There’s no better time than summer to spend hours outside. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. The air stays warm through the day and into evening.
In fact, you may even prefer taking your vacation in your own backyard instead of packing everything up into the car and driving to the beach or the mountains. With barbecues, outdoor kitchens, patios and fireplaces, today’s backyards are relaxing, recreational entertainment spaces—personal escapes, if you will.
But there’s one more installation that can enable you to enjoy your landscape into those warm, summer evenings, and that’s landscape lighting.
Sure, landscape lighting provides safety and security, bringing some illumination to hard-to-see spaces and making you feel protected, but it also adds depth to the twilight landscape, enhancing all of your garden assets in a new and unique way.
While there are so many landscape lighting fixtures on the market, we certainly have a preference for the fixtures we feel create the most bang for your buck in terms of natural-looking, professional, long-lasting landscape lighting.
Here are the most popular types of landscape lighting in the Idaho Falls area and why we think you’ll like them just as much as we do.
1st Most Popular Landscape Lighting Technique: Uplighting
More than any other type of lighting fixture, we prefer uplights over them all.
Uplights are installed on the ground close to the base of your subject to throw a cascade of light on plants, shrubs, trees or landscape structures.
We can use uplighting to create so many different effects. For example, we can uplight a section of a home or tree or wall from the front for more intense light without shadows.
We can cross-uplight to illuminate large tree canopies or fountains and create a less intense effect with shadows. We can even create a rear uplighting technique on structures or trees to show depth with low intensity and very few shadows.
The number of fixtures necessary to uplight a specific structure will vary based on the size of that structure.
We even like uplighting for illuminating pathways. Traditional path lights tend to give off an amateur, runway effect that doesn’t look as polished.
Also, path lighting can get in the way of mowers, snow shovels and pedestrians. They don’t provide as refined a look as a mixture of uplights and recessed lights do.
We’re convinced we can light a path in a more natural way without the use of actual path lights. By uplighting structures next to the path, we can naturally light your path to ensure visibility.
Other pros: Uplights don’t get hit by lawn mowers or snow blowers, don’t create potential hazards along paths, can be placed in areas protected from weather and—best of all—they are half the cost of path lights.
We typically can use 1½ uplights for every one path light.
2nd Most Popular Landscape Lighting Technique: Recessed Lighting
Almost the opposite of uplighting, recessed lights are installed to create a downlighting effect in your landscape. They also come in finishes to match the areas they are typically installed, such as decks, retaining wall blocks and patio steps.
We install a lot of recessed lighting, which includes step lighting, downlighting of columns or retaining walls or paver stairs.
These recessed lighting fixtures can be installed under retaining wall caps or beneath stair edges, casting light in a way where you see the light on the step or path but you don’t see much of the fixture.
How Much Does Professional Landscape Lighting Cost?
We prefer aluminum landscape lighting fixtures in general because they last longer and are more durable. An average landscape lighting installation that uses all LED fixtures with the necessary transformer and wiring for a 10-light system will cost roughly $3,000.
The cost goes up from there at approximately $185 to $195 per additional fixture, including installation and wiring. We prefer LED lights because regular bulbs last for only one year, and replacing them annually becomes a hassle. LED bulbs, by comparison, have an average useful life of 50,000 hours.
We haven’t had to replace one yet.
Professional Installation Makes The Most Popular Landscape Lighting Techniques Shine
When it comes to installation, hire a professional to visit your property and create the perfect landscape lighting design. The right professional will understand the overall effect and challenges of your design—not only during the day, but when the sun goes down as well.
A truly professional job looks natural and blends into the landscape.
Landscape lighting is very popular in the Idaho Falls area. If you want to take your summer nights and warm weather outdoor entertainment to a new level, let us help you with a professional landscape lighting design and installation.
Contact our experts at 208-656-3220, or fill out the contact form to set up a no-obligation meeting with one of our team members. In the meantime, for more landscape tips, be sure to subscribe to our blog.
