Exterior lighting can be incredibly difficult to nail down correctly. For this reason, it’s often popular to create custom landscape lighting. Lighting, itself, carries a lot of variation. If you want to invoke life, charm, and depth to your outdoor area, custom landscape lighting should certainly be a consideration.
Custom Landscape Lighting
We’re talking about much, much more than traditional porch lights, hanging bulbs, and lamp posts. We’re talking about riveting, indirect and natural custom landscape lighting options. If you’re here to use your creative spark, you’ve come to the right place.
Framing Your Yard’s Allure: Path Lighting
Your landscape’s paths and walkways are key components, and they need to be constantly illuminated to idealize your yard’s softer aspects. Light your visitor’s way with several low-hanging fixtures, and harness each light addition with a squat canopy. In doing so, you’ll control each light’s glare while preserving the design element. Indirect light, often, is the best light. Pair off your pathway lighting with stairway tread lighting, too, to maximize your landscape’s natural sides.
Creating Indirect Light
Next, highlight your area’s finer aspects with indirect lighting. Settle upon a focal point, and target it with distant, offset lighting. Indirect light is peaceful, and its calming aspects are much-wanted in modern landscape designs. Flickering light, too, can be phenomenal. Create indirect light by shining down upon your focal point through a tree. Or, consider motion-sensor floodlights behind other stylistic inclusions. In doing so, you’ll create a natural air of security while adding shape to lesser-traveled areas. Indirect lighting is beautiful, relaxing, and soothing when executed correctly.
Moon Lighting
Moon lighting, too, is popular lately. By strategically placing low-voltage fixtures alongside accented trees, water features, architecture, and even tall plants, you can create a pivoting display of seemingly natural light. Can-shaped well lights can similarly be added to enhance a hardscape’s softer angles. Use a hardscape’s recesses to house each lighting display, and aim lights into surrounding foliage to create the illusion of moonlighting.
Marking Parameters
Be sure to install lighting fixtures alongside your home’s parameters, too. In doing so, you’ll offset a lighting display with considerable distance between each point—leading visitor eyes, naturally, down an intended path. A lot of parameter lights are situated directly behind garden beds, alongside security fences, or nearby raised hardscaping. They reveal information while maintaining an air of mystery. By creating a parameter, you can better define your landscape’s shape, too. Keep in mind, however, that parameter lighting should be somewhat soft.
Use Fireplace Lighting
Finally, try to incorporate fireplace lighting, if possible. Fireplace lighting is natural, and it’s a fantastic alternative to rough-and-tough patio lighting. It can be dimmed, too, creating a warm, confident atmosphere without being overburdening. That said, your outdoor fireplace’s coloration should match the hardscape. It should mesh with your patio furniture, too. Over time, you’ll also be able to mesh it with your pool’s lighting, generating a complex atmosphere of gently overlapping shades.
Many of the options above are available in low-voltage alternatives, so crafting a wonderful, comfortable atmosphere needn’t be a balancing act of power and distance. It is, however, smart to hire a professional. While each solution is a DIY project, custom landscape lighting often deserves an expert’s eye. Transformer size, proper ground circuitry and power management are important factors, and each should be managed by a professional provider, like Blooming Desert. Above all: Be creative! Your landscape has a lot of opportunity, and it’s just waiting to be explored fully. Use your imagination, and create a memorable atmosphere.
