Water features like pools and ponds often become focal points for homeowners and guests, so it makes sense that they should garner attention even after the sun goes down. With a landscape lighting design that is customized to the unique features of your property, you can continue a pool party long into the summer evenings, or stay out late relaxing to the trickling sound of your water feature. Whether you’ve got a pool, a pond or any other kind of water feature, our landscape lighting professionals have put together this list of tips for illuminating these important areas of your property.

Pool Lighting Tips

Tips #1: Keep the liner colour in mind

When it comes to illuminating your pool, remember to consider the colour of your pool liner when creating your design. Lighter colours tend to reflect light while darker colours will absorb it. Factoring in the colour of your pool liner and how it might reflect or absorb the light will help you decide what kind of bulbs to use and how to place each fixture so that it achieves your desired effect.

Tip #2: Cheaper is not always better

While incandescent lights may be cheaper to install, they will cost you more in the long run as they use more electricity and may need to be replaced more often. LED and Fiber Optic lights on the other hand, will likely cost you more up front but are less expensive to run, easy to maintain and usually last a lot longer than incandescent bulbs.

Tip #3: Don’t forget the pool deck and walkways

When creating a landscape lighting design for your pool, it can be easy to focus on the pool itself and forget about the surrounding area like the pool deck and the walkways leading up to the pool area. These surrounding areas are essential to creating a full-bodied and even lighting design, so make sure you factor them into your design.

Pond Lighting Tips

Tip #1: Choose the right technique for your pond

When illuminating a pond, there are two lighting techniques you can choose. The first is underwater lighting and the second is exterior lighting.

Underwater lighting is great if you are looking to create focal points with features like waterfalls. This lighting technique is also best used for water that will remain clear, as murky water will take away from the lighting effect you are trying to achieve with this technique.

Exterior lighting works great when you are trying to illuminate the surrounding features of your pond. Using this technique, lights can be set up around the pond – in rocks or foliage – to create a warm and tranquil atmosphere.

Tip #2: Use soft white lights

Soft white lights work well with ponds because they create a nice, subtle surface glow.

Tip #3: Use brass fixtures

If your lighting fixture is going to be submerged underwater, or it is going to be in constant contact with water, it is ideal to use solid brass fixtures. Unlike other materials, solid brass fixtures will last in these wet conditions. While it might cost you a little more money initially, you will end up saving money in the long run with these fixtures.

Contact Nite Time Decor

Whether you’re just beginning to create your landscape lighting design or you’re ready for a professional installation, our experienced team at Nite Time Decor Oakville can help. To learn more about how we can help you create the landscape lighting design of your dreams, contact us today or visit our gallery for some inspiration.