Sep 12, 2024 9:04:02 AM
If you’re investing in an outdoor lighting design, the last thing that you want is for landscape lighting mistakes to hold you back. Unfortunately, not all landscape lighting companies are committed to delivering a superior experience or providing the best results.
Many of these companies end up making mistakes as a result.
In this article, we will cover some of these most common outdoor lighting mistakes. These include:
By knowing some of these common errors, you can focus on choosing a company that will implement best practices and help you get the best results.
When your landscape lighting project is finished, you want to feel as though everything came together exactly as planned. But mistakes can be a major source of frustration that prevent you from being happy with the results.
Here are some of the most common outdoor lighting mistakes.
Your outdoor lighting design can start to go off track as early as the planning phase. If thoughtful planning is not given to the design, you can’t expect everything to come together smoothly.
Poor placement is one of the mistakes that can come from improper planning. You can position outdoor lights in a variety of different ways so that they achieve different effects. But if placement isn’t thoughtfully taken into consideration, you might not achieve the desired results.
You might have an imbalance of lights that doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Or, you might fail to achieve your lighting goals.
The number of lights, the brightness of lights, and the positioning of lights can also lead to landscape lighting mistakes.
Lighting that is pointed directly at eye level, for instance, can lead to blinding lights. This is a really common error that can detract from your outdoor lighting design. Nobody wants to have a glaring light in their eyes when they walk or drive onto your property.
Lights that are too bright can cause a similar problem. Of course, sometimes lights aren’t bright enough, which can be a problem if your lights were meant to illuminate a pathway or help you enjoy more time outside.
Different lighting applications will naturally require different brightness. Security lighting, as an example, is often about ensuring a home is well-lit so that intruders stay away. In this application, lighting is often brighter to achieve those goals. It’s important that your end goal is taken into account.
It’s also important that the proper number of lights are used in terms of the effect you’re trying to achieve and also the aesthetic look you want to embrace.
One area where people commonly make landscape lighting mistakes is when lighting a pathway. Using too many lights can create the look of an airport runway. You aren’t trying to land a plane. You just want to get people safely around your property.
When large sections of the property are left in the dark, it can create “holes” in the landscape that detract from the outdoor lighting design.
This is especially problematic for front yards, where a primary goal might be curb appeal. If parts of the property are not lit, the total design is likely to look imbalanced.
For safety purposes, you also want to make sure you can fully see all areas of the property that need to be navigated. Leaving a section in the dark where people are walking can lead to trip and fall hazards.
It is important that high-quality and durable fixtures are used in your outdoor lighting design. You want lighting that can withstand all weather conditions.
Just like outdoor furniture, there can obviously be some variation in how resistant lighting is to weather. This is one of the reasons why it’s really beneficial to work with an outdoor lighting professional who is only installing the highest quality materials.
That’s not to say that your lights will never require maintenance. Since accidents do happen, it always helps to work with an outdoor lighting company that also offers repairs and maintenance.
Outdoor lighting maintenance can maintain the integrity of your lighting for many years to come.
Finally, it’s also a mistake to overlook the latest lighting technology.
LED lighting is the best lighting technology available. But even though LED outdoor lighting has come tremendously far, there are still companies that use older lighting technology, usually because that’s what they’re used to installing.
One of the key benefits of LED bulbs is that they are much more efficient. From a technical and scientific standpoint, this is because of how they use energy. LED bulbs do not require as much power to produce light.
While LED lighting does cost more than traditional lighting upfront (after all, it's superior technology), in the long run, you’ll save money on both electricity bills and maintenance expenses.
At the end of the day, avoiding these common outdoor lighting mistakes boils down to choosing the right outdoor lighting company for your project.
The truth is, many lighting companies fail to invest in high-quality lighting fixtures or the newest lighting technology.
We hate to see Memphis homeowners get stuck with older technology that they won’t be happy with in the long run. That’s why it’s important to do your research and make sure that your lighting professional you hire is keeping up with “what’s new.”
At Mid South Outdoor Lighting & Audio, lighting is all that we do…and for that reason, we take it very seriously. We’re thoughtfully planning your lighting project ahead of time and implementing best practices to install lights. Our goal is to deliver a superior result that you’ll enjoy for many years to come.
If you’re not willing to compromise and only want the best for your Memphis home, we’re ready to help.
Are you ready to create a secure, functional, and beautiful property at any hour of the day? If so, let’s meet and discuss some bright ideas.
