Landscape Lighting Ideas – Lots Of Inspiration!

Wow my head is exploding. I thought I just needed a few landscape lighting ideas for my new town house – but I’ve come across this extraordinary book: The Landscape Lighting Book*. I mean I had no idea there is a complete science behind the idea of lighting your garden!

As I might have mentioned – I am not a huge gardener, I like to eat, hence I like the idea of growing things, but the reality tends to be well- I lose interest, way before anything actually grows! This is bad in climate where you have to protect stuff from the wind, the cats, and even sometimes water the whole lot!

But I do like renovation and decorating, and designing a garden, particularly a good lighting scheme does appeal – because you can actually see some actual results in fairly quick order. And when I think of my friend’s gardens – the ones I really like, have nice lighting – it not only enhances the ambience as the architects like to say, but it’s also practical – lighting the stuff you need to see!

So thanks to this great book (you really should check it out!) – I’m well on my way to having a decent lighting plan.

 

What I’m considering is a multi-layer approach. I’ll try to set out the initial plan – here – though of course – it will probably evolve!

1. First that long dark driveway – it’s getting some battery-powered, motion-sensing LEDs. You can get really bright ones – that run on batteries. As the driveway is on shared property I can’t really be running around digging it up to lay cable – so this is the practical solution!
2. I’ll am getting some motion-activated spotlights installed above the front door – always handy – particularly when you trying to find your keys after a night on the town.
3. The outdoor eating area needs some angled spots which can bet turned up or down depending on whether I want mood lighting to eat by or practical lighting to BBQ by (off pic to the right).
4. I’m thinking of some of those funky string lights to make a night-time feature of the blank walls – which are visible from the living area inside.
5. I need some practical lighting – maybe bulkhead style around the other side of the house for access to the rubbish and recycling bins at night.

That’s a start anyway. The critical thing for me though is to get good quality – we are in a coastal town, though not too close to the sea fortunately, but the wind can be very strong, as is the sun in summer. I therefore need good quality fittings that will stand up to quite a lot of environmental abuse. And the motion sensors need to be not too sensitive – I don’t want them turning on everytime the wind hits 40km/hr!

Anyways I really quite inspired now – this Landscape Lighting book I mentioned at the top – really has inspired me to do some serious designing for my little garden!

*Please note the link above directs to amazon as I have found they offer great deals garden design books.