Tag: hardscaping

Landscape lighting adds beauty, safety, and function to your home garden, walkways, and entrance areas. It also extends your enjoyment of outdoor space after dark when most people retreat inside with a bowl of flakes.

Illuminating a statue or other landscape feature from two sides creates a striking silhouette effect. This technique is also helpful in bringing out the texture of a masonry wall or an attractive door. Visit https://orlandolandscapelighting.net/ for more information.

Curb appeal is the first impression your home makes. It’s the “wow” factor that draws friends, family members, and neighbors in for a closer look. A beautiful-looking house, yard, and landscaping are the cornerstones of great curb appeal, and landscape lighting is a key way to highlight them after dark.

Sophisticated landscape lighting adds depth and visual interest to your Central Florida property and creates a “wow” that’ll last all night. It also highlights your best features, making them the envy of the neighborhood.

Landscape lighting allows you to showcase unique architectural elements of your property after the sun goes down, such as your front porch columns or your impressive paver driveway. It’s also a great way to draw attention to prized trees and plantings that you want to show off, creating eye-catching focal points.

If you’re preparing to sell your home, it’s even more important to have the right amount of curb appeal. That’s because it can make a huge difference in your home’s sale price and the speed at which you can close the deal.

A well-lit exterior makes it harder for criminals to approach your home undetected after dark, which is an added security benefit of landscape lighting. It’s also a good idea to light up areas where people will walk, such as a path or stairs, so that they can be seen easily.

You can also use lighting to create interesting shadows on walls, walkways, and lawns. Position sconces or lanterns to cast shadows on your garden statuary or your ornate fence gate to create a pattern that’s both decorative and mysterious.

Finally, using the right color temperature for your landscape lighting can also help. A yellowish hue, for example, can give your outdoor spaces a warmer and more inviting ambiance. You should keep in mind, however, that you’ll have to change your bulbs more frequently than if you used white or natural lighting. This is because yellowish lights don’t produce as much heat, which can cause them to burn out faster.

Enhances Safety

Even the most well-manicured and maintained lawn or garden can hide a multitude of hazards in the dark. In the same way you might turn on your lights as you come into a room in the evening, landscape lighting mitigates the little hazards that lurk within a property at night. In addition to preventing potential burglaries, well-placed exterior lighting can decrease trip and fall hazards and make a property safer for visitors and loved ones.

Guests at a holiday party or family members taking a stroll on the property after dark need good lighting for safety. Landscape lighting helps guide them between parked cars and their destinations without any risk of tripping or falling over unforeseen obstacles. Illuminating walkways, steps and pools with powerful outdoor lighting prevents the kind of mishaps that can result in serious injury.

Illuminating the property border with uplighting or moonlighting techniques helps to deter trespassers while enhancing the look of a home’s façade. The illuminating fixtures can either be mounted on the ground or positioned in trees to showcase the landscape’s beauty at night, while providing a safe environment for guests who wish to visit a home after dark.

Landscape lighting can also add dimension and depth to a wall or other architectural features of a home. The light emitted from the fixtures isn’t glaring and therefore doesn’t fatigue or distract visitors. This technique is a great alternative to illuminating a building with floodlights that can create unflattering shadows and hot-spots that detract from a home’s architecture.

Landscape lighting shows that you take pride in your property and appreciate the natural beauty of your surroundings. You’ll love how it transforms your backyard into a bold, illuminated showcase for special features like fountains, ponds, flower gardens and even a favorite tree. And with a variety of fixture styles and options available, you can easily find the perfect light to fit your space. Plus, our high-quality copper and brass fixtures are built for a lifetime of performance, with no paint to fade or chip. These durable fixtures also rust more slowly than their competitors’ aluminum fixtures, meaning you’ll save on maintenance costs in the long run.

Adds Value

There are a lot of ways that homeowners can increase the value of their home. These projects range from upgrading the kitchen to building an extension. However, these types of improvements aren’t cheap and require significant amounts of money to do. Landscape lighting offers a cost-effective solution that can provide a variety of benefits.

Landscape lighting can enhance the curb appeal of any property. It can highlight architectural features, such as a garden pond or fountain, or it can draw attention to beautiful landscaping elements, such as a flower bed or tree. This can make your property look more appealing to prospective buyers, which can help it sell faster and for a higher price.

In addition, landscape lighting can improve the safety of your property. It can illuminate pathways and driveways, making it easier for family members and guests to move around after dark. It can also act as a deterrent to potential intruders, since well-lit homes are harder to target.

For many people, adding landscape lighting is about more than just boosting curb appeal or improving safety. It’s about creating a relaxing environment that they can enjoy at the end of the day. A well-lit patio, garden path, or pool area can become a great place to relax and entertain friends and family. This can enhance lifestyle quality, which is a major factor in increasing home value.

Moreover, with energy costs on the rise, homeowners are becoming more interested in energy-efficient features. Many landscape lighting options use LED bulbs, which are long-lasting and consume less electricity than traditional lights. These features can save you money on electricity bills and reduce your carbon footprint. They can also add to the overall value of your home, since they may attract potential buyers who are looking for greener living.

While it’s difficult to quantify the exact amount that a landscape lighting project can add to your home’s value, there’s no doubt that it’s a worthwhile investment. It can enhance the curb appeal of any home, improve safety, and create a comfortable environment that’s perfect for relaxation and entertaining. So, if you’re looking to upgrade your home, landscape lighting should be at the top of your list.

Adds Ambiance

A beautiful home can look dull and uninviting in the dark. Landscape lighting brings a whole new level of beauty to your outdoor living spaces, making them usable after dark for parties, dinners, relaxing and playing games. It highlights water features, flower gardens, patios, pergolas and other special features of your yard. It can also create an enchanting nighttime showcase of your home’s architecture and help set the perfect mood for romantic evenings or epic pool parties.

Illuminating trees, walkways and other hardscape features makes them much more attractive, functional and safe. It can be especially helpful if those features are in hard-to-reach areas where darkness makes it difficult or dangerous to navigate.

The lighting used to illuminate these structures can be as simple or intricate as you want, from a bright spotlight that is a focal point for your design to soft and subtle wash lights that highlight the details of the landscaping. The type of bulb you use can also make a big difference, with LED bulbs lasting longer and using less electricity than halogen ones.

One of the most impressive effects you can achieve with landscape lighting is to give your property the look of moonlight. This is achieved by up-lighting and down-lighting, both of which accentuate the contrast between dark shadows and bright light. Cross-lighting is another way to create the illusion of moonlight by highlighting both sides of a specific feature.

You can bring drama to any water feature on your property by lighting it up. It can be as simple as a waterfall or as complex as a reflecting pond. The right kind of lighting will bring the feature to life at night, enhancing your lifestyle and setting a definite mood.

The possibilities for your landscape lighting are endless, but the most important thing to remember is that it should be a safety measure. It can be tempting to save money by sourcing inexpensive or even decorative fixtures, but the best way to ensure your outdoor lighting is safe is to work with a professional that will use high-quality fixtures and bulbs rated for outdoor use.

Landscaping Harrisburg PA is a professional way to manipulate your property’s natural features into something beautiful and functional. These designs are usually confined to a particular area of your property. A successful landscape design is one that has a theme. Unity in a landscape design is achieved through using plant varieties and textures effectively, proper placement, and repetition.

The front yard is the main entrance to your home and sets the tone for visitors’ first impression. A well-designed landscape accentuates your property’s attractive features and masks its less appealing ones. While you may want a formal, manicured look, be sure to include a variety of plants with different foliage color, flowering, and berry production for year-round interest.

Start with an inventory of the current landscape and soil conditions in your front yard. Evaluate the amount of light, how much shade is provided by trees or shrubs, and if there are any drainage issues. These factors will affect the kinds of plants that can grow and how they thrive.

Make a list of the functional needs of your front yard, such as a play area or seating area. Evaluate the available space to determine if you can fit in a garden or vegetable plot, a water feature, or a rock garden. A good rule of thumb is to have a mix of plants in a front yard, including evergreens, shrubs, and perennials that provide structure and year-round interest.

Use the design principles of proportion, balance, order, repetition, and unity to guide your choices when designing the layout of your front yard landscape. These are the same design concepts that professional designers use to plan gardens, golf courses, parks, and countless other outdoor spaces. They are also the same principles that you can use at home to create a landscape that pleases you and complements your house and surroundings.

Keep Maintenance in Mind

Think realistically about how much time you’re willing to spend tending your front yard before making your final landscape design decisions. If you prefer to spend your weekends relaxing instead of pulling weeds, opt for low-maintenance landscaping that uses native or drought resistant plants and/or xeriscaping.

Back Yard

The back yard is often neglected, but it’s a large space that can be used to create an outdoor room with separate areas for different purposes. Backyard landscape design can help make the backyard more usable by incorporating elements of garden design, architecture and planning that improve flow and provide beauty.

The elements of line, form, color and texture are important in a landscape design. A landscape also includes the hardscape, non-organic elements such as paved areas and fences. Choosing the right plants and placement, adding a water feature or fire pit and accessorizing can all be part of a landscape design.

A well-planned landscape makes a property easier to read and navigate, which increases comfort and familiarity. It can also provide an environment for assembly, recreation and contemplation. It can also support wildlife and the community, add to property value and enhance quality of life.

Creating a landscape plan gives you the freedom to DIY your landscaping project over time, or it can be a tool for expressing your ideas to contractors or designers. Whether you’re doing the work yourself or hiring someone to do it, making a master plan helps you get your ideas out of your head and onto paper so that you can visualize what you want in your yard.

As you consider different uses for your back yard, think about the size of your family and how you’re likely to use your outdoor spaces. Do you have children who will need a place to play, a dining patio for entertaining or a quiet spot for reading? Consider how you’ll move from one area to the next and plan pathways that connect each room in your back yard.

Keep your budget in mind as you choose plants and hardscape. Creating a landscape plan that takes into account the initial installation costs as well as on-going maintenance will help you stay within your means. Choosing durable materials that require little upkeep can reduce your costs in the long run, as can choosing easy-to-care-for plants that won’t need extensive pruning or watering.

Patios

Patios are paved areas located on the ground, often a little away from the house and usually built from a variety of materials. Patios are generally considered part of the landscape and can be a focal point for an area or they can function as an entry to a garden or yard. The paving material and the plant selection can define the style and feel of the space.

A patio can work hard to complement a design, especially when it’s part of a series of spaces that form a usable garden. For example, in a hillside garden, a patio may be used as a sitting or dining space and surrounded by easy care plants that grow to the height of the structure. The resulting garden is both functional and lovely.

The right paving and plantings can also make a patio a unique architectural feature in itself. A popular trend is textured or tinted concrete that’s both durable and beautiful. Color-coordinating pavers with the plantings helps to tie the whole landscape together. For instance, blue star juniper pairs well with concrete pavers, while a rich blue fescue grass complements the color of flagstone.

Another way to define patios and create a landscape design is with a pergola or arbor. These structures frame a pathway or seating area and add interest to a garden. They are also a great spot for vines like trumpet vine, which can be trained to climb and add bright color.

Patio landscaping is all about balancing the hardscape features with a softening touch of plantings. The plant palette for a patio should lean toward the informal – with loose groupings of perennials, evergreen shrubs and drought tolerant grasses. In cooler climates, a mix of deciduous trees and evergreen conifers adds seasonal interest.

To design a functional patio and landscape plan, start by creating bubbles on the drawing to roughly lay out different areas of your property and their potential uses. From there, you can begin to strategically place your plant selections. Lastly, be sure to account for future water needs by including a sprinkler and irrigation system in your landscape design.

Pools

A beautiful swimming pool is the centerpiece of a backyard, but when done correctly, it also unifies and enhances your landscape design. To create a cohesive space, pool landscaping should match your home and yard’s architecture, style, color scheme and plant palette. In addition, it should be easy to maintain, as your pool will likely be splashed with chlorine and salt water that can damage grass and other plants.

Grass is a common option for pool landscaping, but you can go more exotic with bushes and shrubs that require little care. Plants like oakleaf hydrangea, caladiums and purple salvia provide lush color around your pool with minimal work. If you prefer a more tropical look, palm trees can instantly transform your landscape into a paradise resort.

You can use pavers to surround your pool, which provides a clean and modern aesthetic, or opt for a stone that complements your patio and the rest of your property. For a subtle way to add greenery, choose a low maintenance planting, such as creeping phlox or hens and chicks, that will cover the ground near your pool. These plantings are tolerant of salty and chlorinated water, and they are drought tolerant as well, making them a great choice for poolside gardens.

For a touch of luxury, consider incorporating a waterfall into your landscape. This can be a great focal point that draws the eye to the backyard, as well as creating a soothing sound and adding a tranquil feeling to the space. For a more organic and natural look, you can use rocks to create an in-ground waterfall or even make your pool part of a garden with an above-ground rock garden.

Incorporating a water feature into your pool landscape can be an effective way to increase privacy as well. Planting tall bushes or trees around the perimeter of your property can provide a sense of enclosure and protection while still allowing you to enjoy the view of your pool from inside your house. For a more creative touch, you can hang string lights in the branches of trees and shrubs for an ambient glow at night.