Accent Lighting, Why Restraint Beats Coverage|What Is Accent Lighting? Here Is the Distinction|Accent Lighting Done Right: Less Is the Whole Technique
The definition nobody gives you The difference between accent lighting and general lighting is intent. It is selective by definition. Point it at a specimen tree, a stone column, a water feature, a front door and leave the rest alone. The dark part is not an oversight. It is the reason the lit thing stands out.The concept takes one sentence and a lot of discipline. Pick what matters and stop there. The pull is always toward adding, and holding the line is what keeps the res
Permanent Exterior Lighting, How It Works and What It Costs You in Effort|Considering Permanent Outdoor Lighting? Read This First
A definition worth having Permanent outdoor lighting is a fixed LED system mounted along a building's rooflines, eaves and edges and left up all year. It replaces the strands you hang and take down with hardware meant to stay outside. Because the track is color matched, daylight hides most of it. The usual places it gets mounted Most installs follow the roofline, then add gables, dormers and porch lines where the design calls for it. On a commercial building the same idea
Landscape Lighting Install, What Gets Lit and Why|Thinking About Landscape Lighting: Start With the Yard You Have
Landscape lighting starts with the yard, not the catalog Where roofline lighting handles the house, landscape lighting takes care of the yard: paths, garden beds, trees and stairs. The goal is to see the tree, not the light pointed at it. Done badly, it looks like an airport runway down the driveway. What usually gets lit Path lighting is usually the starting point, because it is the part that does a job every night. A well placed uplight keeps the yard from going flat and
Commercial Outdoor Lighting, A Guide for Business Owners|Why Commercial Outdoor Lighting Matters: The Business Case|Lighting a Commercial Building for Restaurants, Retail and Offices
Your building works after hours whether you light it or not People drive past your building after dark constantly, and it either registers or it does not. Unlit, the building disappears, and neither is the business. Light keeps a building in circulation.This is not a cosmetic line item for a business. The building is on display whether the doors are open or not, and lighting decides whether it says anything after five. It is infrastructure, not decor. Where most of the ret
Lighting for Patios and Outdoor Living: How to Light a Patio People Want to Stay On|How Should a Patio Be Lit|Patio Lighting That Gets Used and Why It Is Not the Same as Curb Appeal
The back of the house has a different job Front yard lighting is seen from outside. The patio is a place you occupy. That flips most of the design rules. Nobody cares how the patio reads from the road. The only test is whether anybody wants to sit there.All of which is a long way of saying the back yard is its own project. The front and the back need different work, and assuming otherwise is how a patio ends up with one bright light on the wall. Two spaces, two briefs, and
Hiring an Outdoor Lighting Company: What to Ask|What Separates One Outdoor Lighting Company From Another
Where homeowners go wrong The trouble with shopping for outdoor lighting is that two numbers can describe two completely different jobs. A package price and a custom design often quote close together, and look nothing alike once installed. Is there a real design? Ask to see what they are proposing for your house. A company that designs for the property can explain every run. A company that will not is selling you the same job they sold the last house. Ask what happens aft