O.C. firm invents solution for ugly lighting

If you think the plastic fixtures that light up steps and stairs around the house are plain at best, ugly at worst, you're not alone.

Gary and Dana Butler, who have been making lighting fixtures for the housing and commercial markets since they bought a small manufacturing facility in Newport Beach in 1986, certainly do. Or did.

(As a side note, the Butlers were the subject of one of the first It's Your Business columns I wrote back in September 1988. At that time their company was called Aggressive Lighting. They also had Light Adventure, a retail showroom in Costa Mesa that they closed in 1997. Now their company Kane Shrader, named for their son, makes unique lighting fixtures designed by Gary, and a separate company Jayne Young converts old copper pots into unique lighting.)

When the 2007-2009 recession slowed their business, Gary decided he could design something more attractive than the step lights at their Coto de Caza home. He created an onyx stone cover that Dana says even she can install.

"I'm not that savvy with tools, and I can put this on in five minutes," she says.

Neighbors Joe and Marci DuBois loved the lights when they saw them at the Butlers' home. Their enthusiasm quickly moved into the formation of a new business, The Cover Company LLC in Rancho Santa Margarita, to make and sell what the two couples named Designer Step Light Covers.

The step lights can be used for indoor staircases or outdoor patio steps.

"Marci was the driving force," Dana says. "She begged us to make the step lights commercially. Gary said no because he had his hands full."

Gary, who has made lighting for more than 25 years, oversees production, having the parts made in Lynwood and powder coated in Santa Ana. The onyx stone is cut in Huntington Beach.

"We're doing it very grass roots," Dana says. "It's all made in the United States. We've ground the prices down as much as we could to discourage foreign competition. Sales are online only right now... and Joe and Marci do the packaging and shipping in their garage."

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O.C. firm invents solution for ugly lighting