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Using Landscape Lighting to Create the Perfect Outdoor Oasis

Landscape LightingLandscape lighting can add atmosphere and ambiance to your outdoor living space and make it easier to navigate at night. However, where exactly should you install landscape lights? Here are some tips on how to use landscape lighting to create the perfect outdoor oasis and save energy at the same time.

 

Landscape LightingConsider LED lighting

Landscape lighting is a great way to make your outdoor space feel safe, inviting, and romantic.

There are many different types of lighting fixtures that can be used in landscape lighting projects.

The most commonly used type is LED lighting. They have an incredibly long lifespan compared with other lighting options.

Landscape lighting is used to help accentuate your home’s exterior and make it look more attractive. Placing landscape lighting in front of your house can help highlight what you consider to be your home’s most valuable features, like a beautiful garden or a breathtaking view. It can also be used as an additional security measure if you live in a neighborhood that has lots of foot traffic or break-ins.

Lighting Your Patio

If you’re looking for a way to spruce up your patio, consider adding landscape lighting. This will create the perfect space for entertaining during summer evenings, and it’s also an excellent way of ensuring safety in your garden by keeping intruders away at night.

There are many different types of outdoor lights that you can use, so start by deciding what type of lighting you want: spotlights, wall packs, or lights on poles. You may also want to think about how many light fixtures you need and what color bulbs would work best to create the right ambiance.

Landscape LightingLighting for Driveways, Walkways, and Steps

The driveway and walkways are typically the first areas people see when they pull up to a home. The light from these areas can be used to help you create a feel for what is waiting just inside.

Lighting up your steps is a great way to create an inviting pathway and can even be used as a safety feature. If you have children or pets, it will help them see where they are going at night.  When picking out bulbs, choose ones that mimic natural daylight so people don’t feel uncomfortable when they are outside after dark.

Landscape LightingLight Up Your Focal Points

If you need more of a focal point for your landscape lighting, consider using lights on trees or shrubs that line your walkways or use accent lights in between the plants in your flowerbeds.

Put up spotlights that focus all their attention on one tree (or any other part of the yard) to create a focal point and a tranquil atmosphere. They provide a focused beam of light on a certain area, but they don’t reach far into the surrounding area.

Floodlights: These lights typically have an oval or circular shape and cast light over a wide range. You may want to use these on a house’s exterior if you want to illuminate it at night, but they can also be used on landscaping features.

There are also lights for your water features that can be beautifully lit at night.

Let the Frontier Landscaping team install your landscape lighting. We’ll help you find the types and styles of lighting that create the atmosphere you want surrounding your home. Installing the right lighting in the right place in your yard can increase its beauty and functionality. Contact us today!

Simple Landscaping Reminders for Fall

Simple Landscaping Reminders for Fall

The crisp fall mornings remind us that the hard-working summer garden has earned its winter rest.  Sweeping the front walk and gathering leaves is a quiet exercise in mindfulness, and lets us gather our thoughts for the season ahead.  Even though we enjoy our mild weather late into November, we can get occasional freezes and should clear out the irrigation system to prevent cracked pipes.  As Halloween nears, ensuring you have a well-lit paths and driveways will make a cheerful and safe approach.  And don’t forget to do some minor pruning to remove any broken branches or those that crowd and cover paths. These simple landscaping reminders for fall will ensure you have a problem-free winter.

Winterizing irrigation is quick and easy

residential irrigation Vancouver WA

We’re lucky here in the Vancouver area to enjoy long stretches of cool, autumn weather, and we typically don’t get the long hard freezes that cause problems.  However, it’s always wise to unhook your hoses from the faucets, and add a little extra insulation to any pipes that are exposed.  Bring any tender plants in pots up to the porch for extra protection, and buy a bale of hay for extra insulation in the garden.

Plan on shutting down your irrigation system.  Even if you drain out your sprinklers, some water remains and can still freeze and crack your pipes, causing costly and unsightly repairs.  To minimize your risk, call a professional to blow out any remaining water using the right-sized equipment.  We schedule sprinkler winterization from October through early December, but now is a great time to get us on your calendar.

Throw some light on it

It’s also the perfect time to check on your outdoor lighting. Make sure paths are clear and well lit to greet you when you come home from work, and are safe when you have an armload of groceries. For convenience and to save energy, flood lights should be set to come on automatically when you arrive. Properly designed lighting colors and intensity give your home a cheerful welcome.  Using LED lighting for landscaping makes sense, saving energy, and lasting longer than traditional lights.  October is also a great time for stargazing, so a lighting expert can help you determine how to highlight only the areas you need to be safe without being overly bright.

Fall Maintenance Pruning

All the tips for Summer Tree Care still hold true – cut back shrubs after blooming, and prune fruit trees when they become dormant because it’s easier to see where to prune when the leaves drop.  Unfortunately, we’ve also had a prolonged period of drought, so you may have had some branch die-back on a variety of trees and shrubs on your property.  Now is a good time to have a Tree Hazard Risk assessment done before the winter storms come. We’ll look for damaged and overhanging branches, weak branch-joins, and insect or fungal diseases that impact the health of your trees.  Selective pruning can also open the canopy and make trees more resilient to winter storms. Get an expert to assess your landscape before it becomes a bigger problem.

Frontier Landscaping provides exceptional customer service.  Schedule an appointment with our seasoned and reliable crew today.

Four Ways to Set a Mood With LED Lighting Outdoors

low voltage lighting LED lighting outdoor landscape

 

LED lighting continues its rise as a top trend for homeowners looking to get the most out of their landscape design. While low-voltage lighting is a traditional favorite, LEDs offer their own distinct range of benefits. It’s hard to resist the serious energy efficiency, ease of control, and nearly limitless design possibilities available to reflect your style.

Whether it’s bringing the view from your windows to life, or creating an outdoor room that’s welcoming and comfortable, LED lighting is a versatile and sustainable choice to fulfill your vision.

Light with Purpose: Set The Mood

First of all, what atmosphere do you want to create around your home after dark? With the right lights, you’ll trade flat, dull views for textured visual interest that increases your sense of enjoyable living space.

“Most people don’t realize this, but the backyard is a whole new room that they haven’t explored fully,” says HGTV outdoor lighting designer Michael Sestak. “You have the option to go beyond that light bulb at the doorway.”


Romance: Inviting Natural Charm

Use lighting to create a romantic view from your windows after sundown. Gently illuminated paths and layered accent lighting around plants and rockery creates a sweet invitation to savor your yard in the evenings.

If you’re a fan of a naturally-styled landscape, use delicate lighting to play across water features. In addition, the right shade of light bulb will echo the blue tones of moonlight.  Consider soft uplights into your trees to showcase their shapes and textures.

 

Serenity: Relax and Enjoy

If you’re busy working during daylight hours, maximize your sense of rest and comfort around the places you enjoy when you’re at home. Tasteful accent lighting in shrubs and plantings around your deck, fire pit, or hot tub creates a relaxing atmosphere to enjoy a glass of wine and good company at the end of the day.

With the wide variety of LED lighting fixtures now available, it’s easy to carry over your design choices from inside your home to your outdoor space as well. This keeps a sense of natural flow to all of the living and entertaining areas you share with your guests.

“The right lighting can take any outdoor space from invisible to inviting,” explains Kate Campbell of HGTV’s “Decked Out” series. “Adding dimmable LED lighting to railing and stairs not only adds atmosphere but also enhances safety and security – and extends the time you can spend enjoying your outdoor living space.”

Excitement: Flaunt What You’ve Got

Gardening enthusiasts, use dynamic lighting to showcase your favorite trees, shrubs and flowerbeds. Additionally, don’t be afraid to exchange perfect symmetry for more irregular placement of your lights. This gives an organic feel that naturally complements each layer of your garden. With the right lights, you’ll lead the gaze of your viewers without overpowering your beautiful plants.

Do you have dramatic trees? Emphasize their structure and foliage with uplights, which enhances their scale and creates beautiful shadows.

 

Power: Forever First Impressions

Effective lighting strategies for your front yard sends curb appeal soaring with a few simple tweaks. Don’t settle for basic porch and walkway lighting. Set off an interesting front door or stonework with fixtures that showcase the uniqueness of your home. This creates powerful first impressions at walk-up (or drive-by). A small yard looks even larger when you bring lighting closer to the curb. Work the perimeters of your space for maximum impact.

 

Frontier LED Lighting Installation Services

In conclusion, outdoor LED lighting is a great fit for homeowners who want more from their landscape. It’s an environmentally-friendly solution that saves a lot of money over the long haul. Frontier offers low-voltage and LED lighting installation for new homes as well as retro-fitting existing landscapes. Contact us for a free consultation! We’d love to help you create the perfect setting around your home. Give us a call at (360) 574-8979, or send us an email: [email protected].

 

Additional Information

Low-voltage landscape lighting for safety & beauty

low voltage outdoor lightingEnhance your home’s nighttime curb appeal, increase its security and make it more user friendly through the use of low-voltage landscape lighting.

Low voltage systems have a step-down transformer that, plugged into an outdoor receptacle, converts your home’s 120V line to low voltage (vs. lighting directly off the house line). Add to that performance, relative ease of installation and economy and it’s easy to see why low-voltage outdoor lighting continues to grow in popularity, resulting in an ever-increasing range of types and styles.

Coming in at night with groceries or a kid in your arms, is it then necessary for you to tread cautiously in (locating and) climbing the back stairs? Such situations are justification for outdoor lighting of any sort. Driveways, walkways, steps and entrances are a great place to start.

You can extend the practicality of your yard by making possible to play basketball or work on the car by night. Wall-mounted lights may be the answer; these also increase security. Motion detectors can be convenient and save energy.

You can get really creative in lighting outdoor living areas; even install dimmers to achieve proper ambiance over the course of an evening.outdoor lighting - deck stairs-editing

Got a great garden? Why not flaunt it by night? Using overhead, in-ground and other types of fixtures you’ll create after-dark excitement – and deter trespassers at the same time.

Lighting the outside of your home is not difficult, but an evening stroll around the neighborhood reveals it’s easy to make mistakes: shadow-shrouded front doors, walks that are unsafe to tread by night, decks and patios rendered useless after sundown – or exteriors lit like maximum security prisons.
The Frontier Landscaping team will help you steer clear of such ‘missteps’ and find the types and styles of lighting to achieve the purpose and effect you’re looking for. Call today!