Landscape Lighting Design Tips

Landscape Lighting Tips For Dallas Homeowners

When it comes to lighting your landscape, a little goes a long way. That’s because your eyes need less light outdoors than they do indoors in order to see light, shadow, and pattern. To plan your outdoor lighting, walk around your yard at night, envision how and when you want to use your spaces, and rely on these tips.

This video shows landscape lighting design tips.

 

Landscape Lighting Design

Layout considerations In addition to thinking about how you plan to use the space, there are design considerations as well. Lights can help you safely travel down a pathway, but they can also provide a gorgeous view and allow you to enjoy your landscaping even after dark. The design elements of your layout are every bit as important as the function of your layout. Keep in mind:

  • Views from indoors – “I’ll look out of every window in the house to make sure our design is integrating the lighting with the landscape.
  • Focal points – Choose one or two elements in each area to draw attention to. “Hemlock trees, with their reddish-brown bark and dark green foliage, make a great focal point when lit from below.
  • The sense of depth – “We use some lights along pathways, some on the house, and some within landscaped beds to provide a feeling of depth in the landscape.
  • Ambient vs. spotlighting – Ambient lighting creates atmosphere by gently lighting an entire area while spotlighting draws strong attention to a particular feature. “We use both broad and focused beams within the landscape.

Lighting strategiesThere is three main ways you can aim lights to get a particular result in the landscape.

  • Downlighting creates diffuse, gentle light by aiming lights downward, usually from a tree. “Like I tell my clients if I could give you a full moon every night, wouldn’t you want to do that?
  • Uplighting is all about the drama of bold shadows and strong effects. By aiming the lights upwards into a tree or onto an architectural feature, you emphasize the contrast of dark shadows with bright light.
  • Cross lighting is when you eliminate shadows by lighting a focal point from both sides. You can even light up the entire canopy of a tree this way.”

What areas should you light?There are many benefits of landscape lighting, it helps improve the safety and security of your home and adds functionality and beauty. Here are the most common areas to light:

  • Pathways are important both for safety and for beauty, but you don’t always need to use path lights right along the side.

  • Patios are where we spend time with family and have conversations, so diffused downlighting from above gets that moonlit effect without blinding people.

  • Trees are an ideal candidate for uplighting or cross lighting. “When there’s a unique branch structure or colored bark, it makes an ideal focal point. You can also create downlighting effects by placing lights within tree branches and aiming them downwards at a patio or garden bed.

  • Water features can be lit as well. While we don’t think of electricity and water as natural partners, in fact, many landscape lights are meant for underwater use.

  • Architectural elements in the home can also be lit to great effect. “If you have a $500 tree and a $500,000 home, why would you focus only on the tree?

  • Driveways don’t need a lot of lights, as most people using a driveway will have their headlights on. But you can beautify the journey to the home by lighting the landscape nearby.

Landscape Lighting Issues

Outdoor lighting issues differ from those of indoor light. For example, reflection is less an issue outdoors because most surfaces are dark and do not reflect light well. However, position and shielding are more important in outdoor landscape lighting in order to prevent glare. Call (214) 238-8353 us for your home service and repair needs.

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