A common misconception about landscape lighting installation is that it just simply involves scattering a few outdoor lights, willy-nilly, to light up a home’s exterior. But in fact, designing a landscape lighting layout is far more complicated than that – or at least it should be.
Just simply lighting up a home’s exterior is a simple process. It takes little thought or planning. And the results show it.
But the truth is that designing a landscape lighting system should be an act of artistry. It’s an opportunity to transform a property into an enchanting, alluring nightscape. Doing that requires skillfully balancing these four basic elements of landscape lighting design:
- Focal Points: The primary focal point of a landscape lighting design should be the home, of course. But the selection of the many secondary focal points is what transforms a design from the mundane to the elegant. Professional lighting designers are adept at choosing the landscape features that will best serve as secondary focal points for complimenting the home.
- Lighting Intensity and Direction: Designing the lighting layout requires determining not only where lights should be placed, but also the type of lights to be used. Lights that are too bright will create a harsh tone to the overall feel of the lighting; lights that are too weak will leave a landscape marred with pits of murkiness. And the directional focus of each light is crucial.
- Depth: The home should be the dominant feature of a landscape lighting design – but only just. Properly balancing the focal emphasis between home and landscape elevates a design from a bland two-dimensional view to an intriguingly complex three-dimensional view.
- Cohesion: Each landscape is the sum of many individual elements: the home, the driveway, walkways, trees, lawns, decks, etc. A talented landscape lighting designer highlights the most attractive features individually while yet weaving all elements into a cohesive whole.
Not All Landscape Lighting Professionals Are Artists
There’s no shortage of companies that provide the basic service of installing landscape lighting. But many of them lack the skill and experience to elevate your landscape from the mundane to the artistic. They consistently fail to properly incorporate and balance the four basic elements of landscape lighting design.
But at TLC Inc., we regard each new project as a blank canvas awaiting our best artistic efforts. We know that landscape lighting isn’t only about providing increased safety and security to your family, or enhancing the value of your home. It’s also about transforming your landscape into an enchanting work-of-art nightscape. That makes each project more challenging, to be sure. But also more fun – both for us and for our clients.