Add A Flair For The Dramatic With Landscape Lighting

One of my favorite holiday activities is crowding the family into a vehicle to view the holiday lights. From the simple white lights and wreaths to the bright flashing, multi-colored bulbs and large inflatable figures, holidays are at their worst entertaining and at their best gorgeous and inspiring. Believe it or not, but here was a time when darkness fell, people went inside to the safety, warmth, and light of their homes. The fact was, it was neither inviting or practical to spend time outside. Not only could you not see where you were walking, but additionally, the environment wasn’t welcoming. While, I doubt few people would suggest you keep your holiday lights out all year round, you can add drama and a beauty of light to your home all year round through landscape lighting.

It is amazing how little light is necessary to make a huge impact on your landscape. Something as simple as a backlight with a few low voltage spotlights pointed from the base of your house up onto the home can make a huge impact. Light is a great way to highlight the beautiful aspects of your home and lawn. If you have beautiful trees, they can be backlit for a dramatic effect. If you have a wonderful door, a spotlight or gas lamps can do the trick. Additionally, lighting effects, such as a high quality park light or a lighted park bench, can create a classy, urban effect and transform your outdoor landscape into a relaxing and elegant atmosphere. Directional path lighting spaced from eight to ten feet apart on alternate sides of a walkway can illuminate and is not just practical, but beautiful as well.

While there is little doubt that landscape lighting can be beautiful, it also has more practical uses. For one, the addition of light to your lawn and walkways makes them more safe to walk. Using low voltage spotlights or directional path lighting, you can ensure that family and visitors alike can safely walk to your doorstep without turning an ankle or tripping over obstacles hidden by darkness. From a safety standpoint, landscape lighting also discourage intruders. After all, darkness only offers opportunities for potential predators to sneak up unseen to your home. Adding light makes sure anyone who approaches your house can do so in full view. Motion detection lights are a great way to protect against anyone with less than pure motives as they approach your home by illuminating when they sense motion. Motion lights are also a green solution because they ensure that lights don’t need to be on for a prolonged period of time, only when you need them to be on.

The Houston landscape lighting experts, Fresh Start Landscaping, can transform your lawn into a beautiful, well-lit spectacle. You can get all of your Houston landscaping needs met as well as custom and manufactured water features, sprinkler systems, stonework, decks and patios, and lighting from Fresh Start landscapes. Get a free quote, quality service, and competitive prices.

The Different Types Of Classic Landscape Lighting

Decorating your home is a highly personalized experience as it essentially is a reflection of yourself. One aspect that should not be overlooked when undertaking this task is the outside of your home. Your property landscape is a blank canvas where you can turn a seemingly ordinary plot of grass and a few trees into a remarkable garden getaway where you can host lawn parties or steal away for a few moments of peace. Without the proper lighting, however, your option of enjoying this haven can be limited to daylight hours. Classic landscape lighting elements offers a way to enjoy your personal outdoor getaway any time of day or night.

Garden stakes are one of the first items that come to mind when thinking about classic landscape lighting. These traditionally line paths to illuminate walkways but can also be used to highlight intricate brick and stonework as well as particularly beautiful flower patches. Modern technology now offers these lights in a solar powered option which saves not only energy, but money and time as well. They are designed to automatically turn on at dusk and then switch off at dawn. This saves you time as there is no need to manually operate the lights. Money is also saved as the power source is the sun. It is a wonderful option for many, but there are also lights that run on traditional wired circuits for houses set on large acreage properties.

Another aspect of classic landscape lighting to consider when designing your plot of land is accent lights. Also known as spot lights, this type of illumination is especially useful for highlighting dramatic aspects of your garden. Most commonly used as a way to light up statutory work, these lights are now being used to draw the eye to natural landmarks such as trees or flower plots. Some homeowners choose to use accent lights for all of their outdoor lighting, including lighting walkways and garden paths as some models come on hinged bases that allow light heads to be moved in different positions.

Post lighting is yet another classic landscape lighting element. The models vary from vintage Victorian era designs to simplistic modern options. Normally the light is housed in a square or cylindrical lantern placed on the top of a post known as a candelabra base. The materials used for these lights are generally a metal like bronze or copper. Many are fashioned to look like the post lighting used when there was no electricity at all. However, nowadays it is not uncommon for these posts to require an electrician to wire them properly for use with your landscape.