You’ve already heard that the nights are longer, the mornings are darker, and the evenings come faster. While outdoor lighting may seem superfluous in the summer, it becomes an important thing during the winter, significantly extending the outdoor season in your yard. If you are simply planning to install outdoor lighting, we share some tips.
Split light is better than common light
There’s no need to act like the day isn’t finished yet – avoid selecting a lamp with strong brightness. A big lantern that lights up a wide area is not a good choice. Even if street lights shine into your garden, they do not fix all issues. A large, bright light source provides just enough brightness to help you see where to step when returning home. Nevertheless, such light will not make the yard more inviting and will not create the lovely view that can be achieved with soft light.
Remember that interior designers are now using various kinds of lighting, not just the main source in the center of the ceiling. Even contemporary museums do not glow with bright light, but instead use a more subtle approach, with lighting that emphasizes the hallways and, of course, the exhibits (here I recalled reading this piece about Vilnius museums and the writer’s views on lighting).
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how famous is this landscape architectThe same principles apply in the backyard. A large, bright light does not promote a cozy feel, in fact, it may highlight a messy area, the flaws of the facade or ground. With softer light, you can emphasize exactly what you desire.
What are the most beautiful places in the plot
Can’t think of what to highlight with outdoor lighting? Walk around your property late at night and find out which places are the most beautiful for you:
- The classic solution is illuminate the plants. It is better if the cables are laid in such a way that they can change the direction of the spotlight. So it is possible to change the illuminated plants at different times of the year and flexibly respond to the change of plants over the years – after all, they grow and increase in size, so change is inevitable. When choosing which plants to light, pay less attention to color and more to the foliage, shape of the bush, bush or inflorescence. Half of the charm of lighting is the shadows, which is why the shape of the plant, the size of the leaves, etc. they are very important.
- Illuminate compositions of plants and stones. The texture of the stones looks very beautiful in the dark, take advantage of this feature.
- If you have an outdoor sculpture, a beautiful fireplace, an imposing chair – direct your attention there.
Try different methods, sometimes it is not even necessary to directly illuminate the object of interest. Imagine a bench placed surrounded by miscanthus or other decorative grasses. Do not illuminate the bench directly, but the plants – from both sides, hiding the spotlights somewhere in the corners. On a dark evening, such a bench will seem the coziest in the world.
How many beautiful illuminated areas should be provided
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Environmental trends 2016 – Geltonas KarutisThe more beautiful objects you have that deserve to be illuminated, the more you can illuminate them, if your pockets allow it. However, do not forget that the dark period of the day should be dark, so there is no need to overdo it with the abundance of lighting.
If your lot is only a few acres and you don’t plan on spending a lot, adding at least three spots of beauty and heart to your paths and entryway lighting will be enough to make the yard more inviting.
It is not necessary to enhance the lighting of the entire courtyard, evaluate your needs and consequently you will be able to predict how much lighting you will need. If you don’t set foot in the yard during the winter, it’s not worth installing lighting there. And if you want the most beautiful place to be at the front of the ground, plan the most beautiful illuminated view there.
Think about what your eyes see when you’re inside in winter. If you illuminate beautiful Christmas trees or intricately woven hazel branches, that you can see from the windowin the dark field of the year, your space would expand outward, even if you are not outside at that moment. Take advantage of this opportunity.
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The new gardening term “Healthy design”: what to expect at the Garden Style 2024 conferenceLighting of paths and entrances
The purpose of lighting plants and other beautiful objects is to create aesthetics in the dark, while lighting paths, gates and entrance areas is more functional. Very soon the evenings will be so dark that an unlit path can really cause inconvenience. Ice or snow increases the risk of slipping and you may simply not notice an obstacle on the trail. It is therefore worth illuminating it all the main directionswho walks in the dark season.
Once again we return to the first point: bright general lighting is not an optionbecause it does not create comfort and does not make the environment aesthetic. General lighting with motion sensors is even worse, as the blinding light appears suddenly and disappears just as suddenly. It’s not a pleasant feeling, let’s be honest.
Select at the start of the trail some dimly lit lanternswhich would mark the path to follow as if it were dotted. It is optimal to choose slightly raised mushroom-shaped lights that direct the light not upwards or sideways, but downwards. Such lights, installed along the path, will illuminate both the path and the plants growing nearby. So kill two birds with one stone: the lights will fulfill both functional and aesthetic purpose.
Think carefully about reflectors built into the cobblestones: they can become covered in mud and leaves in autumn and in snow in winter.
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Remove weeds and moss between paversDon’t invest in design
Look for ideas, but rely on professionals. Although in the courses we teach how to create it yourself the project of your land or how manage the farm yourself, several teachers unanimously affirmthat lighting should be entrusted to specialists in their field.
Landscape architect Lina Puodžiūtė states that headlamps from different manufacturers, while meeting the same parameters, may shine brighter, while others may shine dimmer. As a result, some can illuminate a larger area, others a smaller one. Therefore, without knowing the products of a specific manufacturer, it is difficult to decide how many lights will be needed for a 3-meter path. Specialists use special programs, so you can create an outdoor lighting project specific to your situation, which will meet your needs, take into account electricity consumption, etc.
In addition, in addition to conventional electrical input, there are now new technologies that use low voltage, which is safer and easier to install.
Therefore, we recommend investing not to the design of the lamps, but to their quality. Landscape architect, course teacher Vaida Vaitkutė-Eidimtienė claims that the most important thing is not the design of the lamp, but the illuminated surface.
It is important to understand that it is plants, not lamps, that create beauty during daylight hours; in the dark it is the illuminated plants that create beauty, not the lamps. It is therefore worth investing not in the beauty of the lamps (it is better for them to remain invisible), but in their quality, so that they serve well and for a long time.
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