Custom & luxury lighting
At Northwest Wattage we strive to lead the way in our industry with design, style, and execution of work. Lighting is where all three show up at once — the layout, the fixtures, the dimming, and the control that ties it together. We design it, install it, and program it, in Coeur d’Alene and across the Inland Northwest.
Design, style, execution
You will never notice the wire in the wall. You will notice the light every single evening — whether the island is bright enough to cook under, whether the chandelier lands centered over the fireplace, whether the whole room dims down to something worth sitting in.
That is why we treat lighting as design work and not as a fixture count. We walk the plans early, while walls are still open and things can still move. Where does the light need to be, and what is it for? Which fixtures are the ones people will look at, and which ones should disappear into the ceiling? What gets its own switch, what gets grouped, and what should dim?
Then we execute it. Layouts get measured, not eyeballed. Cans line up. Pendants hang plumb and even. Trims and switch plates go on straight and clean. With over 20 years in the residential and commercial electrical field we have the skill set, equipment, and attention to detail it takes to deliver a quality product on time — and on a lighting package, the detail is the whole job.
How a room gets lit
One ceiling fixture doing all the work is what makes a nice room feel flat. Good lighting is layers — general light, feature light, task light, accent light — each on the right control, so you can turn the room up for cooking and down for company.
The base layer. Cans laid out to the room and the ceiling rather than dropped on a grid — spaced off the walls so cabinets and counters get light instead of shadows, and worked in around timber beams and framing so the ceiling still reads clean.
The fixtures people actually look at: pendants over an island, a cluster in a stairwell, a chandelier over a fireplace. Boxes get placed to the finished countertop and centerline, blocking goes in before drywall, and heights get set so the run hangs level and the sightline stays open.
Light where the work happens — under uppers, over a wet bar, along a vanity. Runs are fed and switched separately from the overheads, and drivers and transformers get put somewhere serviceable instead of buried behind finish work.
The layer that gives a room depth: light tucked into a cove, washed up a beamed or barrel ceiling, or grazing stone. It has to be roughed in early — the detail only works if the channel, the feed, and the dimming were planned before the finish went on.
Wine cellars, glass cabinetry, closets, built-ins. Small fixtures, tight tolerances, and wiring that has to be invisible in the finished piece — so we coordinate with the cabinet shop and get the feeds in before the millwork lands.
Entries, soffits, decks, paths, and the front of the house. Fixtures and boxes rated for what North Idaho weather actually does, circuits and controls set up so the outside comes on with the inside, and the whole thing wired to code.
Recent work
Real projects, real photos — kitchens, cellars, baths and great rooms across Coeur d’Alene and the surrounding area.
Accent lighting worked into an arched stone entry so the bottle display carries the room.
Cans laid out to a radial beam ceiling — light on the room, nothing fighting the timber.
Pendants, recessed and daylight balanced across an open kitchen and living space.
Display racking lit from inside the millwork, with the wiring hidden in the cabinetry.
Pendants set to the sink and the stone, hung at a height that lights a face properly.
Under-cabinet task light on its own control, fed and switched apart from the overheads.
Lighting control
A lighting package is only as good as the switch on the wall. Layers do not do you any good if the only way to use them is to flip six switches and guess. That is what control is for.
We install and program Lutron dimming and lighting control — dimmers and keypads, room scenes, whole-home systems, and wall panels like the one pictured. Circuits get planned around how the room is actually used, so a keypad can take a great room from full-bright down to one soft layer with a single button.
The part most people skip is the programming. A control system that shipped in a box with default labels gets abandoned in a month. We set the scenes, tune the dim levels, label the buttons in plain language, and then walk you through it before we leave — so the system gets used instead of bypassed.
It gets specified up front, too. Dimming has to match the fixtures and the drivers, and neutrals and control wire have to be in the wall before the drywall goes on. Bring us in at rough-in and it goes in clean the first time.
Ready when you are
The earlier we look at the plans, the more we can do with them. Call Jason, or send over the drawings and we will walk the lighting with you.