The wonderful details of your landscape can be celebrated at night the same way you and your loved ones enjoy them during the daytime. You can either show off your entire landscape or quietly highlight certain features as you please with various lighting strategies. When landscaping professionals apply a combination of professional outdoor lighting techniques, they can provide excellent visual texture and vivacious beauty that will set your outdoor living space apart. Here are five unique ideas for outdoor lighting in Rochester Hills and Sterling Heights, MI.
Related: 9 Landscape Lighting Techniques for Large Landscapes in Rochester Hills and Canton, MI, Areas
Say Goodbye to Floodlighting
A single bright light that shines blindingly from one point may actually do more harm than good. Not only can they be incredibly inefficient in terms of electricity, but floodlights don’t even provide good light coverage. A single light source needs to be high-powered to cover a large area, so it can be blinding for those near it and cast harsh shadows, providing a dangerous area to walk and play through all evening long. Typically, you want light to come from many different vantage points. To properly light your landscape, outdoor lighting could be angled in such a way that it is unlikely to temporarily blind anyone.
Get Festive with String Lighting
You can create a party atmosphere with string lighting—and a pergola or other type of shade structure offers ample opportunity to make this possible. Lights hung across higher vantage points will not only provide that warm glow that encourages people to keep having fun, but it can help to create definition for your outdoor living space at night. Closing in your patio with string lighting will help keep the party close and intimate and draw attention to the features of your patio.
Enhance Safety with Low-Lying Lights
Your walkways and patio need to be clearly lit throughout the night to prevent accidents. One of the best ways to prevent distracting shadows is to have lights near the ground, at knee level, or below. This will prevent the blinding glare of lights at or higher than eye level. Modern outdoor lighting strategies make use of LED lighting, which is known for consuming far less energy than traditional incandescent or halogen lighting options—and LED lighting tends to last longer. Modern light fixtures are also much more versatile. They’re small, so they fit in tighter spaces and can be programmed to change brightness or color.
Create Drama with Submersible Lights
Water features can be the centerpieces of your nighttime experience. By placing submersible lights within your swimming pool, water fountain, or waterfall, you can create an incredible blue glow that washes over every surrounding surface. Whenever the water surface is disturbed, the resulting ripples will create dancing shadows that always provide endless visual attraction. Not only can submersible lights make a wonderful visual experience, but they also help enhance safety in your pool by keeping the entire swimming area brightly illuminated.
Generate Interest with Strategic Highlighting
You likely want the prominent features of your landscape illuminated to some degree at night. In this way, you can bring attention to the many distinctive textures of your landscape design, from beautiful flowers to the craftsmanship of your outdoor fireplace or retaining walls. Some hardscape features provide excellent opportunities for disguising light fixtures that may illuminate their own features, as well as the surrounding walkway or patio.
