Lighting became another way to integrate simplicity and harmony to the home’s overall design; but like every other element of our project, modernity and time honored practices of craftsmanship needed to fuse. In the master suite, fabricating the light troughs proved to be an interesting challenge. Given the extreme length of the faces and bottoms of the light trough (after 15), using solid cherry for their construction was impractical. A thin birch plywood substrate was built and 1/8" thick cherry veneers were applied. The resulting material was used for the faces and bottoms of the trough. The resultant birch/cherry composite material was reinforced with an elaborate lamination process that included a thin fiberglass veil for strength and flexibility. Other lighting was chosen to wash light over surfaces or to hang—lantern style to provide soft light and aesthetic embellishment. Here again, the design is highly influenced by the Japanese aesthetic.