Lighting up your home is a large undertaking, but with the proper outdoor lighting design, the hard-to-light features of your home don’t have to disappear in the after-dusk landscape. The benefit of Nite Time Décor Oakville outdoor lighting is that you can accentuate the unique aspects of your home like chimneys, flagpoles, sheds and other outbuildings.

Flagpoles are often a source of pride for many individuals and businesses and we’d love to see yours any time of day! Here are our best tips!

Well Lights Add A Natural Look

To get a more subtle, natural look, try well lights. These little fixtures can be hidden in the ground or shrubbery around your flagpole in order to illuminate it from below. What’s more, well lights will give a sense of grandeur to the flagpole as they emphasize the height. You’ll need more than one to fully light up the structure, however. Generally, depending on how bright you want it, two well lights are enough to create the right level of illumination.

Use Spotlights From the Base

If you want to produce more light than well lights offer, try installing spotlights at the base of the flagpole. Residential and commercial needs will differ so be sure to consult our experts first. Using one light will provide a dramatic, sharper effect. Using two lights, intersecting from opposite directions, can provide a softer lighting. The method you choose may depend on the lighting currently used to illuminate the rest of your business or home’s façade.

Light the Flag Directly

If you don’t want to emphasize the height of the pole, try an uplighter. These can be attached directly to the pole, further away from the ground. This is used to make the flag pop out as an important feature of your yard.

For flagpoles that are beginning to peel or become weathered, uplighting may be a good option. It’s a great method to use if you don’t want to draw attention to a flagpole that needs to be replaced or repainted.

Remember, you want a gentle light that highlights the flag and/or the pole, not a theatre spotlight effect in an otherwise dark yard.

Chimneys

Chimneys might seem like an odd feature of your home to think about illuminating at night, but many newer homes don’t have them as natural wood fireplaces have fallen out of fashion. Chimneys are also, often, the highest point of your home which make them fantastic focal points to increase aesthetic appeal as their height offers visibility and clarity.

Create A Cohesive Design Plan

Make a plan for adding landscape lighting to your entire home, it would seem odd to add lighting to just your chimney. Study your chimney and identify any unique angles, textures or facades to highlight. There are a few different ways to add outdoor lighting to a chimney so that it fits into the larger design of your home.

Types of lighting

There are three common types of Nite Time Décor Oakville fixtures that are used on chimneys: up lighting, down lighting, and recessed lights.

When you’re trying to decide whether or not to use an up light or a down light, figure out the visibility of your chimney. If your chimney begins being visible at the roofline, rather than at the base of the home, you’ll want to use a down light. This ensures that more of the chimney is highlighted, while a spotlight on a chimney like this will light up more of the wall. Spotlights are great for chimneys that begin at the base of the home toward the roofline.

Recessed lighting, though not as common as up or down lighting, can still be used on chimneys if you don’t want your landscape lighting to be visible from below. The only negative quality of these is that you’re going to have fewer options for lighting if you choose this route.

Plan your chimney to match

If you’re adding chimney lights to pre-existing outdoor lighting, make sure it matches in style and doesn’t add too much light. You don’t want to over light the area and create an unbalanced effect in your yard.

Lighting Up Backyard Sheds And Rural Outbuildings

From time to time, we need to access these buildings after dark – whether you’re searching for a shovel for that surprise snow fall or you need a spare part, or you want to add additional security to a darker part of the yard, outdoor lighting can be very handy!

Floodlights and spotlights are perhaps the main go-to, along with unattractive bare bulbs over doors, but you can ensure these buildings are just as secure and attractive as the rest of your yard at night.

Rural outbuildings and backyard sheds are well-suited to motion-sensor lights that can also be equipped with a timer so they only come on if there’s movement and only at certain times of day. Then you can set it and forget it.

If you have any gardens or plants, highlighting those can also be attractive – particularly if this is a building with a great façade, garden, or placement in the yard. Pathway lights around the front or on the pathway to the building can add safety while still being attractive.

Every Good Gazebo Deserves To Be Used At Night

Gazebos can breathe life into any yard gathering, particularly when properly lit for nighttime entertaining.

The first thing to consider when designing a gazebo lighting system is wiring and electrical requirements. If you hire one of our electricians, you can be sure that your commercial or residential gazebo lighting system will be properly hooked into your electrical panel.

Our technicians will take care of installing the wiring underground to prevent tripping. We can also decide whether it’s best to hook it up to an outdoor outlet or an interior circuit.

This is not a job you want to attempt on your own. The professionals at Nite Time Décor are trained to handle complex electrical work. Our team of designers and electricians are here to give you the best consultation and continued maintenance for your Burlington outdoor lighting system.

Lighting the Interior

Something like a chandelier or our down light would be perfect for lighting the interior of your gazebo. Either of these fixtures allow for stylish lighting that illuminates the area without creating too much glare.

Remember to consider voltage when planning for interior gazebo light fixtures in your outdoor lighting design. There are some activities that will require brighter lighting. If you are planning on reading, playing boardgames or cards, you’ll want the option of adding brighter lights to tables or seating areas.

Exterior Gazebo Lighting

Lighting the perimeter of your gazebo is all about accenting the right features. When you’re conceptualizing your gazebo lighting, decide what sections of the gazebo’s structure you want to highlight.

Think about up lighting versus down lighting. Down lighting has the benefit of also illuminating the interior, as well as the exterior. Don’t forget to light the pathways and entrances to your gazebo. You want to make sure that your guests don’t trip on the way to your gathering. These can easily be incorporated into your outdoor lighting design and will help improve safety as well as ambiance.

Think about coloured lights if your yard has an insect problem. Coloured lights are less likely to attract bugs than bright yellow or white lights.

For the best advice for your outdoor lighting design, contact one of Oakville Nite Time Décor’s experts today!

Just like that, August has practically come and gone. It’s hard to believe that fall is just around the corner. As the days start to get shorter, and the temperatures begin to cool off, it’s important to prepare your outdoor landscape lighting for fall. To help you check this task off of your to-do list, our lighting experts have compiled a helpful list of tips for preparing your landscape lighting system for fall.

Do a ‘Walk About’

The best way to start prepping your landscape lighting for fall is to go outside in the daytime and do a complete ‘walk about’ of your property. Inspect your light fixtures and assess the condition of all wires.

If you notice any scratches on the lenses of your lights, take the time to buff them out or replace the lenses altogether. If your landscape lighting design operates all year long, scratches can take away the effectiveness of your system. And don’t just stop with the scratches! Spend the extra hour to clean your fixtures. Clean fixtures are well-maintained fixtures. You’ll have an easier time in the spring maintaining your Oakville landscape lighting fixtures if you start off winter with them in the best condition.

Take a minute to tighten the screws on your transformer’s terminal blocks and remove any debris from the inside cabinet housing. Now’s a great time to replace any batteries used in timers or motion sensors. Trim back any landscaping that’s become overgrown and is covering light fixtures.

Search For Exposed Or Damaged Wires

If you happen to notice exposed wires, or wires that are torn or damaged, you’ll need to resolve this issue right away. Exposed and damaged wires present a safety risk on your property, especially if you have children or pets in your household. Exposed wiring could get damaged in the heavy winter months also creating additional expenses come spring.

If you have exposed or damaged wires, contact Nite Time Décor and have one of our experienced technicians cover, repair or replace the problem wires.

Straighten Fixtures

During your ‘walk about’ you may notice that your fixtures have shifted since their original installation. This is typical as fixtures may fall victim to foot traffic and lawn maintenance activities over the summer months. If you have any leaning light fixtures on your property, simply restore them to their correct position by straightening them out and tighten the mount if applicable.

Clear Leaves

Most homeowners are diligent about removing fallen leaves from the yard, but if you needed an additional reason know that leaves can not only cover your lighting fixtures but they can trap moisture against the fixture and wiring causing damage that will need attention in the spring.

Clear mulch and dry leaves from the bulbs. This is especially important if your light fixtures emit a lot of heat. Mulch and dry leaves on uncovered bulbs can be a fire hazard.

Renew and update

As with anything else, your landscape lighting fixtures can become tired. Fall maintenance is a great time to update your landscape lighting system. Replace old fixtures with new, and if you haven’t already, change your bulbs to LED. You’ll save money and energy in the long term with LED lights from Nite Time Décor.

If you’ve had the same landscape lighting setup for quite some time and you’re looking for a change, now is a good time to change up your fixtures. Cast bronze is a timeless finish that needs to age to get that nice old-penny brown or greenish blue patina. The winter months offer the perfect aging elements so that your fixtures really stand out and look like they were part of the home’s original design by spring. Cast bronze fixture and not only beautiful but are made to withstand cool, wet weather. The cast bronze alloy is strong, impervious to corrosion, and will last a long time.

Alternately, if you’re trying to prevent your cast bronze fixtures from taking on that aged look or patina, fall is a great time to reapply a coating of WD 40 or a clear matte coat finish to protect against the winter elements.

At Nite Time Decor, we work hard to offer our clients environmentally friendly landscape lighting options. One of our most common lighting choices is the LED light. Not only do these incredibly versatile lights offer remarkable savings, but they also last forever, and do not cause harm to the environment. LED lights, or “light emitting diodes” are proven to be more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs. They also emit significantly less heat, thereby reducing pollution. You can count on your LED landscape lights to last as long as 20 years, while still providing the same versatility you would expect of an incandescent bulb.

Any change of season is a great time to think about an upgrade or changing out outdated fixtures.

 

Change Up The Landscape Lighting For Winter
Around now you may want to make some changes to your landscape lighting design to fit the winter months. Perhaps you want to add a blue bulb to accent that evergreen? Maybe the red lights you had on the flowers in your garden should be changed to white for a more natural effect?

With the new silhouettes created by dormant deciduous trees, you can reposition your lights to cast pretty shadows and silhouettes on the walls of your home. Maybe it’s time to reset those lights highlighting the evergreens in your yard? Keep in mind that when the leaves fall, your lighting needs to be adjusted to accommodate the lack of foliage. Bare branches are fun when a soft light is used, but the light used in the summer upon foliage might be harsh and severe against bare branches (unless you’re going for a haunted house look).

Consider not using some lights over the winter or tilting them to focus on the trunks of the trees instead of the grim bare branches?

If you haven’t added any string lights to your yard, winter is the perfect season. Twinkling lights across a snowy patio or front porch railing add visual appeal and hint at warmer weather activities. Just a change in the lighting will increase your winter curb appeal.

Keep in mind what’s under the snow so make sure pathway lights clearly mark pathways that may be unseen. Fire pits are a great feature to highlight in the winter that might be overlooked in the summer. Switch the focus to seasonal plants or planters in the landscaping or on a deck or porch. Try to imagine where the snow lays in your yard and plan the lighting so that it helps direct steps even when there’s snow on the ground.

Don’t forget to reset your timers to match the changing daytime hours. This may be done closer to the winter season, in order to ensure maximum efficiency.

 

Creating Natural Outdoor Lighting Effects For Your Gardens

If there’s no snow on the ground, it’s a great time to consider adding landscape lighting to your home or business. Many people think of the illuminating the front of their house for security or safety or curb appeal, but don’t forget the softscaping—gardens. You’ve worked hard to make those spectacular during the day, why not also enjoy them at night!

Here are our expert’s top five types of garden lighting.

String Lights

Often used for narrow gardens along the perimeter of your property or in trees, these lights can create a warm and inviting ambiance as part of the outdoor lighting on your property. These lights can be hung along fences, in pergolas, or even directly on the branches of trees. The soft glow or gentle twinkling can evoke a bit of fairy magic or romantic elegance.

Up Lighting Creates Depth

This landscape lighting technique can create depth and show off the varied textures of your garden features. To achieve this a light is placed in a lower position and directed up at the feature being accented. This effect works well with trees, foliage or other taller garden features.

Down Lighting Mimics Natural Moonlight

As the name implies, this technique is the inverse of up lighting. A light is placed above the feature being accented, illuminating it from above. This type of landscape lighting is quite popular and especially effective at creating a natural effect, showing off the garden features in a way that mimics how it would be seen on a bright evening where the moon and stars are shining bright.

This technique can also be used in the branches of a large tree to light up the tree and the gardens below. This type of outdoor lighting not only illuminates gardens, but provides good general area lighting.

Highlight The Tall Flowers First

Consider adding downlights to nearby fences or posts. This should be a narrow light, not a glaring spotlight or floodlight, to add height to the design. Be sure to consider balance and symmetry where possible. From there, you can move into smaller areas and focus on highlighting individual plants.

Ensure Garden Lights Enhance Overall Outdoor Lighting Design

It’s tempting just to add outdoor lighting to the pathways around the garden, but there’s so many more possibilities than that to really show off your yard and gardens! A beautifully lit garden will look out of place if the rest of your property is under-lit or features few too many fixtures.

Do – Use lights to improve the safety of garden walkways.

This will ensure that all areas, especially those that change levels (steps and stairs) receive the right level of lighting to prevent trips and falls.

Do– Prevent glare.

Use shields to ensure that the light is properly directed.

Do – Illuminate shrubs and other shadowy areas to improve security.

Shining a light on these areas will eliminate possible intrusion points and improve the overall safety of your garden and yard.

Do– Make use of uplighting for a natural look.

Uplighting draws the eye upwards, giving the plants in your garden the illusion of size and grandeur.

Do – Get creative with specialty lighting and coloured bulbs.

Coloured lights can add unique textures and effects to you garden, highlighting the shades that appear naturally on your property.

Do – Consider daylighting lighting options.

When planning your garden lighting design, be sure to take dawn, dusk, and evening activities into consideration. This is when you’re most likely to be utilizing your garden for parties and social gatherings. Play with effects in these lighting situations in order to produce the perfect mood.

Do – Consider Small Areas

Sometimes the biggest impacts can be made through the smallest lighting improvements. Consider highlighting smaller features or areas of your garden in order to increase the “wow” factor of your design.

Do – Create And Make Use Of Shadows

Allow moving foliage and shadows to add interest and create depth to avoid a flat-looking design in your yard. Know where you want to draw a visitor’s eye and create a visual surprise! Make sure that you avoid positioning any beams on open trellises, bare trees, or spindly branches.

Do – Use Hoods And Light Shields

Many pathway and post lights come with hoods or light shields to help direct the light down. Play with the height of these to create visual interest without blinding guests as they walk by or annoying neighbours.

Do – Experiment With Wattages And Beam Spreads

Use different wattages and beam spreads in order to create a truly unique lighting experience in your garden.

Tiki Lights Add Flair

These fixtures are versatile and cast great light. Nothing creates a more romantic ambiance than candles with their flames flickering in the breeze, creating shadows and reflections. They add that magical feel to your garden, but still have style.

Why Use A Professional Installer For Your Outdoor Lighting System

When it comes to lighting your outdoor garden, you have a variety of options of light sources. Our professionally installed systems are “line volted” which uses the same reliable 120 volts your house uses. These are placed and left in one place. We also offer solar options that last longer than the models you find in the big box stores and don’t need constantly sunny days to work well. These are popular placed low to the ground along paths or around gardens to highlight a tree or an ornament.

Create Visual Interest That Works At Night And During The Day

Give some thought to placement with pathway lighting along your gardens. Avoid straight lines down both sides of the path which can resemble an airport runway. Instead, stagger them while still giving light for safety but strategically choosing which plants are illuminated.

Haphazardly throwing a few spotlights amongst the shrubs will leave you ultimately disappointed. While there are no hard and fast rules for garden lighting (every garden is different, after all!), but doing so shouldn’t ruin the look of your garden during the day.

The ideal garden lighting installation is inconspicuous – you notice the lighting effects at night, but the fixtures don’t attract your attention during the day. This landscape lighting design is difficult to achieve when working with solar power fixtures as the solar batteries require direct sunlight in order to charge during the day. Low-voltage lights or energy efficient LED lighting fixtures are a much more aesthetically appealing option.

Position Light To Shine On An Angle

It doesn’t matter whether the light source is positioned above or below your garden, just make sure that most of the light is positioned to shine in on an angle. Front lighting is very unforgiving and can wash out your landscaping. Angled and side lighting results in better modelling and will create a more interesting shadow effect in the end.

Create Pools Of Light In Gardens

When lighting large flower beds, many professional designers will choose to use many smaller lights rather than one large lamp. When placed correctly, these lights will create soft overlapping pools of light rather than one harsh beam. These areas of overlap can be places where you need stronger lighting for cooking, reading, etc.

You spend a great deal of time, effort, and money on your garden. Make sure it looks lovely long after the sun has set with sophisticated landscaping lighting from Nite Time Decor. Receive a custom quote from one of our professional designers today.

 

What Is Moon Lighting And Why Does It Remain So Popular?

There’s nothing more beautiful on a breezy spring night or warm summer evening than moonlight whispering in soft beams through tree boughs to your deck below. With landscape lighting, you won’t have to worry about clouds blocking your moonlight ever again with a simple technique. Read on for our tips for getting this beautiful permanent moonlight.

Moonlighting imitates the natural light of the moon in your yard. This type of lighting is subtle, elegant, and creates a ton of ambiance.

What Is Moonlighting?

Moonlighting, generally speaking, isn’t used for security or for task lighting – it’s soft, utilizes the natural movement of the trees so you’re looking for that sweet spot of providing light without being bright or harsh. Light cast down from above, often filtered through trees and other features, results in a soft, full moon glow, regardless of the actual moon or the weather. As such, a tree with a large canopy is the best candidate for a moonlighting installation.

One of the reasons moonlight is so beautiful is its subtlety. The soft glow from a round silver sickle creates ambience and romance in a way that bright yellow outdoor lighting cannot. So, when you’re mimicking the moon with your Nite Time Décor landscape lighting, imitate its softness as well. Use low voltage landscape lighting to create your moonlight effect.

Create A Layered Design For Natural Effect

Where the “moonlight” looks most natural and gorgeous will depend heavily on your home’s unique features and landscaping. You’ll want the effect somewhere close to a heavy traffic area, so that you can enjoy it while relaxing on the deck. If you’re choosing a tree, pick a tall, full tree to make it look like natural moonlight has been caught in its boughs.

The moon and stars produce amazing natural light at night, but it’s a layered light. To create a realistic effect with your landscape lighting, you want several lights criss-crossing each other in your tree, angled down to the ground. One light won’t get the shimmering moonlight effect, and will be too harsh a light source.

Placement For Best Recreated Moonlight In Your Yard

When recreating moonlight, the effect is diminished if guests can see the fixture casting the light (because it’s obviously not the real moon). Attaching the fixtures within the tree hides the mechanics from view, offering light without a visible source other than the moon above. A good height to use is about 20-25 feet up into the tree. The dappled shadows on the ground, particularly in the lower, silvery blue tones will make your guests forget about lighting fixtures.

The other benefit of securing the fixtures high in the tree is that you avoid the glare that comes from lower angled lights. Bright, lower placed lights are harsh and stark on the human eye, and certainly would not create the moonlight effect that you want to achieve with your Oakville outdoor lighting.

What If You Don’t Have A Tree

Many of our tips for moonlighting refer to placing lights in trees and taking advantage of the natural movement of the leaves to create a dapples or filtered light. But what if you don’t have a large tree, or a large tree in the right place? That’s OK. Moonlighting doesn’t always have to be from trees.

Choose a location that has a considerable amount of height over the rest of your lawn. Moonlight effect won’t be believable unless it’s higher than most of your other architectural and natural features. Consider the tallest feature you have on your lawn that is within reach of high traffic areas such as your roof, patio, pillars or columns, gazebo, etc.

Take Advantage Of Other Landscaping Elements

If you have any water sources – whether it’s a pond, pool, fountain, or otherwise, moonlighting can create a fantastic effect on a reflective surface. Moonlight glimmering on water has been the source of poetic imagery for generations, so why not include that lovely ethereal scenery in your yard? Position your fixtures so that they’re in an architectural or landscape feature close enough to the water to create a shimmering design on its surface.

Choosing The Right Colours

Moonlight has a silvery blue tone to it that can be difficult to mimic with outdoor lighting services. The best way to imitate the tone is with slightly blue lights. Be careful with the shade of blue you choose, though. If you use too much blue the illumination will appear artificial, tacky, and provide a nightclub vibe. A light blue tone will do the trick, by creating a silvery blue tone that is closer to how the human eye perceives moonlight.

Choose a blue that is subtle, silvery, and low. When this filters through branches or onto the ground, the colour will hit the human eye in much the same way that moonlight does, creating the same colour perception.

Low Voltage Oakville Outdoor Lighting

When you are trying to imitate moonlight you need to use low voltage, softer lighting. You don’t want something that’s too bright, because it won’t look natural. If you do want bright lighting for security purposes, use these in other areas of your property in which you don’t want the natural feel. For example, you could use bright lighting on pathways or cast onto textured walls, rather than use the bright lighting for the down lights in your trees.

What Kind Of Fixtures Are Used To Create Moonlighting?

Flood lights are the most common products used. These will need to be placed at different angles and areas of the tree, depending on what you want to highlight. For lighter and less shadowing, ask your outdoor lighting service to mount the lights near the edge of the canopy and closer to the ground.

If you want to highlight just the tree trunk, place a light lower in the tree, just above the trunk and point it straight at the ground.

Does Moon Lighting Harm The Trees?

Some DIYers will use staples and hammer the wires to the tree. This isn’t terribly professional looking but it is effective in the short term. However, the staples do cause injury to the tree. The staples aren’t great for the wires either. Trees grow. A couple of years after installing those moon lights, the tree may have grown enough to damage or destroy all that hard work and now you have to cut into the tree to remove or replace the wires.

We use specially designed hangers that keep the wires secure and intact without harming the trees at all.

Leave It To The Pros

What part of hanging lights in a 25 foot tall tree (that’s a really long way up!) and running electricity across your yard (to code) sounds fun or easy to you? No one wants to spend his or her weekends or holidays engaging in something that could easily lead to an injury, cause damage, or fail to work as you want it to. This should be the time to relax, after all.

The best way to get landscape lighting in the Oakville area to fit your needs is to hire a professional. Seasoned experts can tell you exactly what fixtures will provide the most appealing aesthetic effect for your lifestyle and needs, and how to enhance the usefulness of your yard after dark, as well as the safety, security, and curb appeal of your home. The warranty and lifetime maintenance is another huge benefit and the peace of mind knowing it was done properly and professionally the first time and won’t cause damage to your landscaping!

For any outdoor landscape lighting job that needs doing, we can do it for you! Don’t wait to enhance the night time beauty of your home. Contact Nite Time Décor Oakville for your complimentary quote, more information, or to book a consultation.

 

Landscape Lighting 101: Planning Outdoor Lighting, Even If You’re Not A Pro

As a homeowner, you work hard to make the inside of your home reflect your own unique style and personality. Why stop there! Designing and decorating the outside of your home, including lighting, offers the opportunity to show off your home in the evening and help it stand out in the neighbourhood.

A landscape lighting system can highlight the visually appealing architecture of your home and its natural elements, all while adding valuable curb appeal, security, and enhancing safety. But, form follows function. Take a minute to read through this important list of considerations before you speak to one of our lighting specialists about installing a lighting system for you.

How Will You Use Your Outdoor Space?

Before choosing any outdoor lighting designs, consider how you will be using your outdoor space. Do you only want security and safety lighting for your front walkway and entrance? Or, would you like to light up your backyard to enjoy BBQ dinners and entertain family and friends? Consider areas including, front steps, driveway, patio, porch, backyard, pool, or other unique architectural elements. The lighting design you choose will enhance the way you use your space, so be sure you’ve considered all the ways you’ll use your outdoor spaces at night before making your final decision.

Determine Lighting Style

Deciding on the needs of each area of your home will help to streamline the decisions on what kind of lighting and lighting fixtures to install. You may want task lighting over the bar-be-que. Maybe you want to brighten up the darkest parts of your yard for security with strategically placed floodlights. Perhaps you’ll want to install uplighting for your trees or illuminate a unique architectural feature on your home with spotlights. You’re not limited to one style. If you want one type of light for the bar-be-que area, that same lighting doesn’t have to light up your dining area.

Let one style and brightness complement another. This is where smart technology and creating zones for your outdoor lighting come in!

Creating Landscape Lighting Zones Maximizes Versatility

Using LED technology, landscape lighting is available in a variety of colours, beam spread, and intensity. Zones allocate a particular focus or intended use and each zone will complement and blend into another. Smart technology allows you to control individual fixtures with your phone or tablet.

There have never been more options for style and versatility.

Each lighting zone will be grouped on a single line from the main transformer and each zone can be controlled independently, depending on any number of factors. For instance, security lighting can be programmed to come on at dusk and turn off at dawn – set it and forget it. Smart technology can also automate the lights on your patio or pool to suit your lifestyle. If you need lights for special events or while you’re outside on the patio, you can set those to automatically turn off at a particular time, or even create a timed light show to music to enhance the occasion.

How To Determine The Best Zones For Your Outdoor Lighting

You might create zones based on the proximity of the fixtures to one another or a particular feature (fence line, building, hot tub, or tree in the yard), or based on their function (security, pool, cooking). If you are creating zones based on function, you might want to craft a design where you can leave your security lighting on all night, but be able to shut off your garden lighting before you go to bed.

We recommend that you begin by drawing a rough diagram of your yard and make note of any features you want to highlight at night, such as a fountain, pond, statue, etc. Those individual items will need their own electrical lines if you wish to control them separately from other zones. Next, identify which parts of the yard require specific kinds of lighting. Pathway lighting for safety. Downlights in the tree for entertaining. Uplights along the foundation to highlight the house façade. Spotlights for security around the garage. This design draft will allow you to conserve energy and only use the lights you want when you need them.

Want to know where to start when designing zones and choosing fixtures? Keep reading.

Basic Design Principles For Custom Landscape Lighting

Usually, the home is the focal point of a landscape lighting design, but other areas of focus can be included. A good design will tie these separate elements together to establish a cohesive appearance.

Be sure to avoid a flattening effect by only adding outdoor lighting to the front of your home. Instead, create a three-dimensional viewing experience by adding depth and contrast through lighting multiple angles.

Maximize your home’s nighttime potential. Many home builders install minimal lighting, so the effect is utilitarian rather than aesthetic. Upgrade the look of your home by highlighting its architectural features and landscaping to create a unique-to-you effect day and night!

Strategically placed landscape lighting directed at the shadows in your yard can increase the security of your home. Don’t forget your pathways, driveways, walkways, and stairs — they also need adequate lighting to provide safety for family and guests. If you have a pool or another feature that could pose a safety risk, proper lighting is a must.

Never accept a light fixture that’s only functional, search for the fixture that’s functional, looks great, and provides just the right kind of light. Many of these fixtures can pull double duty and provide light for multiple purposes to maximize your investment.

Types of Outdoor Lighting in Oakville

In order to better understand your outdoor lighting design needs, consider the following outdoor lighting classifications:

Decorative Lighting: Adds overall value to your home by illuminating areas of your yard where you can socialize with family and friends. Our tiki lamps provide a nice downlighting effect and will enhance the mood around the pool or near the BBQ.

Landscape lighting: If your garden is the envy of the neighbourhood, why not show off all its features with lighting? Try our mini wash light for garden areas or our above-ground well light for trees or fountains.

Security lighting: Illuminating a large area will help to discourage trespassers. Sensors or timers will be effective once you determine where there are “risk zones” in your yard. Select areas that would benefit by being lit up for safety reasons, such as steps, around the pool, dark zones, and other areas where guests may be in danger of tripping.

Consider the Effect of Your Landscape Lighting in Oakville

Rather than simply considering what the fixture looks like, you should be thinking about what desired effect you are trying to achieve. Common techniques are grazing, silhouetting, spotlighting, moonlight effect, and cross lighting.

Consider factors such as the height of the feature you want to highlight, the type of feature (hardscaping areas like fire pits, walls, and ovens, or natural landscaping), the colour of the feature, and the type of texture. Texture will enhance the effect of the lighting by creating shadows.

Go Green

Consider the greener options to help the environment and your bank account. LED lights may be more expensive at the initial purchase, but will save you in the long run – especially with the many lights needed for landscape lighting in Oakville.

Hire a Professional Landscape Lighting Installer

The best way to get landscape lighting in the Oakville area to fit your needs is to hire a professional. Seasoned experts can tell you exactly what fixtures will provide what effect, and how best to enhance the usefulness of your yard, as well as the safety, security, and curb appeal of your home. The warranty that comes with a professional installation is another huge benefit.

Don’t wait to enhance the nighttime beauty and safety of your home. Contact Nite Time Decor Oakville for your complimentary quote today.

 

 

Outdoor Landscape Lighting Tips For Your Best Pathway

We want our homes to be welcoming places for our family and friends, even before they enter through the front door. Whether getting out of their cars or walking up your street, you can make your home look friendly and inviting with attractive outdoor lighting for your home, pathways and walkways.

But don’t settle for the ho-hum out-of-the-box look everyone else is using. Outdoor lighting is a great way to highlight the character and design of your home. From your front walk, the path to the pool, or the sidewalk to the back deck, all of these areas can come alive at night with effective use of pathway lighting.

Path lighting doesn’t have to cost a fortune, but you should consider a few things before you buy.

Tips For Pathway Lighting

When choosing what type of lighting best suits your needs, form should follow function as designers say. What do you need the pathway lighting to do? Are you lighting a path for aesthetic reasons or is there a safety element involved as well? Are there gardens along the path that could add diverse tones or shadows?

Glow Not Glare

You want to highlight the unique details of a stone path or the walkway garden you’ve spent so much time on, not blind your guests. Pathway lighting should provide subtle light to help people navigate the walkway easily. The walk to your back deck is not a crime scene so don’t light it like one.

Tip: Select fixtures that direct light at your feet not in your eyes. This might mean a cover, shield, or other decorative device that directs the light to the ground.

There are a wide variety of lights available on the market from whimsical to minimal to historic. Whatever you prefer, try to keep the same theme with style and materials throughout.

Avoid Row Upon Row

You don’t need to direct guests down a runway, so don’t light your pathways like one. Instead of placing your lighting row on row making sure each fixture is precisely the same distance from all the others in a straight line, why not mix it up? By alternating sides, you can guide guests down the path in a subtle way that lets you highlight the landscape elements you’re proud of. Use natural curves or angles as a guide of where to place pathway lighting instead a rigid design.

Tip: If straight lines fit the style of your home go with that, but don’t be afraid to hide a light in a bush or ornamental grass next to the path. Light the path from the side here and there. Mix it up.

Tip: Space fixtures as much as 10 to 15 ft apart, depending on the length of your pathway, to guide people instead of direct. Place a bollard, pillard or other type of light that’s brighter than the pathway lighting to provide a focal point.

Mix It Up

Mixing up the styles of lighting, three kinds of stake lights on a single pathway, is not wise, however mixing up the height of the pathway lighting is a great way to highlight details. There are three main types of pathway lighting: downlighting (stake lights are an example – the light is pointed down), recessed or paver lights (the light is mounted in the walkway or recessed on the edge of a pathway or other fixture), and pillars, bollards, or something similar. Use a low light to highlight your favourite ground cover plants.

Tip: Set lights slightly back from the edge to highlight plants along the walkway.

Tip: Adjust the height of the light in relation to the plants surrounding them. The light should be slightly taller than the plant.

Professional or DIY?

There can be a significant price difference between a professionally installed outdoor lighting system and one done DIY – with good reason. You’re not just paying for the better fixtures, wiring, timers, etc. but you’re also paying for the expertise of the professional designer and installer.

Purchasing a DIY lighting system, whether solar or electric will often be less expensive than hiring a landscape lighting professional – no question. But the lighting kits often aren’t as hearty as what the pro’s would use, leaving you in the dark after a season. The cheaper the kit, the less reliable the lighting will be.

The great thing about hiring a professional outdoor lighting specialist is that they bring top-quality fixtures, wiring, timers – everything you’ll need plus they’ll install the system. There’s no willy-nilly placement. A pro will create ambiance and mood and make the most of your home and gardens. They know all the products available and have an eye for perfect placement, not only to make it look beautiful, but safe.

How much maintenance?

Depending on how many fixtures you have, maintenance on a professionally installed outdoor lighting system could be minimal from replacing burnt-out bulbs to removing debris and leaves or trimming back bushes to keep your lights from over-heating. Replacing individual fixtures or the whole system will depend on the level of warranty your fixtures have and the quality you’re looking for. Cheaper ones made of plastic could last a couple of seasons, whereas high quality brass fixtures could last for decades.

Professional landscape lighting companies will often have maintenance packages so you don’t have to spend your weekends cleaning your fixtures.

If you’re thinking of going DIY with your outdoor landscape lighting for your pathways, here are some of the most common design faux-pas we see.

Landing Strip-itis

This is one of the most common DIY path lighting mistakes – assuming that it’s all about symmetry. Placing lights parallel to each other on either side of a path creates an unattractive landing strip effect. Not only does this lack subtlety, but it will cast shadows and leave dark spots that can be disorienting.

The Hollywood Premiere

With this outdoor lighting mistake, we’re never sure if there’s a movie premiere, a car dealership or someone signalling to extraterrestrials. Using lights that are too bright or beams that are improperly focused can cause unwanted light pollution for you and your neighbours, which is especially hazardous when the glare affects safe navigation of pathways.

Fashion Faux-pas

Most outdoor lighting kits from your local hardware store are designed to catch your eye with a slick design and finish, and the actual quality of lighting and fixture construction is secondary. Also, kit lighting isn’t engineered to take into account custom power requirements or runs of various lengths, which means you will find yourself constantly replacing bulbs and fixtures.

With these kinds of path lights, you definitely get what you pay for. For some people, they aren’t able or don’t want to invest in quality outdoor lighting and are happy to replace what they have every year or two. Ultimately, the point is to draw attention to attractive lighting and not necessarily attractive fixtures.

Watch Your Step

Even if a DIY-er accomplishes an effective pathway lighting setup, we often see major safety issues when it comes to step lighting. Whether it’s at the front door or the deck area, steps are sometimes left in pools of shadow in between lights – or worse – they’re not lit at all. Improperly lit steps in a nighttime lighting design is worse than no outdoor lighting at all, since a person’s eyes become accustomed to a certain amount of illumination which makes unlit steps seem even less visible.

Set It and Forget It

We assume that the culprits of this mistake never have their chimney cleaned or their furnace serviced either. A lack of maintenance of your Oakville outdoor lighting will start to show in the number of burnt-out bulbs or in power lines that come to the surface of the soil or mulch. Plants and shrubs that border the pathway may grow over a fixture to the point that you forget it’s there.

All of this creates further hazards at night, and decreases the value of whatever investment you made in your system.

We love to hear our clients’ DIY design ideas and translate those into a lighting system that makes a home look spectacular at night. A professionally-designed system doesn’t have to break the bank to get the results that you want, and the added services available to keep your system humming will ensure that you will enjoy it for years to come.

We want your home to shine from the street – day and night! Why not chat with our expert team at Nite Time Décor Oakville for a professional evaluation of your home and yard. We’ll take care of the details to ensure everything is done right the first time, and you can sit back as the compliments from neighbours and guests pour in!

 

 

 

Outdoor Lighting Ideas For Ponds, Pools, Hot Tubs And Other Water Features

Outdoor lighting isn’t limited to lawns and gardens. What about those water features that you love so much during the day? Adding some outdoor lighting to your pond, fountain, pool, or other water feature opens up many new opportunities for visual impact at night.

Water features are often focal points of yards, gardens, and patios and should be properly showcased! Highlighting your water feature can provide a beautiful backdrop for nights spent socializing or just soaking up the relaxing sounds of the water. Nite Time Décor Oakville provides you with landscape lighting design and services that you won’t forget. And neither will your friends – they’ll be talking about it for years to come!

Leave It to the Pros

We have over 20 years of combined experience with creating unique-to-you landscape lighting designs. There are a lot of electrical wires involved with adding any type of lighting, which can be a fire hazard. On top of that, combining those wires with water can make for a very “shocking” experience. We are very knowledgeable about our products and can definitely help you find the lighting options that will bring out the best in your landscape and water features.

Submersible Lighting Adds Additional Layer of Drama To Water Features

Submersible lights are placed below the surface of the water in a basin and then directed back towards the body of water. Fountains look especially beautiful when this type of lighting feature is used. Adding submersible lighting creates a shimmery effect, as well as illuminating any fountain streams. This can look very magical and be quite awe-inducing when done properly.

You can even enhance the effect by adding colour filters to your submersible. This is a fantastic way to show off creativity, as well as add a vibrant, trendy effect to your landscape.

How To Keep Your Pool Safe At Night

Make your pool a warm and inviting location for a summer dip. Whether your pool is in-ground or above ground, outdoor pool lighting will create a look that is not only warm and inviting, but safe.

As noted above, submersible lights are common in pools and are often found at various intervals in the pool below the water line. These are a fabulous feature, but don’t let your imagination stop there!

Foliage

Why not place lights in the planted areas around your pool? If you don’t already have some plantings around your pool, maybe this is the year to put some in! Place an ornamental tree in the yard with a four to five-foot planting bed around it. Place some lights in the planting bed and they will cast a warm glow into the pool water.

If you have large trees in your yard, why not place one of our down lights in them so they can shine directly on to your pool! Cool beans. The natural movement of the lighted leaves create fun shadows and other elements that help diminish the feel of the city in your back yard.

Tiki Lamps can give your pool the accent lighting that your backyard has been lacking, while providing a nice amount of light to see with. The great thing about tiki lamps is they don’t have to be lit every night, only when you need them, and can be moved around the yard if desired.

And of course, if you have a pool waterfall, you simply cannot neglect it.

Keep Your Pond Looking Its Best Even At Night

Lighting up a pond can be a tricky task. However, ponds are a special kind of feature of your commercial or residential yard that can look absolutely gorgeous when lit properly.

Perhaps the first thing people think of with a water feature at night is keeping everyone safe. But this can be easily achieved without sacrificing aesthetics. Of course you’ll want to make sure the perimeter of your pond is clearly visible at night, but how can we do that and still keep things looking amazing?

We can go back to the submersible lighting idea as outlined above. Placing lights in the pond looking up or into the centre of the pond can be quite attractive, particularly in combination with fountains and other features. The downside of this is that you won’t get the natural moonlight reflecting on the surface of the water. Less is often more with underwater lighting, so this is usually used in combination with fountains, waterfalls, and sculptures.

Again, like with the pool, you can place lights in the surrounding foliage to catch the movement of the leaves while still illuminating the edges of the pond or the surface of the water. Subtle white lights are a great choice here because ground level lights can cast a glowing reflection across the water or mimic moonlight when cast down from a nearby tree.

Lighting Water Features With Surrounding Landscaping

You don’t need to overdo it. Lighting around the edge of the pond, highlighting protruding rocks, or small channels is an important safety consideration that doesn’t have to be garish or harsh. Hiding lights among rocks around the pond can be a great way to provide subdued, but effective, lighting. Many restaurants or event halls with ponds tend to have bridges over the water. Place lights along the bridge to highlight the edges of the water while creating a romantic feel.

Coloured filters on the lights can also be quite nice. Subtle blues or yellows can provide natural tones to glow from the surface. A silvery blue is great for creating that moon on the surface of the pond look that’s so appealing at night.

Avoid colours that are too bright or bold, particularly for commercial properties.

Keep Your Hot Tub Looking Romantic Even After Dark

Hot tubs are becoming more and more affordable, but they’re another water feature that needs to be lit properly to keep friends and family safe. If your hot tub is on a deck or some other raised platform, be sure the change of levels and stairs is clearly visible.

Again, surrounding the hot tub with recessed lighting is a great idea that’s both subtle and safety conscious. Submerged lights in the hot tub, coloured or white, create an exotic and romantic feel after dark.

Don’t Neglect The Pondless Patio Fountains

Some of us don’t have the space or time to maintain a pond or pool, but we love the soothing sound of water particularly at night. Many of the commercial patio fountains come with lights, but if yours doesn’t, why not add a string of (outdoor-rated) string or fairy lights? Give your small fountain that ethereal or other-world look after dark and create a nighttime focal point on your patio!

Lighting Choices For Water Features

The standard incandescent lights are still available, however investing in LED lighting will result in fixtures that are more energy efficient and adaptable. With LED you can add colour filters more easily to change with the seasons or for special holidays.

Low voltage lighting combined with water features creates a subtle and appealing visual. It’s neither overpowering or glaring but still provides enough light to answer safety concerns. Use the surface of the water to reflect the light over a greater distance instead of high-powered lights. Low voltage will get the job done, and continue to encourage safety.

Don’t hesitate to contact us about your commercial or residential Oakville landscape lighting project. Contact Nite Time Décor today for your complimentary quote. You’ll be happy you did!