Landscape Lighting Design Ideas to Showcase Your Home

Article by: ARA

(ARA) - Landscape , Watching Your Children's Garden Grow lighting used to be simple. A few recessed can fixtures lining the front path, , Will A 1031 Property Exchange Solve Your Problems? a couple downlights tucked in the trees, , Gardening - Planting Tomatoes and you were done. Not anymore. When it comes to the great outdoors, , Furniture homeowners have seen the light. , How To Choose The Perfect Granite Work Surface

"Today, the biggest excitement in outdoor , Plant Now for Colorful Spring Blooms lighting is the whole artistic aspect," says Dan Blitzer, education consultant for the American Lighting Association. "Think of it as painting , Taking Care of Futon Frames, Furniture, and Mattresses a picture of the landscape , Five Easy Ways to Give Your Kitchen Designer Wow! at night, using lights , Alarm Controls Are The Brain Of Your Security System, Use Yo to achieve the look a homeowner wants."

Night-lighting your landscape , Top Ten Ways to Spruce Up Your Yard offers a creative way to showcase your home , Advising on the latest and accurate assistance relating to f and property , Are you in search of the latest help regarding kiln. after dark. Properly placed, lights , Top Ten Ways to Spruce Up Your Yard can dramatize trees, , How to Choose the Best Services highlight favorite shrubs , Taking Care Your House Plants During Winter and accent statuary, fountains and flowerbeds. Like any creative work, the options abound.

"The challenge with landscape , Top Ten Ways to Spruce Up Your Yard lighting is that most people don't immediately see all the possibilities," says Joe Rey-Barreau, American Lighting Association consulting director of education and director of the Lighting and Design , More About Butterly Gardening Center at the University of Kentucky. "Outdoor lighting can be both functional and aesthetic. It's an art to understand how much light , Five Easy Ways to Give Your Kitchen Designer Wow! to place , Persian Rugs - Care and Cleaning on a house , Five Easy Ways to Give Your Kitchen Designer Wow! or determine where the focal points are."

To light , Watching Your Children's Garden Grow correctly, key in on architectural features. , Plant Now for Colorful Spring Blooms Consider uplighting an arbor, archway or facade for a dramatic effect. Wash the side of the house , Preserving Dried Flowers - Few Tips for Best Results with a splash of light. , Advising on the latest and accurate assistance relating to f Graze a textured fence or wall , Organic Gardening: 10 Practical Steps with a focused beam. Illuminate the water , Watching Your Children's Garden Grow in a pool or pond , How to Grow Bananas with submersible lights. , Make Your Own Lampshades Silhouette a tree , More About Butterly Gardening or bush by placing lights , Burning Bushes ....Brilliant Fall Foliage below and behind the object. While some lights , Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part II take a fashionable approach, others focus on function. Low voltage lights , Tiffany table lamps - It's all about the lampshade! installed under handrails, stairs and bench , Hand Feeding your Koi seating on decks , Preserving Dried Flowers - Few Tips for Best Results help lighten things up for outdoor , Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part II entertaining. Stronger beams designed to shine over an outdoor , Persian Rugs - Care and Cleaning activity area like a basketball court add extra hours of post-dusk fun.

"If you cook out at night, position a spotlight in the eaves of the house , Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part II to send a beam directly over the BBQ,'' says Rey-Barreau.

A well-lit home , Choosing A Realtor is also safer and more secure. Illuminated steps, paths , Five key factors that affect your pot plants in winter and driveways prevent after-dark accidents. Motion detectors light , Tips and Tricks for Better Bedrooms up obscure spots when someone passes by. Photocells automatically turn on fixtures at dusk and off at dawn, providing protection even when you're away from home. , Matching & Co-ordinating Your To Make It More Desirable

"If your home , Are Solar Coatings an Alternative To Blinds? is not properly lighted, there is a greater chance of someone breaking in," says Daniel Lecian, ALA Lighting Specialist for the Hermitage Lighting Gallery in Nashville, Tenn.

The key to attractive outdoor , How to Use Color in Your Perennial Garden lighting follows a less-is-more philosophy. Soft, natural , How to Grow Bananas light should mimic moonlight on the property. , Hand Feeding your Koi

"It's important not to over-light," says Todd Langner, vice president of marketing for Kichler in Cleveland. "What you should see is the landscape, , Five key factors that affect your pot plants in winter not the lights , Tips and Tricks for Better Bedrooms so that the outdoor , Gardening is Good Therapy lighting tells a visual story at night."

When installing outdoor lights, , Five Easy Ways to Give Your Kitchen Designer Wow! conceal the light , Preserving Dried Flowers - Few Tips for Best Results source behind shrubs, , How to Use Color in Your Perennial Garden tree , Choosing A Realtor branches or other foliage -- unless the fixture is a decorative element.

"You should see the light , Burning Bushes ....Brilliant Fall Foliage effect, not the source," says Richard Lentz of Lentz Landscape , The Final Word On Pond Maintenance Lighting of Dallas. "The bulb , Decorate your home with Shabby Chic and fixture should disappear when the lights , How to Use Color in Your Perennial Garden are turned on. All that should be visible is the glow of light , Preserving Dried Flowers - Few Tips for Best Results on the flowers, , Will A 1031 Property Exchange Solve Your Problems? the wall , Florida Isn't Just For Tourists or the path. , Rose Gardening In Late Fall "

More people staying at home , How to Use Color in Your Perennial Garden has helped foster the current fascination in landscape , Persian Rugs - Care and Cleaning lighting. "The trends have been very home , Tips and Tricks for Better Bedrooms oriented," says Blitzer. "People are interested in dressing up their homes , Five key factors that affect your pot plants in winter even more."

Lighting showrooms and manufacturers , How to Grow Bananas have expanded their stock as well, resulting in more outdoor , Tiffany table lamps - It's all about the lampshade! options for consumers. "For a long time, landscape , How to Choose Water Garden Plants lighting revolved around do-it-yourself, low-voltage lights , Seeds and more Seeds...What your Garden Needs picked up at home , Florida Isn't Just For Tourists centers and installed by the consumer in a line about two feet apart," says Rey-Barreau. "These were not really made to withstand the weather , Burning Bushes ....Brilliant Fall Foliage conditions and were not long-term solutions."

Styles range from large overhead cylindrical floodlights to minute spot or accent lights , Will A 1031 Property Exchange Solve Your Problems? used for highlighting specific features. , A Flower Garden for your Home Spread and diffused units set low to the ground, line paths, , Hand Feeding your Koi flowerbeds and driveways and cast a broader glow. The latest looks in such path , Understanding the role of insects in gardening lights depend on fixtures that can be placed further apart to create a more attractive glow.

Some lights , Tips and Tricks for Better Bedrooms are patterned like three-leaf clusters or single leaf containers. Others boast more traditional lantern styles. Still others beam from within floral fixtures installed in flowerbeds.

"There have been new product , More About Butterly Gardening developments,'' says Rey-Barreau. "Weather-resistant products , Will A 1031 Property Exchange Solve Your Problems? and new plastic , Will A 1031 Property Exchange Solve Your Problems? technology are both attractive and functional."

Bulbs have also improved. Newer 65- and 120-watt incandescent bulbs , The Final Word On Pond Maintenance provide up to 25 percent more light. , How to Choose Water Garden Plants Compact fluorescent bulbs , Taking Care Your House Plants During Winter produce soft lighting, the highest energy , How To Choose The Perfect Granite Work Surface savings, and last up to 10,000 hours. Mercury vapor bulbs , Burning Bushes ....Brilliant Fall Foliage supply a strong, cost-conscious light , Watching Your Children's Garden Grow with a cool color , Choosing A Realtor that can last as long as 24,000 hours -- or six years burning dusk to dawn.

While most homeowners opt for pure white light, , How to Grow Bananas others like the hint of hue. Warm tones like yellow or red introduced properly can make the landscape , A Flower Garden for your Home come alive at night. Green lights , Protect Your Home: Evaluate Your Existing Chimney Caps can make foliage look even greener.

"Be careful with colored lights, , Rose Gardening In Late Fall '' says Rey-Barreau. "Unless they are done carefully, they can look garish."

The cost for installing outdoor , The Ancient Lore of the Green Giant Arborvitae lighting is as varied as the landscape , How to Grow Bananas designs. According to experts, highlighting a couple of trees , Make Your Own Lampshades in a typical suburban front lawn , Outdoor Furniture could run from $800 to $1,200. A one-acre property , Rose Gardening In Late Fall with an elaborate lighting scheme can cost as much as $10,000.

The American Lighting Association, a not-for-profit association of leading manufacturers, , Top Ten Ways to Spruce Up Your Yard retail lighting showrooms and sales representatives in the U.S. and Canada, is dedicated to expanding public knowledge about lighting. To locate an ALA showroom near you, call , Plant Now for Colorful Spring Blooms toll free (800)-BRIGHT IDEAS (274-4484). Also, visit the ALA Web , Cable TV and Satellite TV - Which Is Better? site for helpful hints and to find the nearest lighting expert at www.americanlightingassoc.com.

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