Turns out, a surprising number of homeowners think landscape lighting is too extravagant for their modest properties. A perk for the owners of estates, mansions, mini-mansions, and grand residences. That is to say, for people with something to show off. A little...
The First Law of Residential Landscape Lighting is “less is more”. A design achieves the greatest drama and beauty with as little lighting as possible. How little is “as little as possible”? Generally, just enough to meet safety, security, and functionality needs. An...
A quick search of the internet turns up a lot of content on do-it-yourself (DIY) outdoor and landscape lighting. As a matter of fact, there are literally thousands of articles, blogs, and guides on the subject. Retailers of outdoor lighting hardware naturally promote...
New clients are not always starting from a scratch. Quite a few explain they’ve got outdoor lighting systems already in place. They’re not satisfied with the performance of the system, or perhaps with its general condition. Long-time owners of a property realize one...
HARDSCAPE AND SOFTSCAPE Outdoor living spaces have two basic ingredients: softscape and hardscape. Softscape is all that’s alive and growing. Trees, shrubs, lawns, flowers, succulents, and so forth. Hardscape is pretty much everything else. It’s not living....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
The digital revolution is transforming outdoor lighting designs just like everything else in our lives. Smart lighting is trending up across the board. The term “smart lighting” is a broad one which refers to two related paths of innovation. Lighting...
Before 2010 if you hired a professional outdoor lighting company to install low voltage lighting around your house or yard there was some version of an interchangeable halogen fixture implemented into the system. If you were trying to light up a house, tree, statue,...
Your home’s curb appeal, it’s attractiveness when viewed from off-property, stirs your own sense of pride but the other important audience comprises visitors, neighbors, and when the time comes, potential buyers. The excellence and the uniqueness of your home’s...
Safety and security aside (we’ll address these important considerations in another post) landscape lighting design is shaped by three aesthetic and practical criteria. The main goal in landscape lighting is to make your house/yard look amazing at night. Second, is for...
Up until 2010 most residential outdoor lighting systems ran on line voltage, the 120v/AC current that powers your interior lighting and most of your appliances. Fixtures generally were halogen, providing terrific illumination with a warm, amber quality. Light Emitting...
