moving through
Speaker 1: as we go here. So let's get back to it. Okay,
Speaker 1: here's one that I actually am and continue to be
Speaker 1: excited about. What is hot coming in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: It has already been a thing in twenty four and
Speaker 1: twenty three before it keeping rooms and public facing cooking. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's two different things, but let me break it up
Speaker 1: for you. Keeping room. Do you know what a keeping
Speaker 1: room is? A keeping room is a very very old
Speaker 1: concept that I am thrilled is making a big return
Speaker 1: because the time has come for because it works with
Speaker 1: us as a culture now. A keeping room dates back
Speaker 1: all the way to a colonial America I mean a
Speaker 1: time when the hearth, the fire that basically, you know,
Speaker 1: is what is keeping us all warm and cooking our
Speaker 1: food was the center of life and activity in a home. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's literally why to this day we still use those
Speaker 1: phrases like hearth and home, right, as as as as
Speaker 1: examples or ways of expressing how important the centrality of
Speaker 1: home is to us. Hearth, hearth and home. The hearth
Speaker 1: over the and around the fire is about this era
Speaker 1: in which you know, there's no central heating, and there's
Speaker 1: no isolated kitchens. There's a big old fire, and there's
Speaker 1: a pot of stew or meat roasting on that fire.
Speaker 1: And also everyone else in the household is nearby, now
Speaker 1: not nearby sitting at a table, but nearby, sitting near
Speaker 1: and or around the fire, keeping warm. Right. So, as
Speaker 1: this architectural concept continues to develop prior to central heating
Speaker 1: and all of that kind of stuff, these areas developed
Speaker 1: into actual rooms, keeping rooms that are directly adjacent to
Speaker 1: the kitchen area. So what is a keeping room in
Speaker 1: the twenty first century? Some of you might equate it
Speaker 1: to I mean, a lot of people have the potential
Speaker 1: of having a keeping room. Let me say this because
Speaker 1: you have a breakfast room or a morning room and
Speaker 1: it's a relatively smaller space that you've got a smaller
Speaker 1: table sitting in, and that is sort of the twenty
Speaker 1: first century equivalent of the keeping room. However, a breakfast
Speaker 1: room or a morning room is not a keeping room
Speaker 1: if there's a table sitting in it for you to
Speaker 1: have your meals at. In fact, I would go so
Speaker 1: far as to say, and I've seen this again and
Speaker 1: again and again as I've walked through your home, that
Speaker 1: the breakfast room or the morning room is an overused, small,
Speaker 1: kind of cramped area, and the dining room is sitting
Speaker 1: there completely abandoned and neglected. Part of that is because
Speaker 1: the home itself wasn't built well for the dining room
Speaker 1: to really be accessible and lovely, or we're hanging on
Speaker 1: to some over run concept of dining rooms having to
Speaker 1: be this formal, beautiful thing that we don't want to
Speaker 1: use every day. I personally for most of the mainstream
Speaker 1: homes that we are asked to consult on and or
Speaker 1: do redesign work for, I like the idea of you
Speaker 1: using every home, every room in your home, and nothing
Speaker 1: just sitting there dead as it were, So, I like
Speaker 1: the idea of finding a way that you can eat
Speaker 1: your meals in your dining room, you know, dining in
Speaker 1: the dining room, and that includes breakfast and lunch as well.
Speaker 1: So whenever possible, we try and create a dining room that,
Speaker 1: sure it can handle the feast and the more formal,
Speaker 1: entertaining occasion, but is also super pleasant to actually be
Speaker 1: in and have smaller, less formal, more intimate meals in. Right.
Speaker 1: So setting that aside, that turns us back to this
Speaker 1: space that has been allocated as the morning room. And
Speaker 1: I don't get me wrong, I have no issue with
Speaker 1: a morning room and a little cafe table and all
Speaker 1: of that. But that space could be, under the skillful
Speaker 1: hands of a remodeled designer, could be transformed into a
Speaker 1: keeping room. Now the difference would be this. The difference
Speaker 1: would be, instead of cafe, another dining area set there.
Speaker 1: A chair or maybe two chairs, comfortable chairs would be
Speaker 1: sitting there, maybe a couple of a chair or two
Speaker 1: with a table a small table in between them, facing
Speaker 1: and oriented towards the kitchen. Because we've come to the
Speaker 1: place now with our open concept plans of kitchen and
Speaker 1: family room being quite often all integrated together in this
Speaker 1: keeping room space. It's not there to keep warm in
Speaker 1: the traditional sense of staying near the hearth. But if
Speaker 1: we interpret the heart as kitchen, then a keeping room
Speaker 1: is literally a space for somebody who isn't in the
Speaker 1: way of the cook. Okay, you're not in the kitchen proper,
Speaker 1: you're not sitting there prepping and helping out with the meal,
Speaker 1: but you are interacting with whoever is in the kitchen
Speaker 1: in the most comfortable and natural way possible. That is
Speaker 1: a keeping room, and it really is a brilliant concept
Speaker 1: if you can pull it off. And it's a super
Speaker 1: comfortable concept if you can pull it off, because we
Speaker 1: all love to spend time in, you know, interacting with
Speaker 1: people who are you know, sometimes working for us on
Speaker 1: our behalf preparing meals in the kitchen. So what is
Speaker 1: hot for twenty twenty five That is fully legit in
Speaker 1: my opinion, the keeping room. The idea of keeping rooms
Speaker 1: is growing in popularity once again, stretching all the way back,
Speaker 1: finding its heritage in the early colonial days when literally
Speaker 1: you'd want to be in there to stay warm. Now
Speaker 1: it's an application of that connectivity and that relationship, and
Speaker 1: they're very, very elegant. They can be elegant and beautiful,
Speaker 1: they're informal, and it's really a great way to go.
Speaker 1: And this ties in with the second idea, which is
Speaker 1: public facing cooking and what do we mean by that
Speaker 1: straight And this is not about something that you buy
Speaker 1: versus anything else. But if you're thinking about a kitchen remodel,
Speaker 1: then this is a question that I ask every single
Speaker 1: one of my clients who are pondering an island or
Speaker 1: a peninsula, and that is it's been very popular in
Speaker 1: the past, especially they started doing this in the eighties
Speaker 1: and in the nineties that you know, we're showing off
Speaker 1: a kitchen island by putting a kitchen sink in the island,
Speaker 1: big sink in the island, and maybe that works for
Speaker 1: you with your orientation of your kitchen. In some islands,
Speaker 1: a kitchen sink will work in this sense without getting
Speaker 1: in the way of anything else happening as far as
Speaker 1: social interaction. But if you can imagine that there are
Speaker 1: other people with you there in the kitchen area, or
Speaker 1: people in the adjoining room or maybe a keeping room,
Speaker 1: the question becomes this, do you want to spend your
Speaker 1: whole time cooking with your back to everybody else and
Speaker 1: then face them when you're doing the dishes. Or would
Speaker 1: you rather spend all that time cooking facing the room,
Speaker 1: facing the family room, facing your guests, facing your friends,
Speaker 1: interacting with them face to face as you cook, and
Speaker 1: then spend your time with your back turn to somebody
Speaker 1: while you're doing the dishes. I have found that ninety
Speaker 1: percent of my clients prefer when given the option, they'd
Speaker 1: rather face everybody while they're cooking and have the sink
Speaker 1: back behind them. So what is a trend that has
Speaker 1: been moving forward now consistently for a number of years,
Speaker 1: but is very very alive and well coming into twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five for a kitchen remodel, It's the idea that
Speaker 1: we build either the peninsula or the island in such
Speaker 1: a way that you can stand in the kitchen and
Speaker 1: cook and be a part of what's happening all the
Speaker 1: other conversations that are happening around you, instead of having
Speaker 1: your back to everybody and kind of being disconnected from
Speaker 1: that experience. So hot for twenty twenty five, keeping rooms
Speaker 1: and public facing cooking. Think about keeping the sink on
Speaker 1: the outside wall, keeping the sink back behind you, or
Speaker 1: to the side of you, and if it's all possible,
Speaker 1: maybe put that cook top, not the oven so much,
Speaker 1: but the cook top in such a place that you
Speaker 1: can stand and fa your friends and your family as
Speaker 1: you prepare their food. It just enhances that experience so
Speaker 1: much more. All Right, when we come back after the break,
Speaker 1: let's talk about lamps and lighting fixtures. What's the story
Speaker 1: with them? For twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 4: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1: Hey. We're talking about trends and predictions for design, decore
Speaker 1: and so on for twenty twenty five. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: push aside the bs talk about the brilliant and cautionary
Speaker 1: tales on some of the other things as well. So
Speaker 1: stick with me as we continue on in our list. Also, though,
Speaker 1: right here at the top of the hour, coming up,
Speaker 1: right after the next break, we're going to go back
Speaker 1: to the phones. We got room for you. The number
Speaker 1: to reach me eight three three two. Ask Dean eight
Speaker 1: three three the number two Ask Dean eight three three two.
Speaker 1: Ask Dean. It's just that simple. Anything you want to
Speaker 1: talk about regarding your home, anything that's got you scratch
Speaker 1: in your head, design, decor, construction, DIY you name it, landscape, inside, outside,
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. We'll put our heads together.
Speaker 1: I'll help you out, I promise. All right, that's coming
Speaker 1: up right after the next break, So producer Richie's standing
Speaker 1: by ready to take your calls. All right, let's get
Speaker 1: back to our list of things that are hot and
Speaker 1: not for twenty twenty five, coming into time to spend
Speaker 1: transforming your home. This is true. This is on a
Speaker 1: lot of lists, and it's true. It's true and legit
Speaker 1: statement lamps and statement lighting fixtures, absolutely true. Now is
Speaker 1: it a trend for this year only in the sense
Speaker 1: that it's been neglected in years past. But you know
Speaker 1: this is not new, it's not anything new. It's actually
Speaker 1: something much much older that needs to be brought back
Speaker 1: in its strength. Because here's the thing, here's the thing
Speaker 1: that's not hot this year. Finally, finally, recess can lighting.
Speaker 1: Excessive use of recess can lighting everywhere in the house.
Speaker 1: I know you've heard me talk about this before. You know, no,
Speaker 1: I do not hate recess can lights. I just want
Speaker 1: to use them where they should go, and not use
Speaker 1: them where they don't belong. And so the world's obsession
Speaker 1: with recessed can lighting in modern homes has completely neglected
Speaker 1: and caused us to lose touch with our sense of
Speaker 1: what a great lamp and a great lighting fixture does.
Speaker 1: And you know, we live in a world where there
Speaker 1: are recessed can lights, and I say, thank goodness for that.
Speaker 1: I'm super happy about that. Okay, I'm not happy though.
Speaker 1: That has caused us to neglect the other side of
Speaker 1: the coin. There are two kinds of lights in the world. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is This is house whisper one oh one lighting
Speaker 1: made simple. It doesn't get any simpler than this. There
Speaker 1: are only two kinds of lighting fixtures in the world.
Speaker 1: Are you ready? Here we go. There are lighting fixtures
Speaker 1: whose job it is to throw light out and not
Speaker 1: draw attention to themselves. And then there are lighting fixtures
Speaker 1: that not only throw light out but also draw attention
Speaker 1: to themselves. There's two kinds, okay, perfect example of each
Speaker 1: would be a recessed can light. A recessed can light
Speaker 1: is recessed or supposed to be recessed, by the way,
Speaker 1: more on that. In a moment, A recess can light
Speaker 1: is rest because it's not supposed to be drawing attention
Speaker 1: to itself in any way, shape or form. It's just
Speaker 1: stuck there up in the ceiling doing its job throwing
Speaker 1: light down onto the thing that we want lit. And
Speaker 1: that's its job, not to draw attention to itself, but
Speaker 1: to draw attention to the thing that is lit. The
Speaker 1: other form would be, you know, like a chandelier over
Speaker 1: a dining table. This is a light fixture whose job
Speaker 1: it is to light the area around it adequately, sufficiently, romantically,
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be, but also say hey, hey, hey,
Speaker 1: look at me. Aren't I cute? Aren't I elegant? Aren't
Speaker 1: I gorgeous? These are the two kinds of things that
Speaker 1: we have at our disposal. That's it. I've simplified your
Speaker 1: entire lighting design world in that sense. But it is
Speaker 1: so critical that you understand the difference between the two
Speaker 1: because us these days, where what I find in most
Speaker 1: homes that I go into is that an electrician has
Speaker 1: gone crazy or a contractor has gone crazy and thrown
Speaker 1: recess can lights all over the place and kind of
Speaker 1: just pushed aside the idea of decorative lighting fixtures, floor lamps,
Speaker 1: ceiling fixtures hanging down those kinds of things. Pendants, you know,
Speaker 1: and we live in a time in which so many
Speaker 1: lighting fixtures are just absolute artwork and affordable at the
Speaker 1: same time that it's a shame that we're neglecting them. Also,
Speaker 1: overhead recess can lighting the worst way to light a
Speaker 1: room in general. Okay, number one, it breaks the number
Speaker 1: one rule of lighting design in home architecture, which is
Speaker 1: we don't light rooms. We light things, okay, not rooms things. Second,
Speaker 1: the recess can light just just straight down light over
Speaker 1: you know, that kind of lights up a room like
Speaker 1: a warehouse. Not attractive lighting. It removes shadows. And you're like,
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. I want light because I want light. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but shadow is what creates texture, and texture creates romance
Speaker 1: and beauty in a space. And so we don't want
Speaker 1: to purge a room of its shadows. We want to
Speaker 1: be bright and useful, but we don't want to get
Speaker 1: rid of the shadows because that makes everything flat and
Speaker 1: muddy and boring. And so recess can lights get over
Speaker 1: used in that sense. Also, and this is the thing. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I get very upset about this, and I'm about to
Speaker 1: I'm about to make a lot of you feel bad
Speaker 1: about what you've got on your ceiling. And I apologize
Speaker 1: for this, but I'm just I'm just being an honest friend. Builders.
Speaker 1: It's not your fault. Builders are using these hucks, these
Speaker 1: led puck lights, okay, because they are cheap. Bottom line,
Speaker 1: they're cheap. And are they what are they? They're sold
Speaker 1: as super convenient and super inexpensive and all you know,
Speaker 1: and super awesome. And what they are is, despite the
Speaker 1: housing that goes up inside the ceiling, the puck light
Speaker 1: is the light itself. It has a lens, and that
Speaker 1: lens is the light and it's right there even with
Speaker 1: the surface of the ceiling, which means when those lights
Speaker 1: go on glare you see them, you're staring. It's as
Speaker 1: if you had a room full of lamps and you
Speaker 1: took off all the lamp shades and now you're just
Speaker 1: staring right at the light bulbs. And that's glare. And
Speaker 1: there's nothing nice about glare. And it also breaks the
Speaker 1: rule that a recess candlight's job is to go away
Speaker 1: and not draw attention to itself. Well, you can't not
Speaker 1: see this glary thing sitting up on the ceiling. So
Speaker 1: what are you suggesting thee Well, I am suggesting a
Speaker 1: return to the classic and still very very much the
Speaker 1: right way to do recessed can lighting. The key here
Speaker 1: is recessed. The light source in that recessed can light
Speaker 1: should be up up up above the ceiling line, up
Speaker 1: inside the housing, so that when it is on, you
Speaker 1: are not looking directly at it. You're getting the light
Speaker 1: coming out, but you are not staring directly at the fixture.
Speaker 1: And then, of course there are other things we should
Speaker 1: be directing it here, there and everywhere, wall washing and
Speaker 1: so on that you know I've talked about and we'll
Speaker 1: talk about again in the new year in our lighting
Speaker 1: design shows. But the point is this a trend, thank goodness,
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty five, this is catching on more and
Speaker 1: more among designers who are insisting on this. Clients use
Speaker 1: far less recess can lighting number one. Number two, the
Speaker 1: recessed can lighting that they use is recessed up above
Speaker 1: the ceiling line, so that we don't have to stare
Speaker 1: at those glowing pucks of glare. And three a return
Speaker 1: to lamp shopping. Beautiful floor lamps, table lamps, reading lamps,
Speaker 1: and hanging fixtures from the ceiling of every imaginable shape
Speaker 1: and size. And you know, it is the golden age
Speaker 1: of lamps and lighting fixture design. Go to any excellent
Speaker 1: lamp shop, be it Lamps Plus or a place you
Speaker 1: know where a higher end lighting design happens. Go and
Speaker 1: see what's there, see what's available, and start dreaming about
Speaker 1: the kind of light that can be created in a room.
Speaker 1: Very very hot trend. And it is a trend because
Speaker 1: we're moving out of this over use time. But it's
Speaker 1: a trend that I'm hoping fingers crossed is not just
Speaker 1: simply going to rise and fall again, but that is
Speaker 1: here to stay. Why Because it's proper architectural lighting of
Speaker 1: a space period period has nothing to do with its popularity.
Speaker 1: It's in, it's out. There is a right way to
Speaker 1: light a space and a wrong way to light a space.
Speaker 1: We've been doing it the wrong way for a long time.
Speaker 1: It's time to get back to doing it the right way.
Speaker 1: So give yourself some freedom and do yourself a huge
Speaker 1: favor and spend some time shopping lamps and lighting fixtures
Speaker 1: at a really good lighting store and forego the recess
Speaker 1: can lights except for their absolute necessity where they are
Speaker 1: needed most. There you go, all right, Well, you get back.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about flooring. Flooring trends. There is a strong
Speaker 1: one that I absolutely love. We will talk about that
Speaker 1: when we return to the subject, but right after the break,
Speaker 1: we're going back to the phones. Your home Dean Sharp,
Speaker 1: the House Whisper on KFI. This has been Home with
Speaker 1: Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast
Speaker 1: on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six
Speaker 1: to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from nine
Speaker 1: to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio app.