Landscape lighting starts with the yard, not the catalog
Where roofline lighting works on the building, landscape lighting handles everything below it: the walk, the beds, the trees, the steps. Done well, you notice the yard and not the fixtures. Done badly, you get a line of glowing dots along the path and not much else.
What a yard normally needs
Most plans start with the walk, which is the piece that earns its cost every single evening. A well placed uplight keeps the yard from going flat and black at nine at night. Then there are beds and low plantings, stairs and walls where the light is about footing, and the parking area.
Landscape, patio and security lighting overlap
The request is rarely just one type of lighting. Out back, the patio only gets used after dark if it has light. Security lighting handles the parts of the property nobody can see from the street. Accent lighting handles the detail.
Where landscape lighting goes wrong
More light is not better. A yard lit evenly at every point has no depth, which is exactly the look people are trying to get away from. The second mistake is aiming fixtures where people walk, so the path lights blind you instead of showing the path. The third is ignoring how the yard will look in five years, when the shrub in front of the uplight has doubled.
Commercial landscape lighting
On commercial property the goals shift. A restaurant patio has to be comfortable to sit in after dark. Parking and walkways come down to safety. A neighborhood entrance is about the first impression of the whole community, which is why entry lighting gets attention in planned developments.
Landscape lighting and roofline lighting together
The two solve different problems, and most properties want both. The house has an outline; the ground has layers. One without the other looks unfinished.A single design avoids a mismatched result, which is what happens when two companies work the same property in different
https://laneirrg080.image-perth.org/permanent-outdoor-lighting-in-greenville-sc-what-upstate-homeowners-should-know-looking-at-permanent-outdoor-lighting-in-greenville years. If the budget has to be split, a good designer will tell you which half to do first, and it is not always the roofline.Landscape lighting needs a look now and then. Fixtures get bumped by mowers, beds fill in around them, and the aim wanders. Once a year somebody should re aim what has drifted, which is a short job with a visible result.
Where to go from here
A landscape lighting installation is worth planning on site, at night if you can. EverCrest Lighting does landscape lighting installation along with patio, accent, security and permanent roofline lighting for homes and businesses. They are based in Greenville, South Carolina and serve Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. Consultations are free, and the design gets built around your yard. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].