The landscape lighting team at Southern Landscape Lighting Systems of Marietta recognizes the significance of the holiday season that rolls around during the last several months of each year. The home becomes a hub of entertainment and activity. Landscape lighting plays a central role in making the home and yard warm, inviting, functional, safe, and secure.
A Landscape Lighting Checklist
This helpful checklist will help Marietta, GA, homeowners maximize curb appeal and create a magical ambiance with LED low-voltage landscape lighting.
#1. Greet guests with inviting curb appeal
Stunning curb appeal is a very powerful influencer any time of the year, but especially during the holiday season. Great curb appeal creates an ambiance that sets the stage for an evening of entertainment, community, and celebration. That positive first impression, cast within just a few seconds of experiencing the beautifully illuminated landscape, melts inhibitions. The total landscape package, skillfully and beautifully lit, issues a warm welcome to guests, invites participation, raises hopeful expectations, and heightens anticipation. Exquisite landscape lighting calms, soothes, and warms the heart. Nightscape lighting is evocative and magical; it can charm, invigorate, and energize. A myriad of visceral and emotional responses accompanies the visual experience of an artfully crafted LED landscape lighting plan.
#2. Highlight any seasonal additions to the landscape
Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year afford the homeowner ample opportunities to adorn the yard, entranceway, porch, and the home’s façade with seasonal decor. The seasonal accents liven up the landscape, add dimension, and create interest. Some ornamentation may require an additional fixture or two or an adjustment of existing fixtures. When well executed, an illuminated Santa and reindeer scene mesmerizes onlookers, especially children. A tastefully lit creche evokes warm, thoughtful reverence. Landscape lighting enhances the visual power of the scenery.
#3. Spotlight entertainment festivities in the backyard outdoor living space
The holidays bring celebration and entertainment. The guest list may expand beyond the expected number, overtaxing outdoor living spaces with a large number of visitors. Sufficient and well-placed lighting can facilitate functionality, and a few adjustments or additions may be all that is needed. Some venues and focal points of activity to assess for functional lighting include:
- patio
- firepit or fireplace
- grill
- outdoor kitchen (food prep and serving areas)
- backyard brick oven
- swimming pool
- backyard playground
- crowd overflow areas in the backyard
#4. Focus on safety
Prior to an event or gathering involving outside venues and first-time guests, take a few minutes to conduct a nighttime inspection of the primary areas of activity. Items of concern include glare, excessive brightness, blind spots, shadows, defective bulbs, damaged fixtures, and misdirected beams.
Take note of any additions to the landscape or hardscape which have not yet been illuminated. If possible, schedule an appointment to expand the system to include the new additions. Often, the holidays include visits from elderly friends and relatives. Make sure benches and other seating are well-lit. Handrails, steps, and low stone walls that do double-duty as sitting benches need adequate lighting. Walkways with subtle changes in grade or elevation constitute a high-risk hazard for the elderly with low vision, sensitivity to glare, or night blindness. The absence of steps does not necessarily negate the need for lighting. In fact, the need for illumination may increase in order to mitigate the risk factor of a stumble or fall. Consider the temporary installation of high-visibility signage to warn strollers of the upcoming hazard. The signage can be removed once guests have departed.
#5. Beam in on security
During the inspection mentioned above, also consider issues of security. Areas under camera surveillance should be adequately illuminated. Eliminate shadows. Note areas where the glare is so intense that it provides criminals a place to hide. Review the video footage from the inspection. Look for blind spots.
#6. Be aware of light pollution
When making fine adjustments to an existing landscape lighting system or adding fixtures to accommodate new hardscapes, consider the neighbors. Festivities, especially year-end celebrations, can run long into the night and sometimes to the dawn of the next day. Consider dimming or shutting off unneeded zones to reduce the light that may disturb neighbors. Where safety is a factor, keep the lights turned on. Programmable lighting technology affords the homeowner a wide array of lighting options.
Southern Landscape Lighting Systems of Marietta, GA, designs, installs, and services LED low-voltage landscape lighting in the metro Atlanta area. The lighting professionals offer a free onsite consultation, and nighttime demonstrations are available for customers ready to move forward with a lighting project. Contact the design specialists at Southern Landscape Lighting Systems to schedule an inspection and evaluation of an existing system, especially before the holidays arrive.
Contact Southern Landscape Lighting Systems for more details about landscape lighting design and installation. The Marietta office can be reached by calling (678) 616-9166 or by emailing [email protected].