A Collaborative Approach to Landscape Lighting

When it comes to designing a landscape lighting solution, a multi-step approach is needed according to the team at Southern Landscape Lighting Systems.

Lindsey Rodericks,
owner of Southern
Landscape Lighting Solutions in Alpharetta, has found that the best way to
ensure that a landscape lighting installation is a success, is to work closely
with the property owner using a structured plan to map out the design step by
step. Following their three-step process
of focusing on the house, then looking at proximity and placing of lights and
lastly adding depth and texture, they are confident that they will be able to deliver the perfect installation every time.

First, Focus on the House

In many cases a client may find the process
of designing a landscape lighting installation overwhelming, many homeowners want to be involved in the process, but find it
difficult to know where to start. Lindsey suggests that, rather than focusing
on everything that needs to get done, that they rather focus on the most
important feature: their home. Some important tips to keep in mind:

• Landscape lights should not
  draw attention to themselves, but rather ensure that the focus is on the facade
  of the home.
• Focus on lighting up the most
  important areas such as walkways, entrances and any other areas that get the
  most traffic.
• Security implications highlight
  areas around your home to deter intruders such as porches and windows.

A good way to get started is to observe
your home at night from the perspective of a visitor – think about the
potential problem areas that might make your home difficult to navigate at
night, as well as making a list of the best features of your home’s exterior.

Second, Think About Proximity and Placement

The spacing of outdoor lights is critical
to a successful lighting installation. Correct spacing and an understanding of
what areas should be highlighted means
that lights:

• Should be evenly spaced to
  cover the whole outdoor area.
• Shouldn’t be too close together
  or too bright as they can flatten features that should be accentuated or they may be too
  bright for people to be able to navigate through the garden successfully.
• Should be placed slightly away
  from the feature that is to be highlighted
  in order to cast a greater area of light.

If you have budget constraints, rather
start small and cover the most important areas properly. This will be more effective than spreading the
lights out too much and having big patches of dark interspersed with lights
that are too bright.

Lastly, Add Depth and Texture

There are a couple of ways to set up
landscape lights that will quickly add layers to your garden to give it a
multi-dimensional effect. To add depth:

• Vary the intensity of the
  different outdoor lights.
• Limit the number of accent
  lights.
• Vary the angle of the lights so
  that they shine in different directions.
• Limit the gaps between lights
  to prevent big black areas in your garden.

Lights vary in intensity; large lumen lights work well to draw
attention to important areas such as large trees or statues as they are very bright.
Medium intensity lighting is a good option for high traffic areas such as
patios and pathways so that there is enough light to see what you are doing. Low-intensity lighting can be interspersed
throughout the garden to add diversity to your garden’s lighting.

Mixing different types of lights and
incorporating shadow through backlighting, silhouetting, up-lighting and
down-lighting will also help to create depth for your yard.

Southern
Landscape Lighting Systems in Alpharetta has worked on a wide range of
landscape installations for many years and are well-known for their striking, effective
lighting solutions, as well as the quality of their workmanship. If you’re looking for landscape lighting for your
garden, they’d love to walk you through the process and design a bespoke
installation that brings your vision to life.

The next info was first published on A Collaborative Approach to Landscape Lighting and is courtesy of Southern Landscape Lighting Systems. See more on:} The Southern Landscape Lighting Systems Blog in Georgia