Entry lights glow through glass-block tops

Entry lights glow through glass-block tops

Photo: Cross section shows stucco-coveredbox. Electric line comes through baseLike stubby sentinels, a pair of glassblock-topped lights flank the entry walk to this home in Encino, California. At night, the solid glass-block tops give off a muted glow from floodlights housed within their stucco-covered plywood shells.Thaw keeps her overhead down by stocking the more unusual items in small quantities and making sure she has a market for them. "The turnover is the important thing,' she says. Those uncommon bulbs don't just sit there; she turns over her inventory six to seven times a year. If the brand name bulb you need is no longer manufactured, Bulbtronics can often find you a suitable substitute in its inventory. When all else fails, Bulbtronics arranges for custom production.Thaw's husband gave her a rent-free niche in his Farmingdale engineering office and 500 square feet of warehouse space. With that, and $15,000 of start-up money, she was ready to begin.On the tops of the partial walls, clear fir 1-by-5s--treated with five coats of clear satin polyurethane--were affixed with panel adhesive and taped in place while the adhesive dried.Owner Bill Baum of Seattle designed and built the bathroom.

Photo: Cross section shows stucco-coveredbox. Electric line comes through base