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Design & Installation of Outdoor Lighting:

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For some lighting designers, every outdoor lighting installation is approached the same way, placement of lights along the walkway  and maybe a few spotlights on the house or trees in the planting beds. At Rochester Landscape Designs, we have a many lighting design options that can greatly improve how your home and property are viewed during the night time hours. 

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When we design a lighting system for a property, we start by dividing the landscape spaces into different sections and identifying the key elements that will be highlighted. The functional use of the spaces also determine lighting needs, such as entertainment areas.

Functional Lighting

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Includes light fixtures that are needed to improve safety, including deck lights, stair lights, and patio light. These lights are placed in locations to give excellent light coverage without necessarily being obvious during the day time. Stair lights, for instance, can be nondescript louvered covers that stand up to being kicked occasionally as the steps are used. Patio lights can fit under wall coping to light the patio while highlighting the stone work of a sitting wall.

Walkway and Patio Lighting (Path Lighting)

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Includes above ground and in the open light fixtures. Fixtures can vary greatly in height, style, material (brass, copper, painted) and cost. Path lighting certainly improves safety, but are generally more decorative as they will be seen during daytime as well.

Up Lighting

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Up lights are placed underneath a tree to highlight the shape and branches of it. This provides an warming glow that also adds to the tree visibility at night, Depending on the tree's size, one fixture up to several may placed around the branches perimeter. The placing of the up lights, are determined by the light strength and beam spread required for each tree based on its importance in the landscape. We strategically place up lights on trees in different locations around the yard to help balance light and dark spaces. Our goal is to create a full and balanced lighting across the home and landscape.

 

After establishing these three main types of lighting, we consider other lighting options. Some examples may include:

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  • Down Lighting: mounting lights fixture up in a tree or off the house to shine light down on the ground.

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  • Wall Washing: placing a light at the base of a homes foundation and casting a beam of light to softly accent the features on the homes facade.

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  • Silhouette lighting: placing a light behind an object like a lattice, plant or garden art, so that the object is not directly lit in the front, but you still can define the structure shape at night. This is an excellent way to highlight a statue in the garden.

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  • Shadowing: shining a light through a shrub or tree to create a shadow on a wall or structure. This is a beautiful effect.

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  • Underwater Lighting: shining a light through water, particularly moving water, such as a waterfall. The moving water and light creates a stunning effect above the water feature.

Specialized Lighting

ALREADY HAVE LANDSCAPE LIGHTING? it may be time for an upgrade

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If you have an existing lighting system that is outdated or even not working for unknown reasons, we can repair and improve your existing lighting system. The reuse of existing light fixtures will help to save money on materials and installation.

 

We can convert a less energy efficient halogen bulb system to operate with LED bulbs. Our low-voltage retrofit kits will require much less energy and produce more light around your home and landscape. We can show you the lighting differences during your free consultation with one of our lighting designers.

Maintenance Service Offered:

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  • Bulb replacement.

  • Lens cleaning.

  • Lubrication of electrical contacts where applicable.

  • Minor fixture adjustments and pruning around fixtures.

  • In store lighting display with assorted pathlight styles, bullet lights, tiki torch lights and several well light options!

  • We update and repair older lighting systems  that may no longer work as originally intended. 

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