Here are five Texas Outdoor Lighting Ideas For You to Ponder

Unfortunately, most outdoor lighting systems in Austin, San Antonio and central Texas are not designed or installed by professional lighting designers. They are more often installed by other trades such as electricians, irrigators or landscapers who may know a little about lighting installation, but probably don’t know much about lighting design.*  In most of these outdoor lighting systems, the non-designer uses a flat, cookie-cutter approach to lighting: a single light fixture in front of each tree or other object. While some lighting always looks better than no light at all, this “style” is not nearly as beautiful as the magic produced by the professional.

Texas Outdoor Lighting Ideas
A simple group of oak trees

Let’s go through some steps that can take a very basic outdoor lighting design, and add a little spice to “kick it up a notch” as Emeril Lagasse would say:

  1. If the tree that is being lit is more than 10’ tall, add another light. Lighting the tree from two sides instead of just in front will fill out the canopy and give the tree some depth.
  2. Try back lighting some things. Move the existing fixture behind the tree or plant, or even some other object. It changes the perspective and creates a more appealing look.
  3. Use some different light levels. In most of these cases, the installer uses the same lumen output in every fixture. Try cutting some of those fixtures back a little; and if you have some really big trees, you may need to increase the light levels a bit. Also the color of the object you are lighting will have an effect on how much light is needed to accent it. Dark objects need more light than lighter colored objects. Experiment with intensity and beam spread.
  4. Cool and warm things up. What I mean here is that you might want to try a couple of different light colors to make some of your plants stand out better. Now that we’re in the LED age, this task is very easy. Cooler light color will really bring out blues and whites in the landscape, while warmer light color will enhance reds and yellows. Try a 2700K light color on those reds and yellows and maybe go to a 3000K light color for the blues and whites.
  5. Add some down lighting. Who doesn’t love a full moon? If you have some tall trees in your yard, add a few “moon lights” about 25’ up in the trees to cast light through the limbs, creating a beautiful fool moon effect on the ground. This also adds another light layer to the landscape which will help tie things together.

These few Texas outdoor lighting ideas will make a big difference, and turn a mundane, flat outdoor lighting system into one with some depth, pop and interest. Of course, we would love to implement these changes for you — so contact us here today to set up a free at-home consultation.

*(Disclaimer: I do know several people in the landscape business who have, in fact, gone through some serious lighting design classes though.)