Outdoor Lighting & Landscape Ideas
Discover the art and science of landscape lighting through our expertly crafted articles. At Northwest Outdoor Lighting, we're passionate about transforming spaces and enhancing experiences with the power of light. We do a deep dive into innovative lighting designs, practical outdoor living tips, path lights, and the latest trends in outdoor lighting all while trying to maintain a professional grade about how it should be done. You can easily search our topics by categories such as Lighting Design, Lights, Maintenance, and Garden & Landscapes. Whether you're looking to undertake your first project or find inspiration for your next big idea, our posts are here to guide and inspire you. Explore our collection of articles below and light up your world in ways you never imagined!
Guide to Choosing Marine Dock Lights
At Northwest Outdoor Lighting, our priority is your peace of mind. Proper dock lighting not only ensures safe navigation and docking but also enriches the beauty of your waterfront property.
Top 5 Favorite Plants to Light
With Earth Day upon us this weekend, Craig and I thought we would share our favorite plants that should be in your gardens. They also happen to be our top 5 to illuminate at night. We’re always looking for creative ways to add color and texture to landscape lighting and we believe these options will do just that! Some of the best gardens we’ve lit have been carefully planned for all hours of the day, even nighttime. When these plants are highlighted at night, they completely change the mood and visual impact of your property and give your gardens an attitude you didn’t know it had.
There are a variety of lighting decisions for you to consider when selecting the correct outdoor landscape lighting intensity – in fact, as many as when selecting your indoor lighting. When lighting a piece of art or a kitchen countertop, you’re always juggling the purpose of the lighting design, as well as other factors including fixture options, fixture positions, esthetics, ambiance, mood, type of light, color of light, angle of light, reflective beam/range, reflective impact, down lighting, up lighting and many more.
Should I Retrofit My Bulbs for LED?
LED lights have recently become all the rage for homeowners and landscape lighting designers. There’s lots of good reasons for this; LED lights are cooler, brighter, and more energy-efficient, and can offer homeowners both a higher-value lighting system and a cooler lighting scale overall. Many clients are looking to upgrade their existing lighting systems, and wondering if they can retrofit LED bulbs into their standard landscape lighting sockets. We strongly advise our clients against this, for a few reasons.
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Pre-Construction Consult
One of our favorite things to hear from a new client is, “I’m in the planning stages of building my property and wanted your opinion.” We love getting invited into the process early, and dreaming with our clients to help them create and achieve their ultimate lighting goals.
A recent study of homes in New York claims that the presence of outdoor illumination can decrease your chances of a break-in by almost 40%! Not only does outdoor lighting make your property shine with beauty, but it can also impact your home’s security and your peace of mind.
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Throughstone Group
The Throughstone Group was a collection of collaborators, designers, and thinkers, all working on landscape design together. We worked across disciplines to create an integrated approach to design, working solid metals, water, and fire into all our projects. The highest-profile project we collaborated on together was this project in Durango, CO, where Northwest Outdoor Lighting was able to highlight the hand-crafted stonework and unique design sensibility of the other designers.
Color Tones in Outdoor Lights
At Northwest Outdoor Lighting, we often find that clients take for granted the type of bulbs and wattages they buy at either a local hardware store or their favorite home store. Who can blame them? We’re all busy, and often overwhelmed by the selection or distracted by the rush to get things done, so people often just grab whatever bulbs are there. As a result, we miss out on an important part of the way we experience our homes – especially when it comes to color outdoor lights.
