Jan 27, 2019
COLOR IN LANDSCAPE LIGHTING?
The First Law of Residential Landscape Lighting is “less is more”. A design achieves the greatest drama and beauty with as little lighting as possible. How little is “as little as possible”? Generally, just enough to meet safety, security, and functionality needs. An artistically illuminated outdoor kitchen, for example, can’t be too dark to cook…
Jan 23, 2019
DIY OR PROFESSIONAL?
A quick search of the internet turns up a lot of content on do-it-yourself (DIY) outdoor and landscape lighting. As a matter of fact, there are literally thousands of articles, blogs, and guides on the subject. Retailers of outdoor lighting hardware naturally promote the DIY option. The low-voltage LED revolution of the past few years…
Jan 21, 2019
REPAIR OR REPLACE?
New clients are not always starting from a scratch. Quite a few explain they’ve got outdoor lighting systems already in place. They’re not satisfied with the performance of the system, or perhaps with its general condition. Long-time owners of a property realize one day that the place just doesn’t look as great at night as…
Jan 11, 2019
THE WIRE
The goals of outdoor and landscape lighting are to make a property look amazing at night. This is the artistic side of the profession. On the technical side, the proper choices in hardware and configuration must support the designer’s art. This is where hardware priorities come in. Since the components all depend on each other,…
Jan 1, 2019
2019 TRENDS IN OUTDOOR LIGHTING
2019 has been an interesting and active year in outdoor and landscape lighting. As its days dwindle to a precious few, let’s pause and highlight some of the year’s top outdoor lighting trends. Path lighting, if you will, to next year. The standout markers of 2019 have been in design and technology. As can be…
Dec 24, 2018
HARDSCAPE LIGHTING
HARDSCAPE AND SOFTSCAPE Outdoor living spaces have two basic ingredients: softscape and hardscape. Softscape is all that’s alive and growing. Trees, shrubs, lawns, flowers, succulents, and so forth. Hardscape is pretty much everything else. It’s not living. It’s brick, concrete, stone, metal, and worked wood. These are functional items like driveways, benches, walls, and…