Professional landscape lighting can visually improve a landscape by highlighting features, extending use into the nighttime hours and increasing the safety of the space to ensure everyone gets where they’re going with no scrapes, bumps or bruises.
If you’re ready to take your landscape lighting design to the next level—or if you’re just getting started—take a look at these four ideas for better landscape lighting design.
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Be sure to light the site’s top locations. As you walk through the site, take note of the places that would be the best for lighting. Include both practical places that need lights for safety, such as paths, and features you’d like to highlight with accent lighting, including trees, ponds and architecture. Create vignettes around seating areas and destination points.
- Plan for future upgrades. Landscapes grow and change, and the lighting needs to be able to do so as well. In order to keep the lighting looking great throughout the years, it needs to adapt to the changing landscape surrounding it. Add accessories like stakes to lift the light fixtures about the landscape so maintenance won’t cause damage. Leave three feet of slack wire in the ground, so when the tree grows and the light needs to be moved, you can more easily dig it up rather than rewiring the fixture. Utilize dimmable LED technology such as Luxor from FX Luminaire or Inspira from Unique Lighting Systems, which allow you to plan ahead. Use lower light levels when the plant materials are young and increase light levels as they grow.
- Combine lighting techniques. It may seem simple, but don’t forget to use a combination of up lighting, down lighting and path lighting. Combining these lights in various parts of the landscape will help to create a yard that seems more full and inviting.
Need a quick refresher on these techniques?
- Up lighting: Ground-mounted fixtures that are directed upwards to light walls, trees, fountains, statues and other features.
- Down lighting: Fixtures mounted on trees or walls that are directed down. This is often used to create the effect of a full moon shining on the landscape.
- Path lighting: Promotes safety and visibility along sidewalks, footpaths and driveways. It can also accent landscapes.
These are just some of the lighting effects and techniques available.
- Try something new. Bistro lighting is a different way to light an outdoor living space with patio/string lighting that can be hung zigzagging, between trees or around a patio umbrella. Bistro lighting, along with hardscape, provides a seamless transition between interior and exterior living environments. Add some color with the Luxor ZDC controller, with custom color technology.
Still have questions about landscape lighting? Check out this lighting overview video, and visit our YouTube page for even more videos.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WFyycpBqU[/embed]
