When it comes to designing a landscape lighting solution, a multi-step approach is needed according to the team at Southern Landscape Lighting Systems.
Lindsey Rodericks, owner of Southern Landscape Lighting Solutions in Alpharetta, has found that the best way to ensure that a landscape lighting installation is a success, is to work closely with the property owner using a structured plan to map out the design step by step. Following their three-step process of focusing on the house, then looking at proximity and placing of lights and lastly adding depth and texture, they are confident that they will be able to deliver the perfect installation every time.
First, Focus on the House
In many cases a client may find the process of designing a landscape lighting installation overwhelming, many homeowners want to be involved in the process, but find it difficult to know where to start. Lindsey suggests that, rather than focusing on everything that needs to get done, that they rather focus on the most important feature: their home. Some important tips to keep in mind:
- Landscape lights should not draw attention to themselves, but rather ensure that the focus is on the facade of the home.
- Focus on lighting up the most important areas such as walkways, entrances and any other areas that get the most traffic.
- Security implications highlight areas around your home to deter intruders such as porches and windows.
A good way to get started is to observe your home at night from the perspective of a visitor – think about the potential problem areas that might make your home difficult to navigate at night, as well as making a list of the best features of your home’s exterior.
Second, Think About Proximity and Placement
The spacing of outdoor lights is critical to a successful lighting installation. Correct spacing and an understanding of what areas should be highlighted means that lights:
- Should be evenly spaced to cover the whole outdoor area.
- Shouldn’t be too close together or too bright as they can flatten features that should be accentuated or they may be too bright for people to be able to navigate through the garden successfully.
- Should be placed slightly away from the feature that is to be highlighted in order to cast a greater area of light.
If you have budget constraints, rather start small and cover the most important areas properly. This will be more effective than spreading the lights out too much and having big patches of dark interspersed with lights that are too bright.
Lastly, Add Depth and Texture
There are a couple of ways to set up landscape lights that will quickly add layers to your garden to give it a multi-dimensional effect. To add depth:
- Vary the intensity of the different outdoor lights.
- Limit the number of accent lights.
- Vary the angle of the lights so that they shine in different directions.
- Limit the gaps between lights to prevent big black areas in your garden.
Lights vary in intensity; large lumen lights work well to draw attention to important areas such as large trees or statues as they are very bright. Medium intensity lighting is a good option for high traffic areas such as patios and pathways so that there is enough light to see what you are doing. Low-intensity lighting can be interspersed throughout the garden to add diversity to your garden’s lighting.
Mixing different types of lights and incorporating shadow through backlighting, silhouetting, up-lighting and down-lighting will also help to create depth for your yard.
Southern Landscape Lighting Systems in Alpharetta has worked on a wide range of landscape installations for many years and are well-known for their striking, effective lighting solutions, as well as the quality of their workmanship. If you’re looking for landscape lighting for your garden, they’d love to walk you through the process and design a bespoke installation that brings your vision to life.