What landscape lighting is for
Where roofline lighting handles the house, landscape lighting takes care of the yard: the walk, the beds, the trees, the steps. The goal is to see the tree, not the light pointed at it. Done badly, you get a line of glowing dots along the path and not much else.
What a yard normally needs
Path lighting comes first for most properties, since walking to the door in the dark is the daily problem. A well placed uplight gives the yard depth after sunset. Beds, stairs, retaining walls and the driveway fill in the rest, and the step lighting is safety more than looks.
Landscape, patio and security lighting are related jobs
The request is rarely just one type of lighting. Patio lighting is what turns a patio into somewhere you sit in the evening. Security lighting deals with the corners of the lot, which is a different goal from the pretty work. Accent
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Common mistakes
More light is not better. Even light everywhere kills the contrast that makes it look good. 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, since the bed in front of a fixture fills in.
Businesses and communities
On commercial property the goals shift. Outdoor seating lives or dies on the lighting. Parking and walkways come down to safety. A neighborhood entrance sets the tone for everything behind it, which is why entry lighting gets attention in planned developments.
Landscape lighting and roofline lighting together
Roofline lighting handles the building. The yard is a separate job. Together they finish the picture. Roofline light gives the house a shape after dark, and landscape light gives the ground in front of it depth.Doing them at the same time beats adding one to the other later. 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.Unlike a roofline system, yard lighting moves. Fixtures get bumped by mowers, beds fill in around them, and the aim wanders. An annual look and re aim keeps it looking the way it was designed.
Where to go from here
The plan should be made standing in the yard, not chosen off a menu. EverCrest Lighting installs landscape lighting along with patio, accent, security and permanent roofline lighting for residential and commercial properties. 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].