Start with what you want to see
Where roofline lighting works on the building, landscape lighting takes care of the yard: the walk, the beds, the trees, the steps. The goal is light you see the effect of, not fixtures you count. Done badly, it looks like an airport runway down the driveway.
The pieces of a plan
Most plans start with the walk, which is the piece that earns its cost every single evening. Uplighting on a good tree does more for a yard at night than almost anything else. Then there are beds and low plantings, steps and retaining walls where the light is really about not tripping, and the parking area.
Where the categories blur
The request is rarely just one type of lighting. Out back, the patio only gets used after dark if it has light. Security lighting deals with the corners of the lot, which is a different goal from the pretty work. Accent lighting picks out the details worth picking out.
Where landscape lighting goes wrong
More light is not better. Even light everywhere removes the shadow that gives a yard shape. Badly aimed fixtures put light in your guests' eyes instead of on the ground. 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
Businesses light the grounds for other reasons. A restaurant patio has to be comfortable to sit in after dark. A parking area is about people getting to their cars. A neighborhood entrance sets the tone for everything behind it, which is why entrances get lit carefully.
Combining the two
Roofline lighting handles the building. The yard is a separate job. Together they finish the picture. The house has an outline; the ground has layers. Either one alone leaves half the property flat.Doing them at the same time beats adding one to the other later. If the budget only covers one this year, a good designer will tell you which half to do first, and it is not always the roofline.Unlike a roofline system, ground level fixtures shift. Fixtures get bumped by mowers, beds fill
https://landenoyna918.cloudhinter.com/posts/security-lighting-for-your-property-the-difference-between-lit-and-floodlit-does-security-lighting-work-security-lighting-that-actually-helps-coverage-beats-brightness in around them, and the aim wanders. An annual look and re aim keeps it looking the way it was designed.
How to start
The plan should be made standing in the yard, not chosen off a menu. EverCrest Lighting does landscape lighting installation as well as patio, accent, security and permanent LED roofline lighting for homes and businesses. Working out of Greenville, South Carolina, they cover Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. The consultation is free and the design is drawn for your property. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or
[email protected].