Residential Landscape Lighting

Residential landscape lighting is a complex and highly evolved science in its own right tied to architecture, art, and outdoor design much in the same way as our own discipline. Exterior Worlds partners only with the very best and most experienced residential landscape lighting experts in order to create for our clients will provide residents and guests with a truly superior outdoor living experience.

From a functional perspective, residential landscape lighting makes a yard safe to walk through at night. It may surprise you to read this, but the human eye does NOT need a great deal of light to safely navigate through an area. Low-voltage fixtures are many times all we need to install along places such as pathways, flagstone walkways, or small patios around gardens and ponds. This is more cost effective, and with only little bit of lighting is creates just enough light to see by and no blinding glare.

Such a deliberate and careful approach to illuminating landscapes lets the residential landscape lighting designer take what would otherwise be a purely practical function—that of making mobility safe and convenient—and transform it into an aesthetic in and of itself. House lighting fixtures signify the home as the central figure and work to establish the aesthetic tone of the entire property. Garden lights of all types let you see the very smallest of details on the darkest nights. Gathering spots, paths, and seating areas are made visible and accessible from all important locations.

In order to make such a variety forms visible without creating a blinding outdoor glare, residential landscape lighting experts must to treat each subject individually and use a diversity of fixture types to accomplish their objectives. Illuminating a line of boxwoods surrounding a French garden is not the same as lighting an organic wall of yew trees that grow along the property line.

Tree lighting in the center of the yard requires a special type of fixture concealed in overhead branches. Lighting an outdoor building, or even more so the house, requires a combination of fixtures and some very skillful mounting techniques in order to make both form and surface area clearly seen from all angles.

Once the residential landscape lighting designer establishes general visibility, he or she can then focus on accenting the most unique and remarkable landscape elements. This layer of accent light is extremely important to the aesthetic of the property because it designates points of interest that, when viewed in relationship to each another, establishes a thematic linkage of style, tradition, and personal customization.

Architectural keynotes, for instance, can be brought to the forefront with special spotlighting techniques or hidden fixtures that highlight the cultural and stylistic origins of home design. A parterre garden that is installed along intersecting axes can be accented by path lights that bisect the greenery and establish the visual importance of linearity and right angles to French garden design. Custom patios can be better emphasized with any number of energy efficient fixtures that magnify the decorative aspects of stonework and decorative design.

The emotions that visitors will feel under the influence of residential landscape lighting will transfer beyond pure enjoyment to a sense of mood and activity appropriate to different spots, gatherings, and special events. Low-level lighting in entry gardens and outdoor fireplaces helps set the tone for quiet conversation. Fountain lights can create a suspended sense of time for romance and quiet moments. Brighter lights inside custom kitchens, outdoor rooms, and swimming pools create a sense of festivity and high energy.

Call Exterior Worlds now for an evaluation of your property and the many benefits that landscape remodeling and landscape lighting can add to your home value and quality of life.