If you’ve ever seen a night shot of Hearst Castle in the movies, or the Gatsby mansion during an evening party in the recent big screen adaptation, the last thing the film’s designers want you to think is, “Wow! What beautiful lighting!” They want you to think, “Wow! What a beautiful home!” Our Oakville landscape lighting designers strive for a similar goal. When you and your guests are relaxing in pavilions of light around your property, our creative team doesn’t want you thinking about them or the fixtures. They want you to simply admire the cinematic beauty of your home.

Setting the Stage
Whether it’s used in the movies, in live theatre or as a painting technique, the intent of creative lighting is to not only set the stage but to communicate a feeling to those experiencing the scene. It’s no different when it comes to your ability to enjoy the outdoors during the evening. Just as you pay attention to how lighting enhances your home’s inner decor, we concentrate on how you intend to use your home’s exterior settings and on the mood you want to create with your Oakville landscape lighting. If “all the world’s a stage”, so too is your deck, your pool surround, your outdoor dining area or your garden.

Making the Artificial Seem Natural
From washes to spots, from up-lighting to down-lighting, we employ many different techniques to unobtrusively light an outdoor scene. With you as the director, we rely on you to tell us how the focal points of your property will be used. Our designers use these techniques and the appropriate fixtures to create the task or mood lighting that fits your action. The trick is to make it all feel natural and to make you forget how it’s done.

Take a night time scene in a movie, for example. If the actors weren’t lit by some form of ambient light, you wouldn’t be able to see them on the screen. Of course it’s an artificial effect, but one that the audience isn’t aware of if it’s done properly. Likewise, rather than drawing your attention to the skilful placement of spotlights, if you can imagine that your home is simply glowing with its own light then we’ve done our job.

A Hint Here and a Suggestion There
Aside from practical aspects of nighttime lighting such as safety and security, the art of landscape lighting is in its subtlety and its ability to create an illusion of intimacy. In reality, you are out in the open and further exposed by light within the surrounding darkness. Few of our clients, however, want to be aware of this fact while they enjoy their outdoor spaces. Properly lit, a seating area or dining patio should feel every bit as private and inviting as a cosy room without making guests feel like they’re on display. That’s the magic of a well-crafted Oakville landscape lighting design.

Like anyone who’s “in the business”, it’s easy for us to look at Oakville landscape lighting installations – good and bad – and know exactly how they’re done. Just as a film director can recognize and admire the skilled work of a colleague, our designers have an appreciation for what works and what doesn’t. When it does work, even we can be tricked into forgetting the technique and just enjoy the illusion. Contact us to find out how to create an Oakville landscape lighting design that you’ll forget the moment the lights come up.