Blog
LANDSCAPE LIGHTING POWER COSTS
Landscape lighting systems consume electrical power. And alas, electrical power costs money. Therefore, unless money is no object, it’s reasonable to ask how much it costs to power a landscape lighting system. Obviously, any homeowner thinking of having a system put in should perform this due diligence. Likewise, since we’re going to base our math […]
OUTDOOR LIGHTING MAINTENANCE
Outdoor lighting systems need a modicum of maintenance to live long and prosper. The lighting designer ’s mantra is “less is more”. The maintenance version is “a little goes a long way”. It doesn’t take much to keep an outdoor lighting system in tip-top shape. It just takes doing the right things at the right […]
LIGHTING YOUR TREES
In 1913 the poet Joyce Kilmer wrote: “ I think that I shall never see, A poem as lovely as a tree”. Trees are indeed magnificent works of nature. They ’re the most impressive natural features on most of the properties in our area. Lighting trees with 21st-century technology extends our delight in them past […]
HOME SECURITY LIGHTING
WILL OUTDOOR LIGHTING MAKE YOUR HOME SAFER? From time to time there’s an item in the media suggesting that outdoor lighting doesn’t improve home security. One of the arguments is that outdoor lighting is as likely to help a burglar as to deter one. Others note that a majority of residential burglaries happen during […]
DARK SKIES
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s Dark Skies Program estimates that 80% of Americans have never seen the Milky Way. The reason isn’t poor eyesight, bad weather, or lack of a telescope. Rather, it’s because the nights in our developed areas aren’t dark anymore. Some call it “light pollution”. The Milky Way and the stars […]
LIGHT THE DAY
November is here. The Jack O’Lanterns are gone. We know that soon our thoughts will turn to the holiday season. For many of us, this means digging out the Christmas lights and stringing up the house exterior with the seasonal display. Some do more, some do less, some do none at all. After all, what […]
Landscape Lighting Design: BRIGHTNESS AND TEMPERATURE
How much light? Outdoor lighting designers hold to the maxim that “less is more.” Homeowners are concerned with security, safety, and utility. A good design, professionally installed and maintained, fully addresses these practical concerns while knocking everyone’s socks off with stunning aesthetics. Beauty, safety, security, and practicality seem at first blush like conflicting demands. After […]
POOL DECK DESIGNS
A residential swimming pool with basic underwater lighting is like a blank canvas. It practically begs for a deck and area lighting design that elevates the merely attractive to a boutique resort feast for the senses. The guiding artistic principle is subtlety. We want to enhance the natural visual and tactile qualities a body of […]
OUTDOOR LIGHTING FOR BUSINESSES AND INSTITUTIONS
The basic goals of outdoor lighting designs for businesses and institutions are much the same as those of homeowners but are often prioritized differently. Private homeowners do have to comply with codes and ordinances that are intended to limit the intrusion of one resident’s outdoor lighting on neighbors’ quiet enjoyment of their properties. Within those […]