Best 7 Areas to Boost Curb Appeal with Outdoor Lighting
If you’ve ever driven past a home at night that has professionally installed landscape lighting, there’s a very good chance it caught your eye.
One of the main benefits of outdoor landscape lighting is its visual appeal – proper lighting can make even the most modest of homes look stately and sophisticated. A well-manicured lawn and immaculate gardens are great for curb appeal, but what happens at night when these features are no longer visible?
Whether you’re looking to put your house on the market, or you want to stay where you are, you can easily spruce up the curb appeal of your property and home value with a great outdoor lighting design.
The Benefits of Landscape Lighting
Its Gets Attention and Improves Curb Appeal
Most homeowners put a lot of time and effort into the curb appeal of their home. They work on gardens, lawncare, porch decorations—but all that effort goes unnoticed at night. Professionally designed outdoor lighting will accentuate your home’s architecture and landscaping as well as improve security and safety all year round. Gables, symmetrical pillars, stone facades, don’t lose any of those fabulous features because the sun went down!
Good landscape lighting design is understated and subtle (the opposite of flood lighting) but still points all the attention to the features of your home you’re most proud of.
Outdoor lighting ensures your home has its best side turned to the street day or night, summer or winter!
Increases theSecurity of Your Property
Thieves search out darkened lanes and doorways, but effective landscape lighting makes your home less attractive to them because there’s no longer any dark spaces to linger in and neighbours can see clearly what’s going on. A well-lit home or business is far less likely to be targeted by criminals. Burglars and vandals look for the easy targets, entry points they can get to and from without being noticed.
Thieves aside, outdoor lighting also helps prevent minor injuries from slips and falls due to unseen walkways or paths, changes in elevations such as on stairs or porches, and guides guests directly to your door in a way that’s warm and welcoming.
Look out for family and friends’ safety and have them convinced the outdoor lighting is just there to make things look nice—how clever are you!
Outdoor Lighting Adds Value
According to the Better Homes & Gardens professionally installed outdoor landscape lighting has a return on investment of 50%-60% and can increase property value by over 20%! This often equates to the homeowner recouping 100% to 200% of their investment!
Imagine the value added by being able to see the landscaping and architectural features that make your home stand out morning, noon, and night all year round!
7 Outdoor Lighting Areas that will Enhance Curb Appeal
Creating dramatic curb appeal isn’t as hard as you think! In fact, your daytime curb appeal might be just fine, but no one can see it at night! Don’t settle for just safety or security with your outdoor lighting, create an effect you love, that’s welcoming, and gets noticed for all the right reasons.
Here are 7 areas around your property where outdoor landscape lighting will boost your home’s curb appeal:
Front Door
Your front door is the focal point for your home. It needs to be functional, yes, but it can also be stylish and a reflection of your taste and personality.
While it’s important to illuminate your front door for safety and security reasons, it’s also beneficial to highlight your front door with aesthetic value in mind. You need more than a fancy wreath on the door to make it a focal point! Don’t skip adding the perfect lighting around your front door or porch. You need to ensure there is adequate lighting simply to ensure you can see to get the key in the door or punch in the code after dark, but outdoor lighting draws the eye and can be either stark, ineffective, or WOW your guests and neighbours.
Old or dated fixtures don’t put your home’s best foot forward when it comes to curb appeal. For instance, a single door entrance would be served well by a single fixture that functionally illuminates the door and house number, but don’t forget to choose a style that fits the look of the home. For a double-door entry, symmetry is a great effect with matching fixtures on each side to highlight not just the house number but any decorative touches you might add.
By updating or adding fixtures, your front door can create visual appeal to make your home pop from the street.
Porch
Good design is all about balance and many homes have front porches that are too small to create an eye-catching focal point on their own. Add some fantastic outdoor lights and BOOM! Suddenly your neighbours are commenting on how nice your home looks.
Consider replacing tiny fixtures with larger pieces to make a great statement. Eye-catching pendant lights are growing in popularity. Post lights can functionally light up stairs and still look amazing. Recessed lighting (lights flush with the surface they’re mounted into) can cast subtle light from under a railing, bench seat, or stair treads. Lighted plant containers and planters are growing trends. They highlight not only the plants in them but cast ambient light that’s not glaring or harsh—and can be a great conversation piece.
There are so many great ways to effectively light up your porch, you’ll just want to stare at the front of your home!
Landscaping
While the front entrance of your home is important for increasing curb appeal, highlighting the landscape of your property can also add aesthetic value to your home. A great way to do this is by highlighting a focal point in your front yard such as a tree, by using uplighting effects. Mounting a light at the base of the tree and pointing it upward will accent this landscaping feature and draw attention to it as a focal point in your outdoor lighting design.
We love our flowers and trees and shrubs, and outdoor lighting can ensure you enjoy them at night too. Whether the fixture is flush with the ground and pointing up through the leaves and branches, placed behind to cast shadows and highlight shapes and movement, or placed among tall branches looking down to mimic moonlight, your landscaping won’t go unnoticed at night any longer. The eye is drawn to the landscaping details without overpowering the other aspects of your outdoor lighting for curb appeal.
Remember, a lighthouse makes no noise, but everyone notices it.
Architectural Landscape Lighting
Every home has unique architectural features worth highlighting that add character to your curb appeal. Century homes often have peaks, scroll work, or other unique features. Modern homes have sharp angles and clean lines. Lights looking down from beneath the eaves highlight columns, pillars, and other symmetrical details.
Wash lights can maximize the perception of height and can make even plain walls looks attractive at night.
The best outdoor lighting design often maximizes simplicity to draw the eye to the details of the home and not the light itself.
Backyard Landscape Lighting
Of course, you shouldn’t limit your outdoor lighting installation to the front yard. The backyard is where the entertaining happens. Use our spotlight to highlight any tall trees or columns in your property. Spotlights are great for making taller structures more striking.
Your yard has the potential to be bright and beautiful all year round. Add some drama and depth to your property with an outdoor lighting installation.
Pathways and Sidewalks
No one wants their front walkway to look like an airport runway. Add some style and class to you outdoor lighting—even lighting meant primarily for safety, by using recess lighting to provide subtle up light.
Place lights among the foliage in walkway gardens to cast ambient light that highlights the garden and guides your guests’ feet on the walkway. Post and stake lights come in a variety of styles, power needs, and can highlight unique features like stone pathways and ground cover plantings. Add a romantic feel by placing lights in the shrubs and trees along the pathway to cast shadows on the walkway that still provide safety light but create an ethereal effect at the same time.
Pathway lighting is really versatile so don’t aim just for utilitarian—reach for a style that makes you smile whenever you’re walking that path or walkway.
Driveway Lighting
The easy way to light up a driveway at night is to place lights at evenly spaced intervals down the length of the drive. Ho-hum. Can you hear the drone of airplanes in your ears looking for your runway? *grin* Neighbours walk or drive by and nod – that’s a driveway. Instead, use outdoor lighting on your driveway to draw the eye right up to the house and make them go WOW!
Try staggering the lights on alternating sides so that drivers can see clearly but the lighting isn’t overpowering or intrusively bright.
Focus light on places where there are bends or curves in the drive, and highlight close obstacles such as trees, walls, fences, boulders, or a hillside.
A lamppost or entry pier at the entrance to your driveway can add curb appeal, provide safety lighting, and also illuminate an address marker. This style of light would require a little extra work (underground wiring), but this means they’ll shine bright no matter the weather or season.
Let your personality and the character of your home shine by choosing a fixture that draws the eye.
Outdoor Lighting Techniques
Uplighting, downlighting, and pathway lighting are three simple ways to instantly increase the curb appeal of any home.
Uplighting: The outdoor landscaping lighting experts at Nite Time Decor use uplighting to create depth. Uplighting is achieved by placing a light on the ground and pointing the beam up towards an object. This technique is perfect for highlighting a tree, sculpture, gazebo, or arbor. Uplighting can also be placed behind an object to emphasize it’s silhouette.
Downlighting: Downlighting it commonly used for safety and security purposes. Downlighting, or moonlighting as it’s often referred to, involves placing a landscape lighting fixture up above eye level and pointing it down. The effect is very natural looking and is a great way to illuminate a dark pathway.
Pathway Lighting: Low voltage pathway lighting is a great way to add a third layer of illumination to your landscape. Placing lights under railings, benches, and stairs can help eliminate accidents and increase the usability of decks, porches, and pools.
Contact Nite Time Decor
If you want to create a landscape lighting design that will boost the value and curb appeal of your home, it’s best to talk to an outdoor lighting professional. Whether you are ready to install a landscape lighting design today, or you’re looking for some general information on how to spruce up the outside of your home, our experienced team at Nite Time Décor Oakville can help you with all your outdoor lighting design needs. We invite you to view our residential gallery showcasing some of the lighting solutions we’ve provided for our clients.
Nite Time Decor serves homeowners and businesses throughout Oakville, Mississauga, Burlington, Hamilton and the Halton region. We want your home to shine from the street day and night! Contact our expert team at Nite Time Décor today 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 then sit back as the compliments from neighbours and guests pour in!
Top 10 Landscape Lighting Ideas to Maximize Your Outdoor Living Space
Maximizing your living space is about more than renovating your basement. Have you looked outside for other possibilities? If you have a backyard, deck or patio space, you can extend your living space outside and create an inviting oasis you can even enjoy after the sun goes down with unique-to-you outdoor landscape lighting.
Our Nite Time Decor experts have put together our top 10 list of landscape lighting ideas that work well in any backyard and patio.
Illuminate Pools and Water Features
To create a true backyard oasis, your landscape lighting design should illuminate more than just your porch and dining area. If you have a unique feature in your backyard, such as a pool, hot tub or water feature, make sure it gets the attention it deserves – even after dark.
A pool or water feature gives you the opportunity to get creative with your landscape lighting design. Instead of simply casting light on the water, work with different lighting techniques to create ambiance and depth. For example, a lighting design for a pool might use up-lighting on surrounding trees to cast a cool mood-setting reflection on the surface of the water.
You work hard to create and maintain the beautiful gardens and landscaping around your home, so why let these great aesthetic features go unnoticed after dark? With a landscape lighting design that illuminates your trees, gardens and shrubs you can add a sense of depth and ambience to your outdoor space.
If your garden deserves to be lit up at night with beautiful natural looking outdoor lighting effects, read this article “Creating Natural Outdoor Lighting Effects For Your Gardens” to learn about some additional landscape lighting ideas including lighting types and techniques.
Light up Trees
If you don’t have a pool or a unique water feature in your backyard, chances are you have a tree, or a number of trees, that add character to your outdoor space. Tree lighting is a great way to give your backyard oasis the wow-factor you’ve been searching for.
When it comes to illuminating trees in your outdoor space, there are a number of different techniques that will create their own unique lighting effects. If integrating trees into your landscape lighting design is an option for you, consider techniques such as up-lighting, down-lighting or overall lighting.
Highlight Decks and Stairs
Illuminating hardscape features such as decks and stairs can go a long way in creating warm ambient light effects while also improving the safety of your outdoor space. Installing landscaping lighting on your steps, posts and rails will help distinguish changes in elevation while adding depth to your backyard oasis. Better yet, if your porch, patio or stairs are made of stone, integrating light fixtures will cast a warm light and emphasize the unique texture of the stone.
Light Up Pathways
Pathway lights are great for general safety and way finding. When it comes to designing effective and aesthetically pleasing pathway lights, don’t place them too close together as this will create a runway effect. At Nite Time Décor, we recommend lining the lights along garden pathways at regular well-spaced intervals to improve visibility. Our area lights work beautifully for this technique. Also, when it comes to brightness, less is more. Be subtle and avoid blinding your patrons.
Outdoor Kitchen Lighting
With the recent heatwaves we’ve been experiencing in Ontario, it is becoming more and more convenient to have an outdoor space for food preparation. Outdoor kitchens can be as simple as a bar-b-que or as elaborate as a brick oven or full kitchen set up with running water. You could almost include outdoor bars in with these as the lighting needs would be similar.
Most homeowners have a grill as a minimum and these range from a small, simple propane or charcoal grill to expansive, multi burner grills with side burners and outdoor counter space. Proper outdoor lighting when it’s time to cook is essential, and as the days get shorter, this will be even more important.
Overhead Grill Lighting
Outdoor lighting brings you more than just aesthetic value, and this couldn’t be truer when it comes to illuminating your outdoor cooking area. Placing a light above your outdoor grill is the best place to start.
Weather your firing up the BBQ or flipping your food to perfection, you need to be able to see what you are doing. Illuminating your outdoor cooking area will not only help you keep an eye on your food, but it will also help you see any safety concerns that are present while cooking – helping to keep you safe and free from injury. An overhead task light is the best way to get enough light to cook properly on your grill.
Your overhead (or task) lighting should be fairly bright with a true white light in order to see what you are cooking accurately. It’s also helpful to have this light on a separate control or a dimmer so that when the cooking is done you can have the right ambiance for a truly enjoyable dining experience.
Dining Area Lighting
While increasing visibility around your outdoor cooking area is very important, so too is illuminating your outdoor dining area. Nothing’s worse than sitting down for a beautiful dinner on the patio, only to realize halfway through the meal that the sun has gone down and you can no longer see the plate in front of you. Illuminating your outdoor dining area with task lighting will let you enjoy those fun family dinners long into the evening.
The lighting needs for an outdoor table are much different than the task lighting for food preparation. An outdoor dining area should be lit well enough to encourage conversation, but not so bright that it’s uncomfortable. Finding that right balance can be tricky and vary for different groups. We often install dimmers to make the lighting options more versatile and adjustable.
One common solution for the dining area is an outdoor ceiling fan with speed controls and lights with dimmers. The fan can help to keep those unwanted pesky mosquitoes and flies away.
You could also consider getting tabletop lamps that are rated for outdoor use, or overhead pendant or chandelier lighting. When choosing the right task lighting design for your outdoor dining space, it will largely depend on the desired ambiance of your space and how much you are looking to spend.
Additional landscape lighting ideas include:
Accent Lighting
Accent lighting can help to create the right ambiance in the dining area. Some ideas include under-counter lights. Some LED tape lights just under the edge of a counter can be a very appealing effect. String lights can also be used as accent or general lighting for that outdoor bistro feel. Wall sconces can also be added to highlight attractive outdoor architecture and add to the overall lighting plan.
An outdoor cooking and dining space is wonderful this time of year. Not only do you get to enjoy this fabulous warm weather, but you can keep your house cool by cooking outside. Proper lighting for this outdoor space will make it attractive and welcoming for your guests as well as making food preparation more enjoyable and easier.
Pendant Lights
Outdoor pendant lights have been popular and continue to remain so with many low-cost options now available across a variety of retailers. Be sure the light is rated to be outdoors and water proof. Pendant lights are great for sitting areas, a dining table, or outdoor kitchen area. Choose a fixture that provides soft warm light or a brighter task lighting depending on your placement.
Pendant lights are also great a focal point for your outdoor space. Don’t be afraid to be creative and try something new to really bring your outdoor space to life.
Outdoor Fireplaces
Outdoor fireplaces are another fixture that’s popular in outdoor living spaces. These can be simple and utilitarian or elaborate and high end. You can cook by them or simply lay back and relax by the natural light of a contained fire. These are available in a variety of shapes and colours and utilize wood, gas, and other fuels.
Fire Pits and Bowls
If a full-fledged outdoor fireplace won’t fit your space for whatever reason, there are a nice range of fire pits and bowls available as well. The added benefit to these fixtures is that they’re often easily relocated to a less conspicuous location during the daylight hours.
This is a great way to have a fire when you want it and have the container be very stylish and match the rest of your outdoor décor—but not be in the way or obtrusive when not in use.
Enhance What’s Unique About Your Space
Many outdoor spaces lack walls and can sometimes be challenging to create an eye-catching focal point. Do you have overhead beams, posts or pillars, something unique or interesting in your outdoor space? Do you have a wall with an interesting texture that would make great use of shadow and light? These might all be a great starting place to place some lights to highlight what’s already there.
Contact a Professional
When it comes to your landscape lighting ideas, design and installation, a lot is on the line. Whether you want to create more outdoor usable living space in your backyard, create the perfect ambiance for entertaining, or increase your safety and security, proper landscape lighting design can accomplish all of these things at the same time.
Our lighting design experts at Nite Time Décor can work with you to design beautiful natural lighting effects and professionally install them around your home to ensure your vision becomes a reality. We invite you to view our gallery to see our one-of-a kind designs.
We service homes and businesses throughout Halton, Hamilton, Oakville, Mississauga and Burlington, Ontario. Contact Nite Time Decor today to get a free lighting demonstration and quote.
The Best 30 Do’s and Don’t of Landscape Lighting Design
To help you create the best landscape lighting design for your property and backyard, our experienced landscape lighting experts have compiled a list of over 30 landscape lighting Do’s and Don’ts. We encourage you to read this list before planning your next design, making any purchases and installing any bulb, fixture or wire.
Why is this important?
Landscape lighting systems have become increasingly popular among homeowners. Think back to the last time you took a drive through any residential neighbourhood after dark. Chances are the majority of homes you passed by had some form of landscape lighting. This is because today’s landscape lighting systems provide homeowners with a wide variety of benefits. Sure, there’s the obvious aesthetic benefit of illuminating the unique architectural features of you home, but there are many other benefits as well. Some of these additional benefits include added safety, improved security and an increase in the overall value of your home.
With all these benefits provided by effective landscape lighting system, it’s no wonder that outdoor lighting has become a popular area for homeowners to focus on. However, if you do not have knowledge of current lighting design trends, techniques and best practices, you may end up with an ineffective and tacky-looking design. Worse yet, if you opt for a DIY installation, you could wind up creating potential safety hazards around your home and property.
Here is our list of Do’s for landscape Lighting:
Do install outdoor lighting
Many people spend a fortune on a beautiful landscape, only to have it shrouded in darkness come sunset. However, it’s the nightscape that creates some of the most dramatic effects on your yard, so don’t miss out on a beautiful landscaping opportunity!
An outdoor lighting system can increase the time you have to enjoy your beautiful property. What’s more, your landscape is often the first thing a visitor will see at your home, and as the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a great first impression. An outdoor lighting system will show your guests and neighbours that you care about your home’s appearance, both outside and inside.
Do use professionals to design and install your outdoor lighting system
You wouldn’t let an amateur build your house, so why would you trust your outdoor lighting to some hardware store clerk?
We’ve all been to a house where a poorly positioned spotlight blinds us as we pull into the driveway. Our Nite Time Décor experts can take that spotlight and reposition it so it showcases a portion of your landscaping (rather than startling your visitors!). A professional knows how to do things properly. They know how voltage works and how to work with it. Professionally installed outdoor lighting system is just that – a system. Not a haphazard spew of randomly placed lights.
Do use a variety of lights
Using the same kind of lights – same colour, same intensities – in all areas of your landscape lighting design will not help you achieve the aesthetic look you’re likely going for. Using the same lights across your whole system will make your landscape lighting design appear dull, flat and un-textured.
We recommend using a variety of lights that have different lighting angles, colours and intensities. This is not to say that you should use red, green and every colour under the rainbow, but rather that you should incorporate a variety of soft, warm colours throughout a number of areas around your home and property to create depth and ambiance.
Do use the right amount of fixtures
When it comes to the fixtures in your landscape lighting design, less is not always more. In fact, when homeowners try to cut costs by skimping on light fixtures, it often ends in disappointment. Sometimes, homeowners will opt to increase the brightness of their bulbs instead of purchasing and installing the appropriate amount of fixtures needed for their landscape lighting design. When this happens, it creates a stark contrast of extreme brightness and extreme darkness in your design. This is far from the ideal lighting style you are likely looking to achieve, and will act as more of a distraction than anything else.
If you are looking to cut costs, we recommend installing your landscape lighting system in phases or zones. Start by illuminating the area closest to your house and work your way out. This will help make the installation easier, less costly and will guarantee that each zone is illuminated in just the way you want it.
Do focus on your home
Before positioning outdoor landscape lighting around the natural features of your yard, light up your home. Highlight the walls of your house and the architectural features that make your home unique. This offers better security and safety, as well as a beautifully elegant backdrop for the rest of your outdoor lighting.
Do start by lighting the front elevation of your home
Starting your lighting at a higher elevation will help you set the balance of your lighting design. From there, you can move into smaller areas and focus on highlighting individual plants.
Do take your entire property into consideration
When installing garden lights, make sure that they mesh with the other fixtures in your landscape lighting design. 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 from your Burlington landscape lighting system is properly directed.
Do make use of multiple layers
As with many other areas of design, complexity in layers adds beauty to the overall effect of your landscape lighting. Using layers in an area of lighting adds depth and three dimensions to your outdoor landscape lighting. For instance, positioning several spotlights from different angles against a statue can create silhouettes and layers to offer a detailed lighting effect, which would not have been accomplished with only one light.
Do illuminate shrubs and other 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
The uplighting landscape lighting technique draws the eye upwards, giving the plants in your garden the illusion of size and grandeur.
Do down light pathways
Proper pathway lighting with down lighting are highly underrated, and also very rare. It’s difficult to find situations in which you can adjust your landscape lighting so that a path is lit from above. So, if you find the opportunity, take it. This is a gorgeous way to add illumination and safety, and has the added appeal of being uncommon in outdoor lighting.
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 maintain your outdoor lighting
Just because your landscape lighting is installed, doesn’t mean you can forget it. For best results, regular cleaning and maintenance will be required.
For example, say you install our lovely area lights or tiki lamps and during one summer, there is a particularly violent windstorm. This could cause your lamps to be knocked out of alignment, causing the light to be splayed haphazardly throughout your yard. Or, after several years, maybe a light bulb burns out or electrical cords start creeping their way into view.
Luckily, professional landscape lighting installation companies are committed to providing you with quality customer service long after the installation has been completed. Visit our Service and Maintenance page for more information about how Nite Time Decor can continue to help you as the years go by.
Do consider LEDs from Nite Time Décor
LEDs are more than just the latest fad in trendy energy conservation. They really do the trick for offering beautiful outdoor landscape lighting while saving you money on your hydro bill. Though the initial start up cost appears pricey, the amount of money you’re saving in electricity more than makes up for it in the long term. Nite Time Décor has done the savings breakdown calculations on LEDs for you if you’re still not convinced.
Garden and landscape Lighting Don’ts – Be careful to avoid these mistakes:
Don’t forget the second story
While you’re figuring out how to light up your home, don’t forget to include the second story. With this, you’ll also want to include any peaks, pillars, overhangs, and other aspects that will look ethereal when illuminated above your lawn. Elevated lighting helps your lawn stand out in the night.
Don’t ignore small or dark spaces
Many homeowners focus purely on the larger, grandiose aspects of their landscaping. However, the small details are sometimes what can provide the loveliest accents to outdoor lighting.
Find the little areas in your garden that are easily forgotten, and offer them dignity in beauty through lighting. The benefit of this is also added security. When you light dark spaces, you create fewer holes for intruders to sneak through. Consider highlighting smaller features or areas of your garden in order to increase the “wow” factor of your design.
Don’t over illuminate
One of the major and most common mistakes that Nite Time Décor Oakville sees is the issue of over lighting. The beautiful thing about outdoor landscape lighting is that it doesn’t have to work hard to light up an ebony night.
Think of the moon and stars in the country – they are beautiful not because they ignite the brightness of the sun, but because they glitter and shimmer in a way that illuminates without blinding. Produce a similar effect with your landscape lighting design, and you’ll quickly leave the realm of airport tarmac and enter into an ethereal realm of splendour.
Don’t unintentionally create shadows
When you combine light without balance the result is unintentional shadowing. Lighting one area while leaving another in shadows doesn’t just look visually uneven, it will also reduce the safety and security of your property.
Don’t distract with light
Remember to direct light away from windows in order to reduce glare. Failure to do this could result in unwanted light reflections on your yard.
Don’t use low-powered lights
You may have created the perfect outdoor lighting design, measured it out diligently and perhaps even placed all the fixtures in the right places, but installing low-powered lights can cause any great design to fall flat.
With low-powered lights, the spread of your lights will be too weak to illuminate a large area, or the beam may only be able to light up a small portion of the object your trying to highlight.
To avoid low-powered lights, stay away from the cheap, low quality battery and solar-powered lights. Saving a buck or two may feel better on your wallet up front, but it will certainly cost you in the long run when you realize your outdoor lighting design is actually hurting your curb appeal.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
Use different wattages and beam spreads in order to create a truly unique lighting experience in your garden.
Don’t light for a runway
Countless numbers of homeowners make the mistake of lighting pathways and driveways with fixtures positioned in a straight line. This is boring, and tends to make your garden walk or driveway look like an airplane landing strip. Get creative with the placement – stagger the lights a bit to gain a more aesthetically pleasing outdoor lighting experience.
Don’t ignore limitations
Everything has its limits. When you’re choosing fixtures for your home, make sure to understand the limitations of both your home’s design, as well as the limitations of the fixture itself. Sometimes what you had envisioned for your home’s outdoor landscape lighting design just won’t work within the inherent boundaries of the architecture of your house. That’s okay: there are always solutions. And whatever solution you find is bound to look more beautiful for being perfectly tailored to the needs of your home.
Don’t isolate areas of your property
It can sometimes be difficult to decide what areas of your home and property are most important to include in your landscape lighting design. If you do not plan out your design correctly, you may end up isolating areas of your outdoor space. Take walkways and trees for example. These are common areas to illuminate in a landscape lighting design, however if you light up only these areas, and leave the surrounding areas completely unlit, you will isolate the space and create adverse effects.
To ensure you are not creating an extreme lighting contrast, we recommend incorporating other areas of the larger landscape into your outdoor lighting design. This can be as simple as placing lights in the plant beds and trees along the outer edge of your property.
Don’t forget your neighbours
In the dark, it’s easy to forget that your property is not isolated, and any addition of light can potentially affect the people next door. The form of light pollution caused by a glaring or unshielded outdoor lighting system is called light trespass. Not only will your neighbours find it annoying to have their sleep disturbed by your lights shining into a bedroom window, but it may also present a safety hazard if their steps and pathways are obscured by the glare from your home.
As you do your own thinking about the kind of lighting design you want, consider your neighbours with these tips:
Do aim before you fire
Every light should only illuminate the intended area and should never be directed along common lines of sight. When lights are improperly aimed, the resulting glare reduces rather than improves our eye’s ability to see at night and could cause danger.
Most fixtures you use should be adjustable, especially lights that are mounted at or above eye-level.
Lights that are vertically mounted, such as PAR lights and other types of spotlight should always be aimed at less than a 45 degree angle, and never straight out. While doing this, pay attention to the direction of the light and what other nearby areas might be affected.
Do shields up!
All good lighting designers will tell you: The thing to admire about a good lighting design is the effect it creates, and not the bulbs or fixtures used. If a bulb is clearly visible, then it is causing glare and it will throw light into unwanted areas, such as your neighbour’s yard.
Professionally designed fixtures that are intended for use in an outdoor lighting system will always be shielded. This allows for placement of the fixture in such a way that the beam can be accurately focused without exposing the bulb. It also prevents light from bleeding into surrounding areas. If your existing lighting uses an unshielded floodlight or other type of bulb, you can purchase shields to fit most sizes of fixture.
Don’t rely on solar lights
Solar lights may seem like a great, environmentally-conscious option in theory, but the fact is there are some downfall to using solar lights as well, and if you want to have a consistent and effective landscape lighting system, it’s best not to rely solely on solar lights. The main problem here comes from the inconsistency of the effectiveness of solar lighting. While they might work great in the summer months when the sun is shining bright for the majority of the day, you will see these lights perform 30-50 per cent less efficiently in the winter.
If you are looking for environmentally and energy-conscious ways to illuminate your outdoor space, we suggest using LED lights. LED lights use a fraction of the energy that hydrogen-based bulbs use and are reliable for use all year long. On top of that, LED lights also provide a wide variety of colour options to choose from.
Avoid making mistakes in your garden lighting design by planning your approach with a professional.
Do contact a professional
Whether you’re simply planning your next landscape lighting design, or you have a chosen design that’s ready to be installed, it’s best to contact a professional landscape lighting company.
At Nite Time Decor, our experienced team of landscape lighting professionals can help you design an outdoor lighting design that is perfectly suited to your home and property. We service homeowners and businesses throughout Hamilton, Halton, Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga, Ontario. Contact us today to get started!
As a business owner, you want your business to stand out among your competitors. This is applicable when talking about your products and services, your customer service and even your overall brand. But it can also apply to the physical aesthetics of your business and its location, and this is where a beautiful outdoor and landscape lighting design can really help.
If you think a landscape lighting design can only be used to illuminate your backyard or highlight the great architectural features of your home, think again. Outdoor or landscape lighting designs can also be used to enhance the character and beauty of your commercial property, and make your business a charming place that customers will want to keep coming back to.
To help you create the best lighting design for your business, our experienced team of lighting professionals have put together a list of our top 10 landscape lighting tips for businesses.
The Benefits of Outdoor Lighting for Businesses
Landscape Lighting does a lot more than just light the way to the front door. It provides first impressions, safety, and sophistication. It allows your staff and patrons alike safe access to your property in an aesthetically pleasing way, while also increasing your curb appeal! Professional Landscape lighting can also save you money, and increase your sales!
Show Off Your Location
You are proud of your business. Don’t let it hide in the dark while you’re not there. Landscape lighting makes it possible to show off your building in a sophisticated, never tacky way. First impressions are crucial when it comes to running a business. Make sure that your clients see you with your best foot forward. While many businesses, such as office buildings or golf courses, are not open at night, they still need proper illumination.
For those businesses that do stay open into the night, for example restaurants, concert venues, bars, grocery stores, and more, staying adequately and attractively lit is crucial for business. Commercial landscape lighting allows you to set the mood before your patrons even walk through the front door. This is especially important for restaurants, bars, and concert venues where the right ambience can translate into fantastic sales figures.
Increase Curb Appeal
When it comes to property value, curb appeal is incredibly important. Your commercial location may look fantastic during the day, but have you thought about what it looks like at night? Dynamic landscape lighting can be customized to show off your business’ unique architecture, feature landscaping and flowerbeds, or illuminate your company sign. These elements will go a long way to giving your business with a professional, cohesive look all day long.
Keep Your Staff and Patrons Safe
Canadian winters can be long and cold. For a few months a year, chances are, your staff will be leaving the building once the sun has set. Keep them safe on their way home with attractive landscape lighting. Properly lit commercial locations reduce theft and deter criminal activity, keeping both your staff and their belonging safe while on the premises. Safely illuminating parking lots, walkways, or entrance areas that require keys or swipe cards will increase your staff’s feeling of safety.
Lower Insurance Premiums
Any injuries that take place on your commercial property are bad for business, not to mention for the wellbeing of your staff and patrons. Providing adequate light throughout your location is one way you can prevent injuries. As an employer it is your job to make sure that walkways, steps, staircases, doorways, and traffic areas are well lit.
Your commercial insurance premiums are based on many factors. One of which is the safety of your location. Make sure it is as safe as possible with plenty of light in the areas that need it most. To find out how to lower your insurance premiums, speak to your insurance agent about landscape lighting.
Basic Fundamentals for Your Commercial Lighting System
When it comes to designing a commercial outdoor lighting system, it’s important that you focus on some fundamentals. When evaluating the safety and security of a commercial landscape lighting installation, we recommend that you focus on five basic considerations:
The intensity of the light – how bright should it be to increase the property’s security and enhance the aesthetic of the storefront and/or grounds?
The uniformity of the light – is the lighting consistent throughout the property? Are areas of the commercial property left in shadows?
The colour of the lighting – could coloured lighting be used to better enhance the commercial landscape lighting installation? How accurately does the lighting render colour?
The lighting’s efficiency – how much light per watt of electricity is being emitted? Is there a more efficient alternative?
Lamp life – how long will the lamps last before they must be replaced? Is there a longer lasting option available?
Compare Lighting Types
Many older types of landscape lighting fixtures or luminares (commonly used in parking lots) are inefficient because they project much of their light horizontally and upward rather than downwards. The commercial lighting experts at Nite Time Decor recommend replacing this type of lamp with a more modern downlighting fixture to increase the efficiency of the lighting effect.
Stick to Basic Colours
While the landscape lighting design you have at home might incorporate coloured lights to enhance certain features of your home or property, the landscape lighting design for your business should stick with bulbs that are white and light in colour. Clean white and light colours will help create a more professional ambiance that your customers will appreciate.
While clean light colours are recommended, it’s important to note that there are always exceptions that can be made. Depending on the type of both your property and your business, it may be beneficial to mix in some colour here and there.
Increased Brightness
Unlike residential landscape lighting design that aims for subtle brightness and warm tones, commercial landscape lighting design should be a fair bit brighter. The last thing you want to do is create a design that doesn’t fully illuminate your storefront and/or signage, or doesn’t grab the eyes of your prospective customers and clients. Increased brightness is also helpful in boosting the level of security around your business.
Illuminate Walkways
Having an eye-catching storefront that draws customers in even after the sun has set is great for business. But what is even more important is creating a safe and hazard-free environment. This is one of the reasons that having landscape lighting installed around your commercial property is so beneficial.
If a customer – or even just a person passing by – slips, trips or falls while on your property, you may be liable. To avoid a serious situation like this, make sure you illuminate walkways and other areas that where pedestrians may have an increased risk of falls (stairs, slopes etc.). Installing fixtures in these areas will help increase safety while also allowing you to create additional layers of depth in your landscape lighting design.
Lighting Steps for Safety
Another very important landscape lighting tip is lighting steps for safety. If your business has stairs leading to the door, these can be a major safety hazard after dark if the steps aren’t lit up. Lighting your stairs enhances the safety of your commercial property while also brightening the façade beautifully. How you light your stairs is going to depend on what kind of stairs you have, how wide they are, and how many steps there are.
A wider stair will require more landscape lighting. You’ll want to line them up along the outsides, as well as a line down the center of the stair to provide greater safety and visibility for visitors to your business. For thinner stairs, you have the option of installing landscape lighting along the outsides, or putting a single line up the center.
If your stairs are bordered by gardens, consider using commercial outdoor lighting in the gardens rather than on the steps themselves. These will need to be close to the steps to offer enough illumination. If you do this, you may also want to consider one of the mini wash lights from Nite Time Décor to direct the beam onto the steps.
Keep up on Landscaping Maintenance
If your business property has a lot of trees or large bushes, make sure to keep up on maintenance. Vast outgrowths of foliage will provide shelter for unwanted trespassers after dark, and will decrease the amount of safety provided by your commercial outdoor lighting. Trim the foliage frequently. Consider also making these natural features a part of your landscape lighting. When you light up the trees, trespassers don’t have as much cover in which to hide.
Spotlights brushing up through the leaves of your trees will create gorgeous patterns and eradicate the issue of security. You can also create a moonlight effect in your trees with downlighting, which will further reduce dark gaps in your landscape lighting security. Don’t over light though – choose either downlighting or spotlighting, but not both.
A well-designed commercial landscape lighting system becomes ineffective if plant growth blocks large portions of the light. Regularly pruning your plants and trees will help ensure that your commercial lighting system is performing to the best of it’s ability.
Downlight walls
Even if there are dark spaces on your commercial property, brightly illuminated walls will remove any safe entry points for trespassers, while contributing to your curb appeal. Downlight commercial outdoor lighting fixtures provide a beam large enough to cover vast portions of the wall, but do so in a way that elegantly illuminates your building. When customers pass the property, your building will softly glow in the night to impress their gaze.
Set the Mood at Your Restaurant
Many restaurants offer patios to eat and drink during the warmer months. Just because the patio is in use only for part of the year, doesn’t mean it should be neglected when it comes to lighting. Whether your business is a unique local restaurant or a part of a franchise, there are things you can do to transfer the mood of your establishment outside using commercial landscape lighting.
Try our tiki lamps to create a soft, warm glow amongst your patrons.
Light the way to the front door or around the patio with our in ground well lights.
Using our downlight in your outdoor lighting design to shine a light on areas of the patio that are normally very dim or dark.
Commercial lighting can be challenging to successfully pull off on your own, but not to worry! Nite Time Decor has years of experience backing us up, and our creativity is bar none.
Contact a Professional
When it comes to your business, don’t let your competitors out-shine you when it comes to landscape lighting. Outdoor lighting plays a crucial role in the safety and security of commercial property. Whether you want to install a landscape lighting design around your commercial property or you simply want to learn more about how a lighting design can help your business, contact our professional and knowledgeable team today at Nite Time Décor.
We work with businesses throughout Halton, Hamilton, Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington. We’d love to shine a spotlight and help you put your business up in lights!
At Nite Time Décor Oakville, we often tell prospective customers to think about how they use their outdoor space before selecting and installing an outdoor lighting design for their home. This also includes how their furry family members use the space too.
So we’ve compiled 4 great tips for homeowners for pet-proofing their landscape lighting.
It’s a simple piece of advice, but it goes a long way. Some homeowners know they want an outdoor lighting design, but don’t know where to start. If you stop for a moment and really think about how you use your outdoor space, it will allow you to create an outdoor lighting design that is perfectly suited to your needs.
What homeowners sometimes fail to think about it not how they use their outdoor space, but who is using the outdoor space. Perhaps you like to sit out and relax under the stars, or barbeque a nice late-night meal. Maybe you have teenagers who like to use the hot tub or play board games on the patio.
When you consider who uses the space and how they like to use it, don’t forget about your four-legged fury friends!
Most times, your dog or cat is the one who uses your outdoor space the most, so it’s only fair that you consider them when selecting and installing an outdoor lighting system so its pet-proof. To make sure everyone in your family can enjoy your outdoor lighting design, follow these four pet-proofing tips.
Protect Wires
Dogs, like young children, do not understand the concept and associated dangers of electrical wires. This means that you need to protect any electrical wires that are a part of your outdoor lighting design.
At Nite Time Décor, our experienced team will professionally install your outdoor lighting design and make sure all electrical wires are out of sight and protected.
If you’ve performed a do-it-yourself installation or have had your outdoor lighting design installed by someone who is not a professional, you run the risk of having exposed electrical wires. If this is the case, contact our talented team at Nite Time Décor to have the exposed wires re-installed and ensure the safety of your pets and loved ones.
Create Barriers
If your four-legged friend likes to snoop or dig round the lawn and garden, it’s best to create barriers between your light fixtures and your pet. Decorative rocks act as great barriers. Simply place decorative rocks around your fixtures or overtop of areas that have underlying wires to ensure your pet does not accidentally uncover fixtures or wires.
Remove Vegetation Barriers
While creating barriers between your dog’s paws and light fixtures is a good pet-proofing technique, you’ll want to prune back or remove vegetation barriers that might surround your fixtures. Excessive vegetation or foliage can camouflage your fixtures and might cause your pet to unknowingly uncover a fixture – or potential chew toy – while snooping through the garden one day.
Conduct Regular Checks
The best way to discover a potential hazard before it becomes a danger to you or your furry friend is to perform regular checks around your home and landscape. Look for damaged fixtures or bulbs, or chewed wires. Exposed wires, broken bulbs and damaged fixtures are all hazards that can put you, your family and your pet at risk.
Contact Nite Time Décor
Pet-proofing your home and outdoor lighting design is the responsible thing to do if you have dogs or pets that enjoy your outdoor space as much – or even more – than you do. To increase safety, contact our lighting experts at Nite Time Décor to perform your pet-proofing service, or have our team professionally install your next outdoor lighting design.
We serve homeowners and businesses throughout Mississauga, Burlington, Oakville, Halton and Hamilton regions.
When it comes to outdoor lighting, most people think of illuminating front entrances or walkways, large backyards, or beautiful trees and gardens. While these areas are great to highlight in a landscape lighting design created for large outdoor spaces, it’s also important to remember that small spaces – like patios and balconies – can also benefit from an outdoor lighting design.
Why Illuminate Your Small Space
Just like illuminating any large outdoor space, adding some light to a patio, deck or balcony for after the sun has gone, allows you to create some valuable extra living space. Let’s face it, the patio or balcony is great for relaxing during the daylight, but when the sun sets and the daylight fades, the use of your patio or balcony can become limiting. Why not enjoy your outdoor space as much as possible?
With the right outdoor lighting design you can create a warm, calming atmosphere perfect for entertaining guests or relaxing under the stars.
To get you started with planning the perfect outdoor lighting design for your small space, we’ve compiled a list of important aspects to consider before making any purchases, as well as some popular lighting design choices you may want to incorporate into your new lighting design this summer.
Common Use of the Space
When it comes to creating an outdoor lighting design for a small patio or balcony, you’ll first want to determine how you will be using the space most often. Will you be outside after dark barbequing, eating, relaxing with a cold drink, reading a book or entertaining guests? When you’ve identified what the common use for the space will be, it will be much easier to decide what kind of lighting design to install and where exactly to install it.
Map Out the Space
Before you begin creating an outdoor lighting design for your small space, it’s important to map out the area before getting started with the installation. If there are windows or glass doors directly facing your balcony or patio, you’ll want to consider this when deciding on the right lighting options. For example, if your balcony directly faces a bedroom window or living room door, you will want to use low, subtle lighting to avoid shining light into the living space of your neighbours, or even other family members within your household.
String Lights
String lights are a very common lighting design choice for small spaces, and the best thing about string lights is they never go out of style. Another added benefit of this lighting option is the flexibility thy offer. Depending on your space and budget, you can hang string lights across the top of your outdoor space, wrap them around railings or incorporate them within the greenery of your patio or balcony.
Warm Coloured LED Bulbs
To create a relaxing and cozy atmosphere for your outdoor space, you’ll want to consider warm coloured LED bulbs. LED lights can withstand the extreme elements of Mother Nature while also providing an aesthetically-pleasing glow that will make you want to stay curled up on your patio or balcony all night long.
Contact Nite Time Décor
Whether you’re looking for more information on illuminating your small outdoor space, or you’re searching for popular outdoor lighting trends for the summer season, contact our team of lighting design experts today. We’d be happy to help you create the outdoor space you’ve been dreaming of! Serving homeowners and businesses in Mississauga, Burlington, Oakville, Halton and Hamilton region.
DIY vs Professionally Installed Outdoor Lighting – What is the Best?
The summer outdoor entertaining season is almost upon us. Is your yard guest-worthy? Why let all that hard landscaping effort go to waste once the sun goes down? With well-placed lighting, you can enjoy the beauty of your gardens and yard all night long. But lighting is expensive, we hear you.
Do you really need an expert or can you pull this off on your own?
DIY Projects
Budget
If your budget or interests dictate something simple like staked-in solar pathway lighting, definitely do that yourself.
The solar lighting is dependent on receiving enough sun so keep in mind how much sun that area receives, and how important it is to have good light year round. In winter especially, solar powered devices may be weaker than in the peak summer months. You’ll likely have to replace them frequently, but that leaves lots of opportunities to change things up.
Cheaper Low-Voltage Products
There are a variety of boxed outdoor lighting sets in numerous shapes, sizes, and prices on the market. These are typically low-voltage units, and come with numerous fixtures but minimal wiring limiting the range and placement of lights. Often, these cheaper options come with poor quality fixtures, switches, timers, and parts. These types of sets typically come with a 1 year warranty, so replacing these parts may happen more frequently than you’re prepared for.
Durability
As soon as you place lighting outside, it’s at the mercy of the elements. Ask yourself if the set you have your eye on will stand up to Mother Nature twelve months of the year. Don’t throw away your hard-earned money. Plastic parts and cheap components will only cause more headaches down the road.
DIY Skillset
DIYers need to honestly evaluate their skill level. Do you have a good working knowledge of electrical parts and components? The heartbreaking consequences of these mistakes can’t be fixed with money.
Professional Installation
Here are five great reasons why we think hiring a professional will pay off in the end and make you glad you never went DIY.
Experience
Landscape lighting designers have extensive experience on a large variety of projects. They understand what’s essential for outdoor lighting and will help you realize your dreams for lighting those outdoor spaces while keeping your budget in mind.
They understand what works well together and what doesn’t. They can see the overall project and understand how smaller changes affect the big picture.
Professional lighting experts will work with you to help personalize your system with your own sense of style, while showing you the available options each step of the way and making suggestions that will help bring the whole system together into one cohesive lighting design.
Safety
Professional outdoor lighting designers and installers are trained in working with electricity and electrical systems. It only takes one wrong move when dealing with electricity and you are dealing with damage to the equipment and wiring or worse to you or a loved one.
Understanding how to work around other utilities means they know who to contact for proper locates and how to design and work around them safely without compromising your vision for illuminating those outdoor spaces after dark.
The DIY handyman needs to honestly assess whether they’re comfortable working with electricity (sometimes electricity and water), heights, or digging.
Safety for everyone is a priority before, during and after the installation of your outdoor lighting system. Experienced lighting designers understand electrical code and inspection requirements and will work with the local authorities to ensure all required permits and inspections are completed.
Fixture Selection
For the average homeowner, fixture selection is limited to what is available at the local hardware store. This is not the case for Nite Time Decor or other professional lighting service companies. Landscape lighting service providers have access to many different high-quality manufacturers and suppliers (many unavailable in big box stores) and can help you choose not just an adequate fixture for each space, but the fixture best suited to the aesthetic, budget and lighting requirements for that space. With Nite Time Decor, your options are endless when it comes to available fixtures and styles.
Outdoor Lighting Design
Professional installation means that your yard won’t look like everyone else’s on the block.
Whether you’re looking to enhance curb appeal, provide better security, or provide ambiance to your yard after dark, professionals will recommend fixtures and elements, with varying bulb wattage and colours, prevent annoying glares and creepy shadows, and ensure distinctive highlights are prominent.
At Nite Time Decor our talented team of designers offer beautiful illuminating ideas for all types of properties, including commercial highrises, nightclubs, restaurants, and residential properties. From big installations to small repairs, Nite Time Decor offers all of the products and services needed to meet your unique lighting requirements.
Warranty and Maintenance
Most lighting companies including Nite Time Decor, stand behind their work and will work with you until it’s done to your satisfaction. The provide a warranty for their lighting fixtures. They can help you understand the programming and regular maintenance of your system. They will be there for you long after the installation is complete. Having a good maintenance plan and ongoing support is value that cannot be replaced when installing your own DIY outdoor lighting system.
Those are just a few of the many benefits of hiring a professional landscape lighting designer and installer to help you with your outdoor lighting project.
Contact Landscape Lighting Experts
Landscape lightings adds visual interest to your home while simultaneously making it safer and increasing its property value. If you would like to discuss your landscape lighting project, or request a free estimate, contact Nite Time Decor today!
When considering what to include in your landscape lighting, it’s easy to get confused. Fluorescent, incandescent, LED…and now, high or low voltage?! Yes, there is another type of lighting to consider when consulting with an outdoor lighting service. Look at it this way, this gives you more lighting options, and thus more chances at getting just the lighting look you want for your home or business.
Low Voltage versus High Voltage Lighting Overview
If you’re thinking of installing outdoor lighting or upgrading your current system, there are many things to consider, one being if you want high voltage or low voltage lights. Since there are pros and cons to both types of systems, we’ve helped you out with this handy information below:
High Voltage Lighting
High voltage refers to lights which need 120V of power to work. Sometimes also called line voltage or standard voltage, 120V are a heavier-duty system, often seen in commercial and security lights, as well as for public use.
High Voltage – PROs
1.Lights are Bright – because of how much power they use they are perfect for large areas which need to be lit, or uplighting a large canopy of trees. This is why they are great for areas needing security lighting.
2.Fewer Fixtures Needed – because they are so bright, fewer fixtures are needed to light up an area
3.No Transformer Required – because these systems draw power right from the source, your home or business’ electrical supply, there is no need to transform the current & less of a chance that lights will dim with a voltage drop
High Voltage – CONs
1.An Electrician Is Needed – because of the high power involved all wires and connections must be installed to code, and in some cases, permits are needed
2.Higher Risk of Shock – all fittings, fixtures and connections need to be completely water tight since water and electricity don’t mix
3.Difficult to Relocate – the wires must be placed in a conduit or buried 18” below the ground not only making it more difficult to move fixtures once installed, but the installation is quite disruptive to your lawn and garden since trenches need to be dug
4.Less Beam Control – because the lights are so powerful, the beams’ spread is difficult to control and can cause problems with glare
Low Voltage Landscape Lighting
Low voltage outdoor light systems use only 12V of power, making them the most common for household use and are the best option for dramatic illuminating effects.
Low Voltage – PROs
1.Lower Overall Cost – the costs for fixtures, bulbs, electricity usage are all typically lower. They often have more light output per watt and therefore are more energy efficient.
2.Wide Selection of Fixtures – the choices are wide when it comes to choosing the type of fixture for your lighting needs, in both function and style. Low voltage lights are also designed for precise lighting effects for illuminating small details of your garden.
3.Flexible – no junction boxes, conduits or deep burial are necessary making it easy to relocate fixtures if necessary. This means there is little disturbance to your lawn and gardens when installing.
4.No Electrician Required – most 12V lighting systems can be plugged directly into outdoor receptacles
5.Safer – because low voltage systems are designed for the outdoors, they operate safely under wet conditions and lessen risk of shock
Low Voltage – CONs
1.Transformer Required – because the power coming from your home is too high, a transformer is required to reduce the current to 12V.
2.Dimming May Occur – if the cable sizes aren’t the proper size, 12V lights are more prone to dimming. This could make them not the best choice for security or safety purposes.
Hire Professionals
If you don’t want to worry about high voltage vs low voltage, then consider hiring a professional landscape lighting company like Nite Time Decor. We provide custom designed outdoor lighting installation in the Halton, Hamilton, Mississauga, Burlington or Oakville areas to fit your specific needs.
Our 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. Contact Nite Time Decor for a free light demo and your complimentary quote today.
Are you considering installing a landscape lighting system that is specifically designed to meet your home’s unique features and needs? If so, you may have some important questions you need answered before making your decision.
When it comes to your home, you should always do your research before making any big purchases or installations. That’s why our lighting experts at Nite Time Decor Oakville want to make the research process that much easier for you.
To do so, we’ve provided answers to a number of landsape lighting frequently asked questions (FAQs) to help you make an informed decision about designing and installing your very first landscape lighting system.
1. Besides making my home look nice, what advantages are there to landscape lighting?
There are many advantages to installing landscape lighting around your home.
First, it adds security without looking gaudy. No longer does a security light need to just be a flood light hung above the garage, but there are various lighting options and just having extra light around your property makes a thief think twice if a home is nicely lit.
Second, it adds safety. If your pathways, stairways, driveway and gardens are well-lit, you don’t have to worry about a guest tripping or losing their way in the dark.
Third, it extends the ability to use your outdoor space. It’s great when on those warm summer nights you can use your yard and deck late into the night, and still enjoy your landscaping (which sometimes looks even better at night)
Fourth, it adds value to your home – as much as a 50% return because of all the reasons mentioned above, plus it modernizes your home.
2. Why Do I need to Hire Someone? What about DIY?
There are many different types of landscape lighting and DIY kits, especially solar-powered, are widely available. It all depends on your lighting needs, and often the old adage is correct – you get what you pay for.
Most DIY kits are of inferior quality, with some needing to be replaced yearly. Plus, solar-powered lights tend not to be very bright, so they are not ideal for illuminating the architectural details of your home, and of course are dependent on the sun.
Plus, a landscape lighting company offers the artistry and know-how of their staff when it comes to design, product and installation, which is important if you’re dealing with electricity.
3. Is my hydro bill going to skyrocket?
Not really, especially if you choose to install low-voltage lighting. Many homeowners experience an increase of less than $50 a year, and that’s with high-voltage incandescent lights. With low-voltage LED lights, for example, if you have 5 lights, on for 5 hours/night every day for a year, homeowners will see an increase of only $6/ year!
Most customers also choose to install a timer, which is great for those times you are on vacation, or even if you just have a habit of forgetting to turn the lights off.
4. What should my outdoor lighting focus on?
When thinking of landscape lighting, the word “sophistication” should often come to mind. Focus on unique trees or bushes, a piece of art, a water feature, or even just your front door or peak of your home. Whether you are looking to illuminate a pathway or deck, the creative possibilities are endless.
5. Is there a lot of maintenance involved?
There doesn’t have to be. Most landscape lighting companies offer maintenance packages as well as warranties on their products. Often outdoor lighting should be examined in the spring to ensure nothing was damaged over the winter, or to trim back unwieldly bushes, but other than that, it can be as simple as flicking a switch.
6. How much does a landscape lighting system cost?
Landscape lighting systems can vary in cost, as they are designed and installed based on the unique needs of your family and your home.
Depending on what you are looking for, your landscape lighting system can range from minimal to intricate, with a price tag that reflects those lighting choices.
Whatever route you decide to take, the cost will come down to two main factors: the quantity of light fixtures your design requires and the desired effect you’re looking to achieve. Our landscape lighting professionals can work with your vision and budget to create the perfect lighting design for your home.
7. Will an installation damage my yard?
Not at all. Our experienced landscape lighting technicians are trained to conduct a professional installation without damaging any parts of your lawn in the process. If any trench work in required to bury wires, our technicians will make a small incision and carefully place the wiring in the appropriate spot. When this occurs, your grass should recover after a normal rainfall, and no lasting marks should remain.
8. Is landscape lighting hard to operate and maintain?
Absolutely not. With programmable settings and customizable timers, you’ll be able to set your preferences and let your system do what it does best – illuminate your home and property!
While your landscape lighting system may require some occasional maintenance, our experienced technicians can help. Whether it’s repairing a fixture or replacing a wire, our lighting technicians are always available to help you out!
9. Can you explain the terminology for landscape lighting?
So you want to add some lighting to your landscape or extend the time you can spend on your deck. Whether you’re hoping to DIY the project or have it done professionally you’ll better know what’s available and the different techniques used if you’re familiar with the terminology and lingo the professionals use.
Understanding these terms and the various lighting techniques, you’ll understand that the options are almost limitless with some imagination and creativity.
Up Lighting
Up lighting is basically shining or pointing a light fixture up. Whether the fixture is placed at the bottom of a wall or fence, or part way up a pillar or tree, placing the light can be used to create shadows or silhouettes and create indirect light and enhance curb appeal. These types of fixtures are usually low voltage lights and are available in solar, halogen and LED. There are a lot of options and a wide variety of fixtures and finishes to choose from.
Down Lighting
Just like the name suggests, down lighting focuses light down. Whether the fixture is placed under the eaves of a house, under a bench, or uses a shield or hood and placed along a pathway, the light is pointed down. The light may be placed in such a way during the day that it’s virtually unseen.
Wash
Wash lighting is used to create a subtle glow over a broad canvas such as a wall, fence, or row of bushes. The colour of the canvas may amplify or mute the light and different colours of light can offer fun variety – a splash of red for Canada Day for instance.
Shadowing
Light casts shadows and when done on purpose can create a fantastic play of light on dark and highlight a variety of features around your yard. Shadows are often used to create moon lighting and silhouettes. When placing new lighting, be sure that unwanted shadows are not created that hide or partially hide important features such as stairs or pathways and become a safety hazard.
Silhouetting
Silhouetting is exactly what you’d expect. This technique is most effective when light is placed between a planting or other feature and a light coloured wall. Silhouettes provide indirect light (much like a wash) but the shadows created can be a kind of art all on their own.
Grazing
If you have a home with a great textured façade such as stone, grazing can be used to cast light upwards from the ground using shadows to highlight the feature.
Spotlighting
Is there one feature in your yard that you want to stand apart from the rest? A spotlight can make a single feature the star of the show. Often two or more spotlights are often used to make use of shadow and light from different angles.
Moon Lighting
This is a newer trend in outdoor lighting where designers try to mimic natural moon light usually by placing a light high up in a tree and allowing the natural movement and shadows of the leaves to cast subtle light on the ground. This is a great technique for a patio or walkway.
Have more questions? Here are some additional landscape lighting FAQs and tips for finding the right contractor.
10. How can I find the right outdoor lighting contractor?
It isn’t always easy to find the right contractor for residential landscape lighting systems. After being in business for over twenty years, Nite Time Décor Oakville understands the ways to find the right contractor for your residential landscape lighting systems. We’d like to share our time-tested wisdom with you so that choosing the right company is no longer a concern.
Find the portfolio
How can you know which company you’d like if you don’t have a sample of their work? Ask for a portfolio that shows examples of their residential landscape lighting systems, as well as an overview of their past experience. For example, Nite Time Décor lighting services has a long list of resources and a vibrant gallery to show to customers our sixteen years of success.
It’s important to also ask how many actual installations the company in question has completed successfully. Make sure the company isn’t one that focuses mainly on sale, and does installations on occasion. You’ll want to find a company that has completed a healthy amount of installations so that you can be rest assured your residential landscape lighting systems are installed properly.
What are their credentials?
In this day and age, you need some sort of accreditation to perform almost any professional job, and installing residential landscape lighting systems is no exception. At Nite Time Décor Oakville, we highly recommend looking for certain credentials before choosing a company.
You want your company to have liability insurance. They also require registration from Service Ontario and permits for operation. Finally, make sure they are trusted by their peers.
If the Better Business Bureau has accredited them, this is an important aspect in proving the company to be trustworthy. Looking for their accreditations from the BBB will also offer you a chance to look up the company’s ratings.
Worthwhile warranties and service
There isn’t much of a point to get high quality residential landscape lighting systems if you don’t have the professionals to help maintain the systems once they’ve been installed.
Find a company that offers warranties and maintenance guarantees so that you’re not left stranded in the event of disrepair. Nite Time Décor Oakville offers both a warranty for your Nite Time Décor lighting services, as well as a lifetime maintenance guarantee.
Furthermore, six months following the installation of your Nite Time Décor outdoor lighting system, we’ll check in to ensure your lights are running properly and to your satisfaction. If the company doesn’t offer either a warranty or maintenance guarantee, move on.
Look for consultations
Make sure the ego of the landscape lighting designers doesn’t get in the way. Sometimes the designer has one vision, and you have one that is entirely different. Make sure the company is willing to consult and work with you to find residential landscape lighting systems that match both your style and budget.
Contact Nite Time Décor
We’d love to answer your outdoor lighting questions or help you design a truly unique lighting plan.
To have any other landscape lighting faqs answered or to request a quote, contact the professionals at Nite Time Décor. Our experienced team would be happy to answer any of your questions, and help you on your way to creating the outdoor lighting design of your dreams!
Often, their attention to beautifying their homes at night is accompanied by gorgeous daytime landscape designs that feature ornamental trees, bushes of various shapes and sizes and colourful flowerbeds.
After all this careful planning, the one thing that surprises us time and again is how often Oakville landscape lighting maintenance can be overlooked by homeowners.
Every now and then, we’ll get a call a year or two after the system installation regarding concerns over lights that should be brighter, misdirected beams or shadow spots that were not a part of the original lighting design. Typically, it’s assumed to be a problem with a fixture, or a bulb that is fading prematurely. The problem often turns out to be overgrown foliage and not the lighting hardware.
Are your gardens getting in the way of their own illumination?
Don’t let your petunias drown out your residential landscape lighting. Prune your plants to match the fixture. There are a few special techniques to keep in mind when it comes to pruning for your landscape lighting. These techniques aren’t difficult, and can be easily incorporated into any gardening practice.
At Nite Time Décor, we want to make sure you get the most out of your outdoor lighting services. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of pruning tips to help you trim back the shrubbery to show off your gorgeous residential landscape lighting.
Why bother pruning?
If you’re one of those homeowners that usually skips pruning in your gardening practice, you may be wondering why pruning is important. The fact is that pruning has several benefits beyond simply providing more room for your landscape lighting.
Healthy Trees and Plants
Prune trees to improve lighting illumination
A good trimming and pruning regimen improves more than just the look of your garden; it’s essential for the health of the plants and trees. Unchecked growth can undermine the core strength of bushes and trees by pulling nutrients away from the base.
This is commonly visible in evergreen bushes, such as junipers, when too much growth in the extremities results in the core becoming dry and weak. Simply trimming overgrown branches and twigs back to just before the bud can keep the plant strong while returning its shape.
Annual and perennial plants that are allowed to grow too wide are not going to be as healthy as those that are trimmed regularly. Think of your plants like you think of your hair. When you trim your hair every 8 weeks, you’re removing the dead hair that has been sucking up all of the nutrients from the roots. In this way, you’re providing your hair the opportunity to grow more rapidly, but with considerably more health and strength.
Plants are the same way. Those old decrepit endings on your plants hog the nutrients from the fresh new sprouts, essentially weakening the whole plant. This creates a cycle where unhealthy branches block out the light from your landscape lighting. Left to hang in unruly tangles, the foliage and blossoms will prevent your lights from bringing safety, security, and aesthetic appeal to your home.
When Should You Prune
To get the best results, you’ll want to prune just before the growing season starts. This is usually best done in early spring, but it depends on the plant and the plant’s individual peak growing season. However, pruning is always best practiced before budding and growth has taken full force, as trimming at this time may only cause damage. Your plant uses up all its energy to grow, and can’t spend any more on repair post-pruning.
Throughout the summer, keep on top of your plant pruning and your landscaping maintenance . Remove the dead leaves, twigs, and branches from both the plant itself and from the base of the plant. These will harm your garden and get in the way of your landscape lighting.
To keep your plants healthy and to prevent your daytime foliage from fighting with your night time ambience, consider these trimming and pruning facts for your landscape lighting maintenance plan:
How to prune for residential landscape lighting
Many landscape lighting companies use shrubbery and gardens as a way to conceal fixtures. When done properly, this creates a lovely effect. This means, though, that you need to keep up on trimming.
Prune plants to ensure the landscape lighting illuminates the foliage.
To “thin” the plants, again think of how your hairdresser thins out your hair. You remove strategic areas of your foliage to make the tree appear less weighty. This process also creates more areas through which the illumination from your lighting fixtures will shine.
For larger trees, thinning reduces the amount of weight that the main limbs must bear and allows better light penetration by scaling back the amount of foliage. If you are going to thin your trees out, keep in mind that older trees shouldn’t be thinned as much as younger trees, as they are weaker with age. Furthermore, only 25% of the foliage and branches should be removed in a single trimming. In every case, a branch or twig should always be cut just after its collar or base, never grazing to closely to its parent branch.
“Raising”, if you have a number of ground-installed fixtures, your landscape lighting maintenance will include a lot of raising. This involves trimming the low-laying twigs from the base to increase the amount of ground clearance and remove any obstruction from the light.
Finally, keep up on cleaning the plants. This simply involves removing dead, diseased, or weak branches.
To keep your lighting system looking just as great as it did the day it was installed, don’t forget to include the garden flora in your landscape lighting maintenance work.
