Lutron
Lighting Design
You chose the stone. Light it like you meant it.
Light is the finish that reveals every other finish. We design and install architectural lighting that shows your wood, stone, and art the way they looked when you chose them.
Why It Matters
The finest finishes in the house depend on a fixture most people never think about.
A home like yours is full of deliberate choices: quartzite chosen slab by slab, rift-sawn oak, hand-set stone, art you waited years for. What you and your guests actually see is the light falling on them.
A $12 builder-grade can light flattens all of it. Walnut turns muddy, marble goes gray, and a bright spot of glare pulls your eye to the ceiling instead of the room. Architectural lighting costs more per fixture, and it’s the reason everything else looks like what you paid for.
See It
The light you feel.
Thirty seconds from Lutron that says it better than we can: the same room, transformed by nothing but light.
Video: Lutron Electronics
What You’re Paying For
Builder-grade versus architectural, side by side.
Builder-grade can
Architectural fixture
Color
Typically CRI 80 with weak reds. Wood looks muddy, stone looks gray, skin looks tired.
CRI 90 to 95+. Walnut, quartzite, and artwork render the way the designer chose them.
Glare
A bright dot you see from across the room, pulling your eye to the ceiling.
Deep-set, glare-free optics. You see the lit surface, not the light source.
Beam
One wide beam for everything. It lights the floor and little else.
Chosen per surface: narrow for art, wall-wash for stone, grazing for texture.
Consistency
Color drifts fixture to fixture, so one light looks pink and the next looks green.
Tightly matched color across every fixture in the room.
Dimming
Flickers, buzzes, or drops out at low levels.
Smooth to 1%, with warm-dim options that glow like candlelight in the evening.
The ceiling
Large white trims scattered across the ceiling you paid to finish.
Small, trimless apertures that nearly disappear into wood, plaster, or drywall.
How We Design It
Great rooms are lit in layers.
01
Ambient
Soft, indirect light from coves and tape that fills the room without a visible source.
02
Task
Focused light where you work: islands, counters, vanities, and reading chairs.
03
Accent
Narrow, adjustable beams that make art, sculpture, and collections the focal point.
04
Architectural
Wall-washing and grazing that reveal the texture of stone, timber, and plaster.
From Our Projects
Every finish, shown at its best.
The Investment
A small share of the build. Every finish depends on it.
An example for a 6,000 sq ft home, fixtures only:
$12k–36kBuilder-grade cans
$72k–114kArchitectural fixtures
~1.5%The difference on a $5M home
Fixtures we specify
- Ketra
- Rania
- Lumaris
- DMF
- Lotus LED
- Elco
- Lusa
Ranges are industry planning figures for fixtures only. Your design, fixture selections, and ceiling types set the final number. Estimate your home in the Project Planner
Learn More
From the lighting makers.
Videos are published by each manufacturer.
Questions
Lighting design questions.
What’s wrong with standard can lights?
Builder-grade cans are typically around CRI 80, so wood looks muddy and stone looks gray, and their glare pulls your eye to the ceiling. Architectural fixtures render color at CRI 90 to 95+ with deep-set, glare-free optics.
How much does architectural lighting cost?
For a 6,000 sq ft home, fixtures only: builder-grade cans run about $12,000 to $36,000 and architectural fixtures $72,000 to $114,000, roughly 1.5% of a $5 million home.
What fixture brands do you specify?
Ketra, Rania, Lumaris, DMF, Lotus LED, Elco, and Lusa.
When should lighting design start?
During design, before electrical rough-in. Because we also do the electrical, fixture layout, loads, and controls are worked out together.
Lighting Design