Like many other businesses across the country and around the world, our team is working from home while we shelter in place.  For projects in the design phase, that means we continue to move forward on drawings, capturing your selections, and working with engineers and planning departments as their schedules also allow.  

As everyone's safety is our primary concern, we will continue to monitor the recommendations of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Disease Control so that we can do our part to limit the spread of the virus.  We hope that you will all keep your families safe and healthy, and we will return to work at full steam sometime soon.

- Jon Leon Guerrero

As the mornings get less brisk and the chill starts to thaw, there's no better time to start planning for summer night entertaining.  And nothing sets the tone for your summer evening party than dramatic outdoor lighting.

Starting with the distribution of power, professional lighting designers are going to make sure that your lightscapes are properly energized and wired correctly.  These requirements will show in your plan, which can be properly permitted without much cost - and having permits and inspections for outdoor lighting can mean avoiding a fire or other hazard.

Designers also have the experience to choose the best fixtures and use them in the most dramatic and flattering ways.  Getting their help can boost every occasion you host and using lightscapes effectively can make your parties the hit of the block.

- Jon Leon Guerrero

There are so many ways that our clients operate, but one thing is fairly common: The underestimating of the time it takes to complete a design.

Take, for instance, the remodel of a bathroom.  It would be easy to assume that we can put together default selections for a bathroom, and we can.  In fact, we have three themes from which we typically start when someone asks for us to do as much as possible.  But with the volume of selections to make in even the simplest bathroom, the opportunity for personal expression inevitably becomes just too great to ignore.  Our clients can not, and we think should not, resist the chance to change drawer pulls.  Pretty quickly, they are choosing faucets and rain heads, medicine cabinets and shelving, countertops and backsplashes, and before you know it we're changing out the default choice for a Japanese soaking tub.
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As we muster to help those communities closest to us, here is a list we compiled of the best practices for avoiding the dangers that fire leaves behind while you continue to work:

1. Limit your outdoor exposure whenever possible, and keep your indoor spaces sealed as best as you can.  There are many gaseous chemicals that are dangerous to inhale, especially when houses have burned, but the bigger concern is particulate matter that can be lodged in the lungs or find its way into the bloodstream, and avoiding exposure to the ash that floats around outside is the easiest was to avoid those particles.
2. Wear an N95 (or higher)-rated respiratory mask.  That designation is determined by the FDA based on the ability to filter out 95% of particulate matter that is 3 microns wide or greater (by comparison, a red blood cell is 5 microns wide).  Read and follow the guidelines for best use on the product.
3. Change your mask frequently.  Guidelines for how long a mask will last should be on the product packaging.  For more complex respirators, you may be able to change out the HEPA filter, and you should do so as recommended.  
4. Keep your eye on the air quality so you can prepare accordingly.  In our area, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District publishes their data and recommendations every day, and is the authority for what you should do to stay safe.
5. Leave the cleanup to the professionals.  Leaf blowers and other tools that kick up the ash and dust left behind after a fire, and even just the simple act of sweeping, will recirculate the particulate matter in the air and exacerbate exposure.

Here is a New York Times Article  that will give you more detailed information about air quality and the issues that follow a disaster.


- Jon Leon Guerrero