The client approached my desk, clearly unhappy. Her new granite countertops didn’t look as handsome in her kitchen as she had expected. She thought maybe the fabricator had installed the wrong slab. I sent our project manager to the job site, paperwork in hand, to check. He confirmed that she did get the Santa Cecilia – very popular in 2005 – she’d chosen. The problem was her lighting, which was making the heavily patterned gold and brown stone look downright ugly. If tunable lighting had been available back then, her problem could have been solved with simple user-operated color controls. Chances are, her guests would have looked better too, and her kitchen turned into a more welcoming space.
That technology — and other smart home-enabled lighting advances that enhance aesthetics, energy efficiency and wellness — are available now and, according to home improvement platform Houzz, trending strongly in remodeling projects. “In 2022, light fixtures were the most popular technology item among renovating homeowners,” said Mitchell Parker, Houzz senior editor. “Even more notable is the share of homeowners who opted for smart lighting, which can be controlled from a mobile device. It grew from 14% in 2021 to 17% in 2022.”
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