ABOUT ITHACA LIGHTS + ANDHOME
Ithaca Lights is an independent, locally owned lighting and home design showroom in Ithaca, New York. We help homeowners, designers, builders, electricians, and businesses select beautiful, functional lighting for projects of every scale.
Inside our showroom, andhome brings together thoughtfully curated home goods, textiles, rugs, accessories, and furnishings designed to make everyday spaces feel considered, comfortable, and personal.
Ithaca Lights is an independent, locally owned lighting and home design showroom in Ithaca, New York. We help homeowners, designers, builders, electricians, and businesses select beautiful, functional lighting for projects of every scale.
Inside our showroom, andhome brings together thoughtfully curated home goods, textiles, rugs, accessories, and furnishings designed to make everyday spaces feel considered, comfortable, and personal.
OUR ORIGIN STORY
When Cheryl Shields lost her job due to pandemic closures, many of us in the community who had worked with her firsthand felt that loss deeply. With more than 25 years of lighting experience and an incredible eye for detail, Cheryl had helped Zac and me — along with countless others across Upstate New York — make thoughtful and beautiful lighting selections tailored to each project’s unique needs. After all, Cheryl is one of the few people in the region who has worked alongside some of the very best builders, electricians, designers, and savvy homeowners around.
At the same time, Zac and I had always dreamed of opening our own store. At age 44, we looked at each other and thought, “If not now, then when?” On October 15, 2021, we signed a lease with the gracious Lambrou family for the former GreenStar Co+Op cooking classroom — and before that, an old car wash! — and began transforming the space into what would become Ithaca Lights.
We are happy to say that Ithaca Lights is now open and filled with lighting fixtures, furniture, rugs, and home goods meant to elevate everyday life and help people create spaces they truly love living in.
Zac, Cheryl, and I designed the showroom from the ground up and worked alongside our friend Sam Halton to create the store we are so proud to welcome you into today. We could never have done this without the support of our friends and family. Our friends Kelly and Kenny once told us that walking into Ithaca Lights “should feel like walking into one of your homes or projects — a place where people immediately feel at home.” We carried that idea with us through every decision we made.
So when you walk into our store, you are stepping into our home away from home — greeted first by handcrafted slab tables beneath some of our favorite chandeliers and pendants. Around the corner, our kitchen showroom helps clients imagine and select the right lighting for the heart of their home. Throughout the store, every corner is meant to inspire curiosity, comfort, and new ideas for your own spaces.
Our intimate showroom allows us to carefully curate and display only a small selection of our favorite pieces from the thousands of lighting and home products available through our vendors and catalogs. Because of this, we are also developing an online store where you will be able to create your own customized cart, shop from home, or visit us in person to receive our beloved SHOP LOCAL discount.
To help us keep costs down as a small independent business, we greatly appreciate payment by check or cash whenever possible.
Most importantly, thank you for supporting our local family-owned Ithaca store. Your support truly means the world to us.
To learn more about us, visit KornerLot.
To follow our latest projects and inspirations, visit @KornerLot on Instagram.
At the same time, Zac and I had always dreamed of opening our own store. At age 44, we looked at each other and thought, “If not now, then when?” On October 15, 2021, we signed a lease with the gracious Lambrou family for the former GreenStar Co+Op cooking classroom — and before that, an old car wash! — and began transforming the space into what would become Ithaca Lights.
We are happy to say that Ithaca Lights is now open and filled with lighting fixtures, furniture, rugs, and home goods meant to elevate everyday life and help people create spaces they truly love living in.
Zac, Cheryl, and I designed the showroom from the ground up and worked alongside our friend Sam Halton to create the store we are so proud to welcome you into today. We could never have done this without the support of our friends and family. Our friends Kelly and Kenny once told us that walking into Ithaca Lights “should feel like walking into one of your homes or projects — a place where people immediately feel at home.” We carried that idea with us through every decision we made.
So when you walk into our store, you are stepping into our home away from home — greeted first by handcrafted slab tables beneath some of our favorite chandeliers and pendants. Around the corner, our kitchen showroom helps clients imagine and select the right lighting for the heart of their home. Throughout the store, every corner is meant to inspire curiosity, comfort, and new ideas for your own spaces.
Our intimate showroom allows us to carefully curate and display only a small selection of our favorite pieces from the thousands of lighting and home products available through our vendors and catalogs. Because of this, we are also developing an online store where you will be able to create your own customized cart, shop from home, or visit us in person to receive our beloved SHOP LOCAL discount.
To help us keep costs down as a small independent business, we greatly appreciate payment by check or cash whenever possible.
Most importantly, thank you for supporting our local family-owned Ithaca store. Your support truly means the world to us.
To learn more about us, visit KornerLot.
To follow our latest projects and inspirations, visit @KornerLot on Instagram.
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VISION
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MISSION
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- To educate the public on the importance of thoughtful lighting design for visual comfort, well-being, accessibility, energy efficiency, ADA awareness, and Dark Sky responsibility.
- To support manufacturers and partners who care about craftsmanship, ethical practices, their employees, and the environmental impact of what they produce.
- To source lighting, furniture, and home goods as responsibly and locally as possible whenever feasible, helping reduce environmental impact and support stronger regional economies.
- To offer high-quality, timeless, and functional products that are built to last, reducing waste and encouraging more intentional consumption.
- To create spaces that feel warm, rooted, welcoming, and beautiful — spaces that improve daily life and inspire meaningful living.
- To make design expertise approachable and accessible to homeowners, designers, contractors, and the broader community alike.
- To help make our community more beautiful, one home and one project at a time.
OUR TEAM
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ISABEL BOGGS-FERNANDEZ (co-owner)
Isabel brings a background in architecture, interior design, urban design, and teaching to Ithaca Lights + andhome. She curates the showroom, works with customers on lighting and interior selections, and oversees the day-to-day direction of the business. Outside the store, Isabel works on architecture, interiors, developments and design projects with Zac through KornerLot + Studio Boggs-Fernandez. Additionally, she teaches at Cornell University and SUNY ESF as a visiting lecturer. Thanks to life’s many exciting twists, opportunities, and adventures — she wears quite a few hats. Above all else, Isabel loves her family, her friends, and the place that shaped her into the person she is today: Puerto Rico. Since 2008, she has proudly added Ithaca to that list as well. She also deeply appreciates travel, volleyball, art, yoga, and chocolate — not necessarily in that order, depending on the day. ZAC BOGGS (co-owner)
Zac Boggs is a Colorado native, an avid Denver Broncos fan — and now, thanks to life in Upstate New York, also a loyal supporter of the Buffalo Bills — as well as an incredibly talented landscape architect, urban designer, builder, and devoted dad. He practiced for years with Design Workshop in Denver, Colorado, where he met Isabel. Together, they later moved to Ithaca to pursue graduate studies at Cornell University. After Cornell, Zac spent many years working with local landscape architecture firm TWMLA. Today, alongside Isabel, he co-teaches at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning and the SUNY ESF Department of Landscape Architecture. He is also co-creator of KornerLot Design & Development LLC, Studio Boggs-Fernandez, and Ithaca Lights + andhome — where, much like Isabel, he wears many hats. Zac is a passionate and deeply intuitive designer who genuinely loves the process of imagining and building things. Whether immersed in construction details, perfecting a handcrafted wood slab table, hiking outdoors, or caring for family and friends, Zac approaches life with creativity, curiosity, and heart. He is constantly creating beautiful things — often while covered in sawdust. Zac and Isa share their lives with their wonderful daughters and a freakishly adorable miniature schnauzer. |
CHERYL SHIELDS (store manager and brand new grandma!)
We truly would not exist without our beloved Cheryl Shields! Cheryl’s 25+ years of lighting experience are a huge part of what inspired us to open Ithaca Lights in the first place. Over the years, she has worked at just about every lighting showroom Ithaca has had to offer, including Cooper Friedman. Cheryl began her lighting career in New York City before eventually moving upstate to raise her family in Genoa, where she still lives today with her husband — and electrician — Randy, also lovingly known as “King Richard.” Cheryl has two wonderful grown children and two fabulous dogs who, for reasons still unknown to science, occasionally manage to lock themselves inside her car. She is truly the life and light of the store — equal parts lighting expert, therapist, comedian, and problem solver — and she keeps the entire team happily sugared up with a seemingly endless supply of candy. JULIE NEWHOUSE (tech extraordinaire)
Julie has been a resident of Ithaca since 2000 and joined us in 2023 after retiring from Cornell University following a 22-year career in fundraising. She lives with her husband, Brad — an architect — in a charming 95-year-old Belle Sherman home where, somehow, there always seems to be another project waiting to happen. As a result, the two of them have tackled countless home renovations over the years. In fact, Julie’s first introduction to Ithaca Lights was as a lighting and ceiling fan customer herself! Julie and Brad have two grown sons whom they dearly wish lived a little closer. When the boys are in town, there is usually some serious and highly competitive board gaming happening at their house. Wine and craft beer tasting, fitness, Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball, and enjoying Ithaca summers are among Julie’s favorite things. Julie has been a phenomenal addition to our team. Thanks to her technical skills — and Cheryl’s guidance — the fixtures on our walls and ceilings are constantly being refreshed, updated, and beautifully displayed. |
