Choosing a house is a huge undertaking. After all, this is generally the largest sum of money you’ll spend at one time, and it’s going to be your home. Where you live. And make memories. And often raise a family. Most of us purchase existing houses and begin to personalize them afterward. We transform them from someone else’s house to our home. We paint, plant, tear up, and replace. Hopefully, you are fortunate enough to have either planned for landscape lighting in the construction of your new home or have purchased an existing home with a well-done and working outdoor lighting system. But not everyone is so lucky, so in your updating and upgrading plans, landscape lighting just might make an appearance. If you are considering outdoor lighting, let’s run down a list of useful tips to guide you:
1) Why?
Why should I even invest in outdoor lighting? There are many reasons, but our tagline sums it up nicely: Safety. Security. Serenity. Outdoor lighting provides safety for you and your guests. The ability to navigate safely around the property at night, whether it is an unexpected guest or just you walking the dog, is a huge benefit. In addition to providing safety, lighting provides you with security: the same thing that makes it safe for welcomed guests to walk around, makes it uninviting for intruders. They’ll see your lights and move on to an unlit house where they can sneak around undetected. Knowing all this provides you with serenity.
2) What?
What do I need to consider? Budget, of course. Set a realistic budget. If you can’t afford all of your desires at once, that’s okay. A project can easily be done in phases. Knowing that ahead of time will allow you to plan for that option, which will make later phases easier to incorporate.
What else? Knowing your design style, and what style of fixtures appeal to you. Knowing what your goals are (i.e. do I want to entertain on the back patio, highlight something in particular, or am I strictly looking for safety and security?) will help you narrow down your focus.
3) Who?
Choosing an outdoor lighting contractor is an important decision. Making a poor choice can end up costing you much more money, not to mention wasted time and lots of frustration. If your lighting installer doesn’t have a good handle on design, you might end up with a home that simply doesn’t achieve what you set out to do, or worse, annoys the neighbors. Look for a lighting designer and installer that is trained, certified and has other projects that you can look at, so you can be sure you’re both on the same page design-wise.
Design is important, for sure. But a great design poorly installed is still a recipe for a dissatisfied client and lights that don’t work well for long. Again, check references from former clients, especially ones whose lighting was installed a while ago.
At Southern Lights we will be happy to help you the whole way. We can guide you in deciding what style of fixtures would look best, help you determine the design that best suits your home and achieves your goals within your budget. Then we will do a quality, professional install.
Are you looking for Landscape Lighting in Greensboro? Located in Summerfield, NC Southern Lights- Architectural and Landscape Lighting serves properties and property management companies throughout the state of NC including Greensboro, High Point, Jamestown, Burlington, Reidsville, Oak Ridge, Brown Summit, Winston-Salem, Clemmons, Raleigh, Charlotte, Kannapolis, Salisbury, Gastonia, Matthews, etc.
Southern Lights has installed hundreds of outdoor landscape lighting systems and carries more certifications than anyone in the state. We specialize in lighting designs and service everything we install as well as lighting systems installed by others. With attention to detail and a solid knowledge of design, Southern Lights is the leading outdoor landscape lighting firm in the state of NC and beyond. See why our clients choose us. Contact us today by web (online form) or phone 336-451-4969.
