Light Up the Night!

You have had this dream log home ratting around in your conscience for some time, daydreaming about it in meetings, sketching it on the back of napkins, pointing out similar photos that come across your social media feed to anyone in eye-shot. Every detail. Interior trusses. Exterior rooflines. Great Room windows. Stone masonry. Flooring, plumbing fixtures, appliances, cabinetry, toilets….. But, chances are, this design of yours is missing something and it’s because you have been dreaming it “in the light of day”. There are 24 hours in a day and, when you average them out for that trip around the sun, about half are in the dark. These hours are the ideal way to add that extra drama, beauty, allure and, to quote Emeril Lagassé, that “BAM” to elevate it to the extraordinary. So when the sun starts going down, light it up!

• Accent or Spot Lighting…Landscape spotlights focus a controlled intense beam to highlight the focal points in your garden: flowers, small shrubs, and statuary. This creates sparkling islands of interest in your landscape lighting plan.
• Grazing…Positioning the light close to an interesting surface can bring out the texture of tree bark, a masonry wall, wood shingles or an attractive door.
• Shadowing…Light the object from the front and below to project intriguing shadows on the wall or other vertical surfaces.
• Silhouetting…When you conceal lights behind and below a tress or bush, you achieve that same effect as seeing it on a ridge, silhouetted against the sky at dusk.
• Pool/Fountain Lighting…Underwater lighting creates dramatic effects in pools and at fountains. Water may be used as a mirror by lighting the area behind the reflecting surface.
• Downlighting or Area Lighting…Mount lighting units high up in trees or on the house to cast broad illumination over wide areas. Landscape flood lighting enables you to illuminate for outdoor entertaining and does double duty for security and safety.
• Cross Lighting…Illuminating a tree or statue from two or more sides reveals the three-dimensional form in a striking perspective.
• Uplighting…Lights aimed upwards create a highly dramatic effect akin to the theater. Use with interesting trees, a statue or textured wall surfaces. Autumn leaves or winter snow provide spectacular interest.
• Spread or Diffused Lighting…Where you require circular patterns of light on flower beds, larger shrubbery or ground cover, spread lights cover a wider area with low-level illumination or softly diffused lighting.
• Moonlighting…Like downlighting, but using soft light sources positioned very high up, this technique simulates the effect of moonlight filtering through branches, casting shadow patterns.

Don’t overdo it! A little light goes a long way at night. And, don’t forget about the home itself; with the interior lights lit, it’s one big illuminated element!