Eluminations

We had pretty much worked up our own lighting plan, but had some nagging questions and things we felt unsure of. We found Sheryl on Unilocal and she was very flexible to work with us on a consulting basis. We had great long meeting and she helped us refine and edit our plan which gave us the confidence that we had everything covered and could move forward.
She is TOTALLY knowledgable and gave us oodles of information and answered all our questions thoroughly without trying to sell us something or give us any kind of pitch. She was responsive to what we wanted and her expertise was invaluable. Highly recommend whether you want a whole lighting plan and products or just some consultation. We were extremely pleased to have found her.
High value for the price. Would definitely use again.

I can not say enough good things about Sheryl. My husband and I bought a 1950s home in the Montclair area of Oakland and after a few months of living here we realized the main living area was missing something crucial: lighting. We weren’t sure what to do as the wood planked ceiling was a major attraction and we just couldn’t see ourselves tearing into it to put up lights (and with two small kids under foot lamps were not an alternative solution). I found Sheryl here on Unilocal and called her right away. She called back promptly and was very flexible in arranging to come see the space. And with my screaming infant and toddler under foot she came up with a great solution to make our space functional during the day and after sunset. To boot, Sheryl even got us a discount on the fixtures and lights and handled all the footwork of ordering our needed supplies. Thanks to Sheryl (and the contractors who used Sheryl’s design specs) our open concept living and dining has unobtrusive, elegant lighting to accommodate how we live in the space. We will be calling Sheryl back for our next task of updating our kitchen.

Sheryl provided lighting consulting services for a large remodel in San Francisco. She responded to my call promptly and was able to schedule a meeting at the property immediately. Her work was thorough and completed within the timeframe indicated. She communicated well with the contractor and provided the detailed mark-​up of plans he needed to provide direction to the electrical subcontractor. Her recommendations added light in the right places and actually saved us some money by specifying better priced fixtures than were provided by the contractor for some fixtures. I noticed a large range of pricing for lighting consultants, Sheryl was fairly priced and provided good value for the investment in her services.

My wife and I designed and built our own custom home in Danville. When it came time to deal with the lighting, we were lost and engaged Cheryl to help us navigate through the vast world of lighting choices. Cheryl was a true professional and there is no way we could have achieved success without her efforts. She is passionate about her work and truly cares about her clients. She spec’d out all the lighting locations for the entire house and recommended everything from the fixtures to the diffusers to the bulbs. As anyone who has built or remodeled their own house can attest, there are a million choices when it comes to this type of stuff and I highly recommend you engage an expert like Cheryl… it will save you time and money and look way better in the end!

I was looking for a Oakland-​based lighting consultant to help us improve the lighting in our 1,100sf loft/​condo in Old Oakland. My husband and I were not able to come to a consensus on what was needed to light our living room with 20ft lofted ceilings and i had spent too long staring at lighting websites not getting anywhere.
I found Sheryl online and she was more than willing to work with us, even though I was worried it would be too small a project for her. First we chatted on the phone, and then she came over for about 90 minutes. She was very helpful talking through all our options, and making recommendations. She gave us a general sense of the pricing so that we would not be surprised by the final price tag. She also offered up other suggestions for how to improve the lighting in the entry area and our bedrooms. We ended up with dimmable LED can lights in the entry and master bedroom — they are 100 times better than our old hanging paper latern! We are also getting architectural uplights (soon to be installed) in the living room (the kind that light up the Lincoln Memorial!).
After her visit, Sheryl wrote up a summary of what we discussed and also drafted an estimate for the lighting fixtures. She also offered up several names of electricians and contractors. We got really good pricing from the first one we called and the father/​son team did a fantastic job with the installation. Sheryl answered a lot of question from me and the contractor via email and even helped arrange the ordering and delivery of the fixtures.

Sheryl came to our house yesterday to help us figure out the lighting for a remodel of our 1920 Oakland house, which includes indoor and outdoor spaces with some rather unique challenges. We had been struggling to figure out the options for weeks, and within 2 hours Sheryl produced some quick drawings and sent us a page of links for products to look at. The world of lighting has changed so much in the last few years, that I’m amazed that we thought we could do this without professional help.
We’ll definitely be calling on Sheryl during the next phase to help us refine our choices.

We just bought a home that had no overhead lighting in the living area or master bedroom. The electricians we spoke to all recommended adding a ridiculous amount of canned lighting. Sheryl came in and confirmed our suspicions that it was going to be overkill for the space. She came up with a plan for both rooms that has turned out beautifully. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone who needs advice on finding a solution to their lighting issues.

My wife and I are renovating a house in San Mateo, removing a wall to forge the former dining and living rooms into a Great Room. Our architect had been mute on matters of lighting so we needed some consulting. Sheryl came over one evening for two hours of consulting, during which she gave some suggested designs, sketched layouts on paper, and showed me some product catalogs. I got out of it exactly what I needed — some education, some confidence we were installing something that’d be reasonable, and some specific ideas for how to improve our initial sketch. It was great Sheryl could come over in the evening to fit my schedule. If anyone needs some consulting on a lighting plan I’d happily endorse Eluminations for that work.

We are a small business in the middle of an office remodel, and Sheryl was fantastic in helping us navigate and select from the more cutting-​edge LED-​based recessed lights that are starting to be available now. The choices out there were daunting, so we were really glad to have her help in narrowing down our choices, and answering all of our questions. She was even able to buy the fixtures wholesale, saving us money. Her experience with these lighting systems was crucial in figuring out what we needed, since all the internet search in the world can’t really tell you how the lighting is going to look in a real-​world setting, especially with a new technology like LED. We are so happy with Sheryl’s service and wouldn’t think twice about hiring her again.

Sheryl came in to help us come up with a lighting design for our small updated condo (850 sq ft), and we couldn’t have been more happy with the results. She came up with a great lighting plan that was much more sophisticated than what we would have ever come up with on our own (or what the electrician would have), and she kept in constant communication with us and our electrician to make sure we were all on the same page in terms of getting the right fixtures, and where everything was supposed to go.
She gave us very detailed layout plans and very timely responses to our questions. If you’re wondering whether you really need a lighting designer (like we were), just know that it was well worth the price to get things looking great the first time. Sheryl Klein definitely delivered, and I would highly recommend her services.