A well-lit yard is attractive to guests and potential buyers alike. It’s also a great way to keep your home safe at night and show off your favorite plants!
Whether you’re looking to upgrade your landscape or add more curb appeal, we’ve gathered the best options. For more information, click the Outdoor Lighting Orlando to proceed.
The lighting in your yard can make or break the overall effect of your home’s exterior. While many people focus on the function of landscape lighting, such as illuminating pathways for safety and ease of use or illuminating your driveway to avoid potential hazards, a well-lit entryway can also set a mood that will welcome you and your guests and create curb appeal.
Spotlights are one of the most popular types of landscape lighting. They come in various shapes, sizes, and colors to suit your outdoor design. They are often low-voltage systems that are safer to work with than line-voltage fixtures.
LED landscape spotlights can implement several different landscape lighting techniques, contributing to a layered nightscape. These include uplighting, grazing, silhouetting, and shadowing. Uplighting involves positioning a spotlight at ground level and pointing it upward to illuminate a structure or tree. This technique creates drama and highlights larger trees, architectural features, and sculptures.
Grazing is a technique that highlights the texture of a wall, column, or tree trunk by putting light close to the surface and pointing it up or down. This can be a good way to showcase details in your garden and highlight shapes that might not be easily seen during the day. Silhouetting displays the dark outline of a structure, such as a statue or plant, and can add intrigue to your yard. Shadowing is a technique that creates the illusion of an object by casting a shadow on the ground in front of it.
In addition to their aesthetic versatility, spotlights provide a high brightness level. This allows you to properly illuminate the desired elements of your yard while keeping other areas dim. Look for landscape spotlights with a range of lumen outputs to accommodate your needs and ensure the finished result is perfect.
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Path lights are usually one of the first landscape lighting a homeowner installs. They are inexpensive and easy to do yourself, especially with the availability of self-contained, solar-powered fixtures. However, if you want your path lighting to be truly impressive, you must hire an experienced Central Florida landscape lighting company that knows how to do it right.
The right amount of light on a path or walkway is important for safety, but it also creates an aesthetic effect that adds to your home’s nighttime beauty. Path lights are often a great choice for this, but several other options exist.
Decorative path lights are available in several styles, from simple, modern-looking cylinders to ornately decorated cast-iron fixtures. Many of these lights will have a hooded shade, which effectively hides the fixture while maintaining its function. This is a popular option, as it lets you light up your paths without revealing the lighting source until you’re close enough to see it.
These lights can be placed directly in your paths, gardens, or patios, but they can also be used to highlight low-growing foliage or even a fountain or water feature. They are often available in powder-coated finishes and soda lime glass, which is durable against the elements and abrasions.
A cousin to path lighting, step lights are installed in or near steps for safety and beauty. This type of lighting helps prevent tripping on stairs in the dark and adds an elegant touch to your outdoor space with focused pools of light.
Regarding steps and walkways, the lighting experts at VOLT recommend a “rule of thumb” for spacing. You want your fixtures to be spaced far enough apart so that they don’t look like a runway but not so close that they’re not visible and don’t provide adequate illumination. Having the fixtures spaced six to eight feet apart is generally best. This will ensure you can see where you’re going without blinding yourself or anyone else.
Hardscapes are outdoor areas made from natural or artificial materials, such as walkways, patios, decks, and retaining walls. If well-designed, they can enhance the overall look of your landscape while providing function and safety. However, some features can go unnoticed without the probe noticing after sunset. This is why planning for hardscape lighting in your landscape design is important.
There are multiple reasons to add hardscape lighting, but the most common is safety. Path lights help to provide visibility for those walking through your property after dark. In contrast, stairway and deck lights make stepping onto or off these surfaces safe. This is especially important for those with mobility challenges but can benefit everyone.
Another reason for adding hardscape lighting is to draw attention to a specific feature or landscape area, such as a fire pit or water feature. By highlighting these elements, they can stand out and become the focal point of your landscape after dark. The lighting can also create a sense of drama or highlight these features’ unique textures and shapes.
In addition to illuminating walkways, paths, and steps, hardscape lighting can be used for various other applications. For example, you can use paver lights to highlight the edge of a paved surface or illuminate planters and other garden ornaments. They can even draw attention to an entryway gate or doorway.
Retaining wall lights is a great way to light up a backyard retaining wall while keeping your soil from eroding or sliding. These lights can be placed near the bottom of a retaining wall to help guide people walking by or up along the top of the wall to illuminate its structure.
The most popular form of retaining wall lighting is a post-mount light. These are designed to be installed into a wall as it is being constructed so that they can be recessed into the rock or brick. These lights typically have a halogen bulb and can be set to come on at dusk. They are also very durable and can be easily maintained over time.
When it comes to illuminating the landscape, choosing between spotlights and floodlights is all about what type of effect you want. Spotlights emit a narrow, focused area of light that highlights smaller objects and details, while flood low-voltage lights shine a wider beam of light over a larger area.
These lights can be used for various purposes, from general lighting to your home and outdoor living spaces to illuminating areas of your property that are needed for security purposes or work. When used appropriately, bright floodlights can help to create a nighttime look that is both functional and attractive.
In some cases, flood lights illuminate the entire area around them, much like water does when it overflows its boundaries. While this can be useful for illuminating large areas, it is important to remember that bright flood lights can cause glare for people walking or driving by the fixture. For this reason, we recommend using a floodlight with a dimmer setting or installing it with an additional glare guard.
Landscape floods come in various forms, such as bullet and wash floods. They are also available in several different light beam angles, ranging from narrow to wide. This allows them to be utilized in various applications, including illuminating tree trunks and architectural features or even for wall washing. In addition to their use in the landscape, these fixtures can also be installed inside a fountain or on structures to give the appearance that they are bathing your property with moonlight.
Using several landscape lights is essential when creating an impressive low-voltage lighting design. With the right combination of up-lights, down-lights, flood lights, and spotlights, you can produce a functional and beautiful effect. We would be happy to help you select the perfect fixtures to create a unique low-voltage lighting design for your home or business that is safe and stunning after dark. Contact us today to get started!