The holidays have come and gone and with them the multitudes of shimmering lights that make many a home’s winter landscape look so inviting and festive. It’s tempting to leave a few strands of white or clear lights on shrubs and some homeowners do just that to brighten get-togethers during this typically dreary-looking time of year. There’s a better way, however, to create an elegant evening look outdoors year ’round.
Outdoor lighting, once considered a luxury by some, is an important, affordable aspect of home decorating that goes well beyond those bright floodlights positioned over the garage door in the name of security.
“When you get home in the winter, it’s already dark. You look out your windows and you see your reflection. A lighted landscape is a way of extending the house outside. It’s a creative way to keep your yard alive in wintertime and still enjoy it from indoors,” says Jon DiGesu, spokesman for Osram Sylvania Inc.
“When you have outdoor lighting in place,” adds Mitch Beiser of Night Light Inc. in Lombard, which has been lighting area homes and businesses for more than 20 years, “some of the most special times of the year are during winter. Imagine a fresh snow mounded on the evergreens, or the boughs of a tree that are lighted at night. Or moonlight on snow created with lights.”
There are endless and subtle ways to light and enhance the landscape. And now is the best time to be looking at your yard and thinking about landscape lighting–before your thoughts turn to planting trees, shrubs and flowers or working on other outdoor projects that arise like dandelions at the first hint of spring.
“Many homeowners will do their landscaping in spring and will add lighting later, but they should think about both at the same time,” Beiser says. You don’t have to install all of the lighting with the trees, but if you plan to do major work, like pathways or other hardscape, the cost can be substantially higher if lighting is done as an afterthought.
“If you’re building a deck or installing sidewalks or a driveway, for example, you can get the sleeves [that hold the wiring] in the ground then. Otherwise, once it’s in place, you’re burying wires in the middle of all of it. It can be done, but aesthetically, functionally and financially the client is in much better shape [doing it then] than working after the fact.”
Handy homeowners on a budget have long installed inexpensive low-voltage lighting systems using products available from home-improvement stores. From an eight-pack of solar-powered accent lights that cost under $100 to fancy Art Nouveau-styled path lights at $75 each, and halogen floodlights for about $12 for the bulb or $50 for the bulb and fixture, there’s a light and fixture for every need.
Do-it-yourselfers can cut costs and achieve some of the same effects created by professional landscape lighting designers by installing off-the-shelf light fixtures. “Malibu” brand light fixtures are one of the most popular. Monthly electric bills will be lower with these types of fixtures since low-voltage systems don’t demand as much energy as line voltage.
If you haven’t worked with electricity before, you may want to purchase the light fixtures and transformers and hire an electrician to install them. And be sure to check with your municipality to see if any permits are needed for installation or if a licensed electrician is required to do the work.
But where landscaping dollars are more flexible, a professional lighting designer can do much to create a look that’s dramatic and appropriate to the size and style of the house, using special techniques such as rope lighting for gazebos, arbors, handrails or banisters. “You can’t tell where the light comes from, there’s just a warm glow,” Beiser said.
A spotlight softly brushes across the lower branches of a blue spruce. There’s the striking silhouette of a statue or fountain created when lighted from behind. A light suspended in the canopy of a honey locust or maple, casts a web of delicate shadows from bare branches. And when lighted from below, a crab apple, Japanese tree lilac or other small ornamental tree creates a dramatic display that doesn’t require blossom or berry for good looks. And lighting the steps or sidewalk to your entryway is not only practical but also pleasing.
“Pathway lighting, whether it’s low-voltage or line voltage, is nice in the winter. Even if the lamps are buried in the snow, you have an under-snow glow with pools of light that are very interesting,” DiGesu says.
“I like shadow effects and backwashing, which makes the architecture of the house stand out. It’s a soft look that gives the effect of being lit up without being obnoxiously bright,” says Mark Pelegrino of Magnum Landscaping in Worth. “You want your lighting to be natural looking, not like a prison yard,” he says.
Pelegrino plans to install lights around his multilevel pond, which will create attractive mirror images on the water of the surrounding trees and grasses.
Safe keeping
Ken Lanterman of KH Maintenance in Westmont says his clients want outdoor lighting for its aesthetic value, but safety and security are among their biggest concerns. “People feel more secure in their home when it’s lit up. Most of the time, they have just a coach light on the front and back and that’s not enough,” Lanterman says.
Effective lighting design and installation, a combination of skill and art, can enhance the home landscape without the Disney World effects. “Oftentimes, the driveway or sidewalk looks like a runway. It’s great that you can see the drive and be led to the door, but with well-designed landscape lighting, you can get the same effect without seeing the fixtures,” Lanterman says.
Lanterman touts professional low-voltage lighting systems for durability and cost-effectiveness versus inexpensive, store-bought kits. “Even though they’re still low-voltage, the professional products [fixtures and transformers] are much better quality and can hold up to Chicago’s weather better,” Lanterman says.
Expect to spend between $2,000 and $4,000 for low-voltage professional lighting for a home on a 1/4- or 1/2-acre lot, adds Lanterman. “It all depends on how extravagant the landscape is,” Lanterman says. In newer subdivisions, where young trees may be 8 to 12 feet tall, few lights are needed compared to homes in some older communties that have century-old elms that require more light, Lanterman says.
Some of Beiser’s yearly projects involve removing inexpensive systems that a homeowner or handyman installed. “They try it once without getting too financially involved and when the system lasts only two or three years or they experience maintenance problems, they want something more permanent,” Beiser says.
Unlike indoors where it’s always dry, outdoor lights are subjected to heat and freezing temperatures, snow, hail, rain and perhaps kids, dogs and sprinklers. “There’s cleaning, pruning and adjustments that are made to the lights based on a plant’s growth. You have to have the right parts and know how to keep it going and looking great,” Beiser says.
Night Light Inc., designs and installs both low-voltage and line-voltage systems (tied directly to the home’s electrical supply). Depending on the project, the costs can be as little as $1,000 to more than $30,000 for an elaborate system. Many jobs are in the range of $3,000 to $5,000, Beiser says.
Low-voltage lighting installed by a professional, including the labor, light, wiring, controls and restoration, can cost about $300 per fixture.
Homeowners should consider an overall lighting plan and install it in phases as their budget permits. “You might want to install lighting for safety and security in phase one,” Beiser says. Later phases might incorporate entertaining areas, like area lighting for a deck or patio, accent lighting such as wall sconces, lighting for trees and shrubs and perimeter lighting around the yard.
“There’s more to it than just the lamp post out front. First impressions are everything. Outdoor lighting makes your guests feel at home before they come inside,” DiGesu says.
LANDSCAPE LIGHTING TIPS
Advice for lighting your home and landscape:
– Consider what you see from indoors and from the street. Could lighting enhance the view of objects or plants?
– Work with a lighting designer who is familiar with local codes, electrical loads, plant material, low- and high-voltage systems and, most important, someone who is sensitive to your needs, desires and budget. Ask to see examples of the designer’s work.
– Look at your yard and focus on that which is appealing in all seasons. Is there a small ornamental tree, an arbor or some other focal point that would benefit from uplighting or a large, mature tree that could use downlighting?
– Consider emphasizing structures and plantings by mounting low-voltage halogen bulbs in the eaves of a gazebo or at the base of an arbor.
– Could the walkway down to the driveway be lighted for safety? Is your entryway sufficiently bright at night to welcome guests or deter the uninvited?
– Look at architectural elements on your house–decorative siding or beams, for example–that could benefit from lighting.
– Don’t over-light your property and avoid having unshielded bright lights shining into your neighbor’s property.
— Nina A. Koziol
HOW DO I LIGHT THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS
Here are explanations about the variety of lighting techniques that can add drama to your landscape and home:
Downlighting: Lighting an object or surface from above with a large floodlight or several smaller lights.
Moonlighting: Light source is positioned high above the ground and simulates a soft, diffuse light. Often used to cast a soft, natural light from treetops.
Uplighting: Lighting an object from below. Can be subtle, creating a silhouette or spectacular as it captures autumn leaves or swirling snow.
Area lighting: Uniform and bright, this ambient, subtle lighting, often placed over a deck or patio, provides enough light to entertain. Safety lighting: Lights used on pathways that allow visitors to move safely through the landscape without stumbling. May include low path lights or stair lights. Security lighting: Lights used to illuminate and eliminate shadows on entryways, such as doorways, garage doors, steps and pathways.
Grazing: The light is positioned to highlight a surface texture–a brick wall, fence, door, tree trunk, etc.
Spotlight: An intense beam of light that discreetly highlights an important element, such as an entryway, arbor, statue or other focal point.
Accent light: Small spotlight used to highlight a plant or small garden element, such as a fountain, birdbath, obelisk or architectural feature.
Silhouette: A concealed light source, placed in the ground or behind an object, such as a statue, fountain or unusual plant, to create a dramatic silhouette. Especially effective if the light is reflected on a wall or other vertical surface behind the object.
Shadow lighting: Similar to silhouetting, this type of light is used to create a shadow effect on a wall or fence. Particularly effective when it casts the shadows of tree limbs or trelliswork onto a nearby surface.
Contour lighting: Lights used to define perimeters on elements such as driveways or garden beds. Used away from the house, contour lighting gives perspective to the garden.
Mirror lighting: Lights used around the perimeter of a garden pool to capture nearby elements, such as trees, which are reflected in the water.
Cross light: Lighting an object from two or more angles.
— Nina A. Koziol
