We spend significant money beautifying our landscapes with just the right trees, shrubs, flowers and hardscaping, but when night falls, all that effort goes dark. As warm weather approaches and we tend to be outdoors more often later into the evenings, wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy our homes and streetscapes even as the darkness deepens?
Landscape lighting is the answer. And, besides aesthetics, mood and atmosphere, there are at least two other good reasons to brighten things up a bit: safety and security. Think form and function. Like anything else, outdoor lighting can be incorporated into your landscape design along a spectrum from minimalist to maxed out.
Here we offer some ideas and considerations for designing and implementing a landscape lighting plan that is just right for your situation. Think of them with the acronym BRIGHT:
B: Be clear about your goals, whether they are to illuminate walkways, driveways and steps; create an ambience for outdoor entertaining; highlight your home’s architectural and landscape features; or deter intruders.
R: Respect your neighbors and guests by choosing and positioning fixtures to avoid outdoor light pollution, which comes in many forms: shining a light in your neighbor’s windows or your guests’ eyes, washing out the night sky, or creating glare. Shields, collars and guards are among devices that can help.
I: Invest in LEDs. Though they cost a bit more than halogen, LEDs last far longer, are more energy efficient, and withstand shock, vibrations and bad weather. With new options constantly on the market, LEDs offer nearly unlimited flexibility for dimming, brightening, and creating a design plan with layers of subtlety.
G: Gentle, dramatic, elegant? Regardless of the look you want, landscape lighting can provide it through a strategic mix of down-, up-, and cross-lighting. Down-lighting, also called moon lighting, creates a romantic glow by mounting downward-facing fixtures in trees. Up-lighting, positioned at ground level, creates more drama by aiming light directly at elements you want to feature. Cross-lighting adds depth by illuminating water features, specimen trees, swings, and arbors from both sides while helping to eliminate shadows.
A few more considerations: For trees, select both up- and down-lighting and bathe the trunk in light so that the up-lit crown doesn’t seem to hover unnaturally. In planting beds, establish pools of light placed at least 20 feet apart to lead the eye through the space. Choose bullet lights to spotlight architectural features of your home, with wash lights to fill in the spaces between. For garden walls, fixtures placed close to the base bring textures into high relief.
H: High-wattage bulbs are too much: They lend harshness to the landscape. You might be surprised at how much sophistication even 20 watts can deliver. Consider voltage as well. Most landscape lighting today is low voltage, which is safer to work with and less costly to install than 120-volt systems. A step-down transformer delivers one-tenth of the power, but the effects still are virtually limitless.
T: Types of outdoor lighting to consider, as with indoor lighting, include task, accent and overall, achieved through fixtures like bullets (narrower beams), floods (wider beams), garden (on short posts), wash (softer and more diffuse), and well (buried in the ground). Incorporating all these types will give a “fuller” look and feel to your landscape. Timers ensure convenience and energy savings.
Through artistry, engineering and electrical know-how, you can look forward to a bit more brightness in your (night) life.
Chris Ettel is founding partner of VB Homes and has served as past chairman of the CVBIA Remodelers Council. For more information, contact Chris@vbhomesliving.com.
