Hello, you guys. Oh, my gosh. I am so excited. I cannot wait for today. So today I am recording live from Metro lighting. This episode is all about women in the industry, all about entrepreneurs. how we are breaking barriers and really standing in our power for the positions that we take. So Metro lighting for me really, really helped catapult my career years and years ago. So every time I come back to St. Louis, I really like to stop in, check in with them and see how they're going. And this episode is super special because not only am I here to tour the showroom to see some of our favorite lighting fixtures, some of the furniture, some of the beautiful Speaking of, the beautiful wall that one of the employees' daughters painted. So there's so much that's going on in the showroom, but I am going to be with Tamara, who I have known, who is a lighting specialist here in St. Louis, and we're going to go tour. Everyone, welcome, Tamara. Hi. Welcome to our showroom. I'm pretty proud of it, as you know, and I'm excited to be a part of this. yeah let's see something special that natural lighting has so we're actually in the front you guys we're like in the window display right now to see this all of these colors in here are popping and this space reminds me of exactly what rachel morty talked about in our last episode about color drenching there is so much color drenching that is going on would you not agree tamra It is. People are absolutely in love with these wild, vibrant patterns and colors. You know, for years we saw a huge trend where a lot of stuff was beige. And now we've just really exploded out of that. We're like, enough with the beige. Beige is a great base layer, but we can do so much better. And we can do that through art, through lighting, through accessories. But these pops of color, that's what makes the room live. Yeah, let's go see some of this amazing stuff. So we're gonna venture through this back area here and see what kind of a beautiful lighting. Metro lighting has always been on the frontier of the best selections that you can see in the industry from just the entry of their showroom with the pops of gold, these larger chandeliers and some of the beautiful fixtures that just have whole families with them. So show us what's some of your most popular that you have going on. So St. Louis still tends to be a traditional town, but we have a lot of customers who are really comfortable breaking out and trying new things. So we're getting to do a lot of stuff like this, these beautiful glass cut and crystal pieces. And we're mixing those with metals, sometimes multiple metals. We're gonna see a lot more casual mixing on these pieces. And all of these come with different size families, right? So you can have a flush mount or... Absolutely. So you may not have the dining room table to accommodate a fixture this wide, but this fixture comes in several sizes and finishes. So you can still have that great look, but you can certainly make it proportionate to the house. So Metro Lighting has always been known about working with residential builders, homeowners, designers. So it's all about the decorative lighting. So if someone comes in here with no lighting experience and they need, let's say a chandelier for a ceiling, maybe that's eight foot or nine foot, or like you said, all of those different families, how do you accommodate that? So you're going to find that everyone here in our showroom is very knowledgeable. We're ALA certified, which is American Lighting Association certified. So we're going to make sure that your light, not only is it going to be beautiful, but it's actually going to light your room. It's going to fill the need because no matter how gorgeous your light is, if you can't see in the room, you're not going to like it. That's right. And I love it. And that's one of the things too that ALA talks about is wherever light is, light really brings life to a space. So without the proper lighting, you don't have a proper space. Absolutely. But I mean, we're doing so much more now than lighting a room. We can get you the proper amount of light. Stay in my view, woman. sorry I move around a lot we can get you the proper amount of light but we can do it in a way that is sculptural and artistic and just really beautiful like our goal when you work with us is I want you to walk into your room every day and just say It's that dopamine. That's what designer dopamine is all about, guys. Absolutely. Absolutely. I want you to feel that when you walk into your house. And if you have a good designer that you're comfortable working with or a lighting specialist, maybe they're going to push you a little outside your comfort level. Maybe you can try something new. And most of my clients find it really surprising what they like. Right. Things that they had never considered before. Yeah. So and at Metro Lighting, too, guys, let's venture on to some of your other modern looks, can you? Sure. We'll take a stroll back through here. So one of the things, too, that Metro Lighting has also been known for is, let's say you have a whole house that you want to have your lighting specified. So they do specifications from your can lighting, linear lighting, to all of the decorative lighting. And then they also do the exterior lighting. So Metro Lighting is also a part of Metro Electric. What is now, is it still Metro Electric? Metro Electric. It is Metro Electric, but we're owned by a company called Graybar, which is one of the largest suppliers in the Midwest. So that's been a really exciting, you know, that's been a really exciting change for us. That's so exciting. So, guys, now we're into more of the modern. Oh, my gosh. Contemporary look at some of these Cusco lighting. We absolutely love with those darker metals and mixed metals. Talk me talk me through this space over here. So contemporary lighting isn't the same as it was. And just even in the ten years that I've been in lighting, I've seen this really profound change. It's still a warm look, but it's very design forward, very clean. So it's going to stand the test of time very well. And you're going to see a lot of really cool new things. We're doing crystal mixed with metal and these great blown glasses. A lot of really artisan things mixed with these metals. So when you pick a chandelier, you're in effect picking a sculpture for your house. You are. And the thing that I love too, and just the changes that I've seen in lighting over time is not only does it change with the industry of like fashion, the seasons, but all of the new integration, like everything is now integrated into the fixture. And Tamara, I don't know about you, but whenever I started in this industry, people were still selling fixtures with light bulbs. And then we did the conversion of like, oh, you don't need a light bulb anymore. What? I don't need to know who. It's all integrated. And that was a really hard switch for a lot of people who've had bulbs their whole life. They maybe don't trust the technology. They don't understand how well it's warranted, how well it's doing in other parts of the world. And the U.S., especially in the Midwest, we're a little slower to embrace those trends. But I got to tell you, the customers that I ask them just like push yourself out of your comfort level just a little bit that have tried these very sculptural pieces end up loving them. And there is design that you simply would not be able to do with a light bulb. And this is a great example. I love this piece. The spiral. Yeah. If we did not have integrated LEDs, we simply wouldn't be able to have this light. It would have to be larger and cumbersome. Who is the designer of this one? This is a Cusco piece, which is a Canadian company that I love. Yeah, Cusco is really like blowing it out of the water. When we were to Light Ovation, some of their newer pieces were just absolutely. Yes, so well designed, very well made, good quality pieces, but yet they're still at a really comfortable price point too. Yeah, and something like this you could use in like a dressing room, you could use residential or commercial. You could put it in bedroom space, dining room. So anything like this is just very, it's so innovative and cool. I love the families of all of the, it almost looks like the tube of like LED, almost like a neon. Yeah. And these designs just wouldn't even be possible if we had to use bulbs. Right. So this integrated LED has just exploded how we look at lighting because we can do anything in lighting. It's so beautiful. Bathroom. Let's look at some bathroom pictures. So we're going to venture through, guys. Metro lighting. What is the square footage of this showroom? Ten thousand square foot. It's huge. I don't know the exact number, but it is huge. We certainly get our steps every day. But this is actually probably less than five percent of what we actually sell in our showroom. The rest you're going to find on our Web site. um and this is a really good start to get a feel for a style metal finish oh let's look at the lumen or the uh kelvin temperature really fast you guys this is always super important and I talk about this in tile all the time is I always ask what kelvin are you using what application is this a modern contemporary traditional metro lighting has a perfect learning station where you can actually see the different kelvin temperatures so running anywhere from we see it a puck light to what under cabinet lighting does but just the color of the integration of what everything does so talk us through some of these yellow tones to blue tones and where maybe we would use something like I'm actually glad you mentioned this because I think this is just as important as your lighting choice. We have a couple that we use primarily in residence, and that's going to be twenty seven hundred, which is this color here. And then we also have three thousand Kelvin. Now, this is only the color of light. It's not the amount of light, which is your lumen output. Yeah, exactly. And people very often get those confused. They think if they go up to forty five hundred or five thousand, they're going to get more light. They don't. It just moves along the color spectrum to where it's more blue. What I tell people for a residence is you want really good visibility, you want great lighting, but you also don't want the color of your lighting to affect your design. So, for instance, this is twenty seven hundred Kelvin. If you put this lighting in a kitchen with beautiful white marble countertops or maybe lovely white cabinets or a light beige wall or a light gray, you can see the difference. This is going to throw a yellow cast over your whole room. That's right. If you have art, I have very vivid art in my house, and I want to see the color that the artist chose, not a color that has another layer of color over it. Right. I tend to lead toward here. I think this is a really good compromise for any residence. It's three thousand Kelvin, not a lot of yellow, not a lot of blue. Very crisp. Yes. Yes. And as you age, I think it's just a better light for the area. And I'm speaking from experience. Girl, you're not past thirty, please. I can hug you. And also what I love too in this whole setup here is Metro has all of their like awards that they've gotten over the years. So Metro Lighting guys. Yeah, we're not very humble. We do a great job. I will tell you, you're the best lighting showroom in the Midwest. And we'll tell you about it. yeah as you should um I mean asid awards are here all of the the other thing that's really cool too tamra and we didn't really mention this but I get so many people now in the lighting industry that talk about and even the tile industry camera what do you have that's color tunable so now that's something new too we'll step right over here tunable oh boy here we go okay So this is LED tape, which I know I've watched you on Instagram. You do a hundred projects with this LED tape. It is so versatile. You can use it inside, outside, and now you have all the colors of the spectrum. Yes, that's so important. So that color changing, and again, we're seeing that in fixtures that are also some of your hanging fixtures, but then also, you know, the can lighting. Letty is a huge proponent of that. Love them, love them. Great quality company. I love working with them. Yeah, we've got that color-changing feature in light bulbs. We've got it in recessed lighting now. And then this, this has got to be the most fun product on the market. Oh, I think so. You can do anything with it. And with the Casambia, the controls now, I mean, Metro Lighting even has all of that for you. All of your controls, all of your switches. Like, you guys, if you're doing residential, commercial, this is your space to come to. Let's venture to bathroom. And they have the alpaca feather pillows. I know. Oh my gosh, Patty does all the designs here, guys. Yes. So Metro is really, they are truly design space. So you guys, I cannot tell you enough. If you are looking for light fixtures, oh, one of my favorite areas. So bathroom spaces, guys, look at all of these sconces, all of these vanity light that you can use for your bathroom. So Tamara, tell me, I'm just going to pick, we're going to see how good Tamara is because I know she's good. I know she is really, really good. So let's adventure over. You know, I'm all about the dazzle, the dazzle, jammy jam. Tell me about ET-Tubes. E. T. Two is a great comp line of Kichler lighting and make a great quality pr stuff is like what we we modern room. This style if we had to use lightbul do a lot of stuff with mo bendable glass. We do gre The fixture itself lights up. That becomes part of your lighting. So you've got this really great designed sculpture that helps light the room. Look at these. Oh my gosh, this looks like gem, gem glass. Isn't that amazing? I love this fixture. The gem glass, and this one is from Craftmade even. Super reasonably priced company. um and they're doing great things with these leds too I mean every but every company I know is really excited about now we've got a lot more flexibility what can we create right absolutely guys and also with anything that is led integrated you can also dim so metro lighting is great about being able to offer um you know dimmable fixtures so anything that's integrated can typically be dimmed with a Lutron or a Casambia. So you have the wifi that you can also use for your fixtures too. And I love even the gem glass from modern forms. I mean, I just like, I can't even stop. It's like a piece of jewelry to me. It's just gorgeous. Well, they do say lighting is jewelry for your home. Let's not forget that. It truly, truly is. That one is super beautiful. Yeah, I love it. So also, I know that Metro had their own line. Phillip. Phillip Austin. Tell me a little bit about the Phillip Austin line. Do you have anything that's in here that we can showcase? So we do. We have Phillip Austin over here. Phillip Austin was a line that the owner of our company, the previous owner of our company, Bill Frisella, named after his now deceased son. And this is a great basic line that we were able to keep here and have on hand. So if that project timeline really crept on you, crept up on you or the electrician said, I can come today and only today we would have these sitting on the shelves and they were ready to go. So we had an assortment of styles and we had a variety of finishes that we could choose from. And these are drastically on sale now. I think we've got these at like sixty percent off. Oh, my gosh. We're just going to we're trying to clear the shelf and reintroduce new styles. Yes, because guys like lighting. And really fashion, it changes every single season. So Tamara, you have done such a fabulous job giving us a tour of the showroom with the furniture and everything else that is going on. Is there anything else that you would like to show us or add to our tour of the Metro showroom? I don't think you can go to Metro without noticing that we are very interested in art. Yes. And you're going to find a really tremendous variety of large scale pieces, smaller scale pieces. And you're going to find them in every color tone family imaginable. They're already framed. They're ready to hang on your wall. The hardware's on the back of them. We make it as easy as possible. But some of these are just stunning. And I've seen the difference in my own client's home between the room and then the room with just a vibrant piece of art. And it's amazing. Yeah, these are so beautiful. Really, Patty, who does all of your buying and designing, she's just done a fabulous job. I mean, look at the colors, guys, and the exotic prints of the furniture. I mean, come on. If this doesn't speak to your heart, I do not know what does. It's impossible to walk through the showroom and not find several things that you just love. Right. Yeah, no, I love that. Well, Tamara, I am so excited that I got to meet with you today. This is like my second home, home away from home. I've known you for such a long time, so it's so great to have you today. Okay, guys, if you, again, are looking for a showroom to buy lighting in the St. Louis area, come check out Metro Lighting here in St. Louis, as they have all of your commercial and residential needs. Also, if you are looking to be a part of the conversation, join the women in flooring at womenflooring.com. Also, the Facebook groups. There are book clubs. There's mentorships. There's so many amazing things. And if you're looking to be a sponsor, hop on podcast at womenflooring.com. We have sponsors like Ladecree. We have sponsors like the Moxie Hotel through Marriott in St. Pete. So if you're looking for a space when you're traveling, moxiehotelsatmarriott.com and also hashtag at themoxie. They're amazing, guys. They are so fun to be a part of. For all of our materials for the flooring tile for residential and commercial, check out laddercree.com. And if you're looking for that CEU that you need for things that we just talked about today, to integrate into your lighting and tile, check out Cameo Studio Designs for designer dopamine at cameostudiodesigns.com. It has been such a pleasure. You guys, I got to go. I will see you next time. Bye.
