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Landscape Lighting Options: What System Is Best For You?

Whether it's snow under foot or spring in the air, there is always hidden beauty waiting to be discovered in the landscape. Every season has its own natural wonder and unique environmental beauty. Every home has a special place on the lawn or in the garden that comes to life when the sun hits it in just the right way. Every day brings about a new chance to see new things and realize further enjoyment from our own personal living space. Take for instance those evening hours when shadows stretch out across the ground. When objects in the foreground stand out against the backdrop of the approaching night. When a tranquil calm of soft light lazily washes over the trees in the front yard or gazebo out back.

Moments like this provide a brief window of opportunity from which to view the subtle nuances and elusive nighttime beauty of a home. Naturally these instants are only temporary. However, there is a way to extend and control this fading beauty to make it a permanent fixture in the landscape.

It is not uncommon to visit a gourmet dining establishment, upscale hotel or chic shopping mall during the evening hours. These businesses and public spaces do not pull their blinds and close their doors when the sun goes down. Nor, do they welcome their visitors and patrons with a dark storefront and landscape. Rather, these commercial sites extend the usable hours of their properties with professionally designed outdoor lighting systems. With lighting, businesses like these create desirable points of visual interest that both enhance the natural surroundings and minimize any safety and security risks posed by a lack of light.

These same outdoor lighting amenities are an often overlooked element of residential landscape designs. The _top reason for this omission in the landscape is that many homeowners are unaware of all the outdoor lighting options they have available.

There are of course the consumer-quality, landscape lighting fixtures that can be found at any home or hardware store. These are the most widely recognized and commonly used fixtures. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to install and geared toward the do-it-yourself market. Though these kinds of fixtures have their place in certain landscapes, they are less reliable, often plastic and lack the degree of personalization available from alternative types of lighting.

Traditional line voltage fixtures, those that are wired directly into the home's electrical system, are probably what most think of when they think of outdoor lighting. This type of lighting covers everything from streetlights, to recreational lighting at the ballfield, to security spotlights placed under the eaves of a garage. Depending on the application line voltage lighting can be expensive and may lead to "Dark Sky" or light pollution concerns. This particular issue is fast becoming a central topic of debate among landscape and lighting professionals, homeowner associations and local building authorities throughout the country.

The third form of residential outdoor lighting is perhaps the least well known. Professionally designed and installed low-voltage landscape lighting is by far the most effective option available. The cost of these services can prove to be an obstacle for some. However, minimal operating expenses, longevity of the system and the stunning night scenes that can be created through professional design and installation offset and outweigh these initial expenses.

Professional low voltage outdoor lighting offers extreme flexibility and control with regard to fixture placement and precise control over the light these fixtures project. Characteristics like these afford the designer using this kind of equipment the opportunity to custom design a lighting system specifically for the landscape in question.

This personalized quality allows the lighting system to simultaneously address multiple demands presented by the specific landscape. Questions like how to increase security, add safety to potentially hazardous areas like steps, stairs or water features, and considerably enhance the beauty of the existing landscape after night falls can all be answered with a professionally designed outdoor lighting system.

These systems also extend the usable hours of any property. By adding light activities that may have been curtailed by darkness like outdoor entertaining, dining or just relaxing on the patio can be continued well into the night. This benefit is of particular importance to those who spend most of the daylight hours away from their home. Those who normally have limited opportunity to sit back and actually experience their home and property can now, with the addition of light, enjoy their entire living space both inside and out, night and day.

It is impossible to utilize one's property to its fullest extent without outdoor lighting. The aforementioned benefits of added beauty, security, safety and value can be easily attained by working with a professional landscape lighting designer. A professional outdoor lighting system will not only create a more useful, attractive, valuable and secure property, it will allow the homeowner to discover the hidden beauty of their landscape and ultimately realize the full potential of their home. Used with permission from Nightscaping®. Copyright 2002. All rights reserved.