Landscape lighting is one of the most artistic things I get to do as a landscape designer in Knoxville, Tenn., and it’s one of my favorite types of projects. Recently, I visited a Carex Design Group client in the Lyons Bend area of Knoxville and came away with some fantastic examples of how you can best use landscape lighting to shed some light on your outdoor space. Here’s what we suggest:
Lighting Paver Patios, Pool Decks and Pathways
Lighting helps guide people to where they should walk in a dark outdoor space and ensures safety around steps and transition areas. It can be tempting to want to flood the space with tons of light but to avoid having your yard look like a Walmart parking lot consider using just enough light to direct those using the space. For the project pictured above, we used a unique adjustable path light from Vista Lighting that can be raised or lowered 180 degrees, offering fun options for casting light across the pavers and flagstone. This fixture uses light very intentionally, without overcasting on unintended ground-level objects or plants.
Lighting Plants
For this project, we used a combination of well lights and spot lights to highlight the trees — Tulip Poplar, Crepe Myrtles, Sweet Bay Magnolia and Bloodgood Japanese Maple — as well as the show-stopping plants. Well lights sit low in the ground, and with a wide beam spread they help showcase trees such as Crepe Myrtles with textured bark and plants such as Contorted Filbert that have crazy growth patterns because the light starts closer to the ground. Alternatively, the spot lights we used for this project to light up a mature Tulip Poplar sit up a little higher off the ground than well lights, directing the light more toward the foliage of these trees since the bark isn’t extraordinarily interesting. We also used a medium-spread beam on the spot light to ensure the entire canopy was illuminated.
Natural Lighting Options
As an addition to electric light fixtures, a fire pit can offer a natural light with a lot of visual interest, and as an interactive lighting element, it can be a great way to encourage people to get involed with the landscaping. Fire features that are natural gas or wood burning can also be a great way to add drama and interest. Fire bowls on pedestals are also a great choice as a focal point and accent and fire tables are great a choice for gathering places, to provide both light and heat. To combine the two looks, we’ve also used low-voltage path lights that have tiki style torches on the top and path lights cast below them.
More Information
To see this entire project from start to finish, check out this blog post on the complete transformation. Or for more information on landscape lighting, check out this blog post and this one, or if you need help shining some light on your outdoor spaces, contact us at 865-765-5550 or fill out our online form.
