Many times, when our customers start a major home and landscaping renovation project they will include the landscape lighting specialist in the design process. Getting involved with any home design or renovation early makes projects easier to manage, ensures that they run smoothly, and could save time and money.
For the complex expansion of this beautiful home, McKay Landscape Lighting worked in concert with the electrician, sprinkler, builder, designer, and landscape designer. The homeowner wanted the lighting to enhance the old world charm of their home, highlight its unique features, as well as add an element of security. Their entire halogen lighting system was converted to LED during the renovation, making it fairly maintenance free for many years. Our service team will continue periodic outdoor lighting maintenance to make adjustments, clean lenses, and trim plant growth, to ensure the lighting system's beauty and functionality.
The lighting design of this home is a representation of the complexity and range of our work. As such, the homeowners were gracious enough to let us show their home to 16 lighting professionals from across the country when we hosted The Lighting Summit in early 2015.
In the photo above, there is down lighting in the larger trees to illuminate the bench, flowers, and walking paths around the fountain. If there is an opportunity to down light, it will allow the space to feel more natural and create a unique evening environment. The fountain is lit from the inside on all three levels, with various intensities, using underwater lighting. There are some path lights to guide you as you walk around the area and uplighting on smaller ornamental trees, as well as the larger tree. This lighting helps pull everything together, and creates a park-like setting for the residence.
The homeowner wanted to light the entire driveway without using any lamp posts or bollards. Since the trees are in the right locations, we had the opportunity to down light the entire driveway sporadically from the taller trees to highlight the stonework on the driveway. We also added well lights to uplight the evergreens. This helps create some balance, and mixing different types of light is appealing to the eye.
Lighting dormers is something that often gets overlooked, but when done properly it adds another height element and elongates the house. This is one of our key design features; it provides another layer of lighting that adds to the aesthetics of the property. You will want to consider the use of the inside space prior to the lighting install, so as not to interfere with anyone’s sleep. In this instance, we are lighting the dormers on the garage, so we mounted the fixture at the gutter line and then up lit the dormer.
The architectural columns of this pergola are highlighted with a custom down light powder coated white to match, making it barely visible. During the installation, wire is run up the interior part of a column and then down lights are placed on each column. Leaving some darker space in the middle allows the homeowner to sit and enjoy the space, while the pergola is still properly illuminated from a distance.
There is a unique wishing well feature on the property and we wanted to light the base. We thought it would be too harsh to uplight from the ground, so we installed lighting in the trees to softly moonlight the base, also filling the well itself with light. We also highlighted the chimney from a nearby tree and up lighted some other trees in that area, as well.
If you are planning a home or landscaping renovation, or even building a new home, it is always a good idea to plan ahead and get a landscape lighting designer involved early on in the process. Your designer will work with the builder, electrician, designer, whomever, on the specific details involved in the exterior lighting of your home. This is especially important when installing lights or running wire into hardscapes, hard surfaces, or under concrete, as sleeves need be installed to clear a path for the wire. Planning ahead will make lighting installation a breeze later on.
Looking to Enhance Your Property?
Our dedicated team at McKay Landscape Lighting works with you to create a custom landscape lighting design that's unique to your property. From design to installation to service, you can count on our team of experts to make sure you are happy with your lighting system for years to come.
