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By: Mary Merda
Web site: http://www.lamps-n-lighting.com
Low voltage lighting for your outdoor area,
it creates mood, illuminating and showcasing your
home exterior, patio, deck and landscaping spaces.
Deck and patio areas are prefect for late night
summer dinners and parties. Start their experience
off right by providing the right ambiance even
before they get to your door. Create enchantment
with low voltage lighting for your outdoor entertainment
space.
One of the most simple and cost effective ways
to liven up your landscaping is by illumination.
Low voltage lighting is simple to install and
offers many benefits including ambiance, safety
and security.
Before you start your outdoor lighting project,
ask yourself a few questions. What will you deck
and patio will be used for? Do you want to create
a special mood focusing and spotlighting your
landscaping, a tree, a pond? Or would do you need
security lighting for your front entrance, drive
or garage. Outdoor low voltage lighting can be
beautiful and economical.
Low voltage outdoor lighting is economical and
easy to install. All you need is a transformer,
light fixtures and lamps (bulbs), cable and imagination.
Lighting fixtures come in many designs that add
beauty to you exterior home.
Planning is primary. You won't know what to get
if you don't know what and how to light. And plan
ahead first assume that your needs are going to
change. Trees grow, landscaping varies by season
and you may acquire a beautiful sculpture you
want to highlight.
To stay flexible, get a flexible low voltage
lighting system, starting with the all-important
transformer. Don't scrimp on this item: get what
you think you'll want even if you don't need it
now. Features to consider include a photo cell
(turns on automatically at dusk), a timer (to
turn the system off), light dimmers (lowers light
when you put up your holiday lights) and extra
wattage.
Think of what you want plants and outdoor objects
that you want to showcase and how best to light
it. Consider these basic low voltage lighting
techniques for your landscape:
- Downlighting or Moonlighting: Casts a smooth
glow and is perfect for entry courtyards and
in showcasing landscaping, walkways.
- Backlighting or Silhouette lighting: A special
effect that lights a background, such as a wall,
and causes the object in front to appear as
a silhouette.
- Spread or Path lighting: Used to create pools
of light along a sidewalk, walkway or driveway
or in a planter bed for visual appeal. Best
when staggered; avoid that landing-strip look,
it will make your sidewalk area over lighted.
- Shadowing: An effect that lights the front
of an object and casts its shadow onto a wall
behind it.
- Uplighting: Perfect for highlighting a tree
a bare tree in winter can be dramatic. Also
called wall-washing when you light up a wall.
- Start with a theme inside the interior and
continue it to the exterior of your home.
There are three basic types each of which are
accessorized by different lenses or shields to
give a certain type of light. They range from
budget-minded composition-fiberglass or aluminum
to expensive works of art in copper or polished
brass.
- Bullets: easy to aim for uplighting, downlighting
and backlighting. Surface mount or place on
a stake in the ground.
- Well-Lights: a direct bury-in-the-ground fixture,
used for uplighting, wall-washing or backlighting.
Use a different lens cover for softening effects.
- Spread lights: used along walkways, pathways
and in garden beds to highlight color sometimes
called mushroom or tiered lights.
Low voltage lighting when used appropriately
can add richness and style to your outdoor areas
for a very affordable cost. The internet has made
affordable home shopping easy for everyone. Purchasing
your light fixtures, lamps and bulbs online has
never been easier. You can get low voltage lighting
at a discount price that will be functional and
decorative for this special area of your home.
Internet shopping has made renovating and upgrading
your home interior and exterior very affordable.
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