5 COMMON MISTAKES MADE IN OUTDOOR LIGHTING

A stunning paint job and trimmed lawn are not the only factors that influence curb appeal. If you want your house to stand out in the street, it is important to consider its appearance at night time as well.

Carefully planned outdoor lighting is essential to ensure your home looks stunning even after the sun goes down. Poor lighting design can make even the most stunning house look boring and dull, so good lighting is essential to make your landscape shine.

There are also some basic functions that inground lighting is supposed to fulfill: Make sure your yard is safe to navigate at night; provide a security measure against potential thieves; and lastly, attract attention towards the certain features of your yard. The majority of people have a haphazard way of approaching outdoor lighting, which results in the failure to plan outdoor appropriate lighting fixtures and arranging a way to provide sufficient power to them.

Here are five common mistakes made in outdoor lighting and how they can be avoided:

1. Lack of Contrast

Lighting that is oversimplified, such as excessive use of huge floodlights, can result in a boring and flat appearance due to lack of contrast. Effective lighting design should highlight the best features of your house and create drama. This can be accomplished by making use of various layers of light and leaving some shadowed areas. As opposed to sunlight, outdoor lighting design can be controlled and applied to spread light selectively in a manner that draws attention to some areas.

First of all, it is essential to determine the design’s central point and develop a grading through lighting hierarchy. For effective design, consider the appearance of the home from all viewpoints and angles- from the street, the entryway, the patio as well as inside the house. This will ensure that the lighting design has depth.

After that draw up a plan to comprise various layers of lighting: primary, secondary soft and background lighting, while leaving certain dark areas to maintain contrast. This will result in a dramatic and stunning view.

2. Lighting Glare

Most of the time people who install the outdoor lighting themselves do not take the lighting glare into consideration.  Glaring lights are not exactly enjoyable.  The purpose of outdoor pathway lighting is to relish the overall vibe and effect created by the light and not the source of light itself.

A lot of up lights are paired with shrouds or eyelids, which cover part of the light’s opening.  Eyelids and shrouds should be used to obstruct any glare from the landscape’s viewpoint, which is basically the spot from where the outdoor space will be appreciated and viewed from the most.

For example, if you want to light the area around your home’s front side, then the focal point that is going to highlight and capture the outdoor space of your home best is generally going to be the middle of the street that is directly in front of your house. The aim is to make sure you do not see lighting glare coming from the lamps or fixtures while standing at this point.

To make things clear, glare means you can perceive the light coming right from the lamp within the fixture.  This bright light can be a distraction to the eyes of the overall vibe you are trying to emulate.  The light is supposed to attract the eyes towards the object it is illuminating rather than the fixture. You can effectively obstruct or minimize the glare by turning the shroud or eyelid on the fixture to completely face the viewpoint.

While using the eyelid is an effective approach, placement of the fixture also plays an important role in minimizing glare. To position fixtures in a way that effectively eliminates lighting glare, picture an invisible area between every object that is being lit and the focal point or the best visual site.  Make sure that every fixture aligns with the viewpoint or the best visual location.  This will significantly minimize glare and result in a stunning effect.  Keep in mind, the fixtures should be aligned with the imagined lines between the object being illuminated and the focal point.

3. Bad Fixture Placement

Similar to how a bad angle can result in lighting glare, wrong fixture placement can lead to over-illumination making the overall appearance of the home looking imbalanced.

In order to reflect an understated sophistication, depending on what you are lighting, it is important to appropriately disperse the light. This will ensure an even and subtle overall look.

For example, on a relatively large tree, placing a single light under its trunk may result in an unnecessary hot spot. Spreading at least two to three fixtures around the tree is a better idea for a more even and coherent look.

4. Incorrect Color Temperature

All fixtures come with various color temperatures, which play a major role in creating the vibe of your lighting design.

• A fixture with a warm color temperature will give out light with a yellow hue, which can result in a dated or dirty look.
• A fixture that is too white can lead to a sterile, commercial feel.
• Lighting with a blue hue can create a dreary look if not used appropriately or for a certain purpose like moonlighting

For this reason, finding a perfect balance of color temperatures is essential in order to create a certain vibe. Moreover, it is important to find the consistency among your chosen fixtures. Another thing to consider is the shift in the color temperature of a fixture when it burns out, as it could lead to inconsistency in the long run.

5. Under-Powered Lights

If you are spending money and time in creating a stunning upward lighting plan, the worst thing to do would be to ruin it by using underpowered lights. If the brightness of a light is not appropriate for a specific purpose, even the most well-planned design is bound to fail.

For instance, if a beam only extends halfway through an object, or its spreading is too dim and weak to highlight a large area, the lighting design will fall flat. Generally, cheap, solar, and battery-powered lights appear dim as they are underpowered, which can, in turn, undermine a well-thought-out lighting plan.