Landscape lighting starts with the yard, not the catalog
Landscape lighting lights the yard rather
https://evercrestlighting.com/contact/ than the building: walkways, beds, trees, steps, driveways, the path from the car to the door. Done well, you notice the yard and not the fixtures. Done badly, it looks like an airport runway down the driveway.
The pieces of a plan
Path lighting is usually the starting point, because it is the part that does a job every night. A light aimed up into a tree gives the yard depth after sunset. Beds, steps, retaining walls and the driveway fill in the rest, and the step lighting is safety more than looks.
Landscape, patio and security lighting overlap
The request is rarely just one type of lighting. Patio lighting makes the back of the house usable after dinner. 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 usually goes wrong
More light does not mean better. A yard lit evenly at every point looks flat, and flat is the one thing you were trying to avoid. The second mistake is aiming fixtures where people walk, so every guest gets a light in the eye on the way to the door. The third is ignoring how the yard will look in five years, since the bed in front of a fixture fills in.
The commercial side
Businesses use the same tools for different reasons. Outdoor seating only gets used after dark if the light is right. Parking and walkways are a footing and visibility question. A neighborhood entrance sets the tone for everything behind it, which is why entrances get lit carefully.
How they work as one design
Roofline lighting works on the house. Landscape lighting handles everything else. Most properties want both. Roofline light outlines the building, and landscape light gives the ground in front of it depth.A single design keeps the brightness and the color consistent, which is the usual problem when a second company adds to a first company's work. If the budget has to be split, ask which half does more for your property, and it is not always the roofline.Landscape lighting needs a look now and then. Fixtures shift over time, plantings grow up in front of them, and the aim wanders. An annual adjustment keeps it looking the way it was designed.
How to start
A landscape lighting installation should be designed at the property, at night if you can. EverCrest Lighting installs landscape lighting as well as patio, accent, security and permanent LED roofline lighting for residential and commercial properties. 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].