Landscaping and outdoor living spaces are immediately taken to the next level of aesthetics and functionality with the addition of a professional caliber illumination system installation. Today’s broad variety of lighting fixtures, controllers, and lighting sources make home architecture, plantings, and walkways more beautiful, more functional, and safer to navigate.
The lighting professionals at Heinen have decades of experience illuminating client landscapes with the best lighting systems and components on the market. FX Luminaire, Heinen’s preferred lighting system manufacturer, has an immense selection of lighting products that allow Heinen’s lighting designers to mix and match fixtures and features to elegantly suit the lighting needs of each home – all the while settling for nothing but perfection. FX Luminaire has earned its well-established reputation in the world of outdoor lighting – not only supplying beautiful lights and fixtures, but also as being a robust, strong, durable, and reliable illumination supplier choice – a must for systems that are expected to withstand the harshest elements for years – if not decades.
Illuminate your home’s curb appeal after the sun sets with a professional outdoor lighting system installation from Heinen.
Types of Landscape Lighting
The secret to creating a well-designed outdoor lighting system is using the right fixture to illuminate specific aspects of the home’s exterior and landscape. There are an almost infinite number of ways to light a home’s exterior and, ultimately, the choice of lighting should be determined based on the qualities of the feature being illuminated and the desired level of ambient light surrounding that feature.
Often “less is more” is a good rule of thumb when it comes to choosing pleasing and effective outdoor lighting design. The lighting specialist’s goal is not to bathe outdoor spaces in light but to find a balance between light and dark to create drama and visual interest.
The Heinen lighting team first works with the homeowner to determine what outdoor features to highlight, whether it’s landscape, hardscape, or one or more architectural features. A professional and discerning eye not only takes in the obvious standouts but also knows to accentuate lesser plants or hardscape elements with interesting forms or textures. Lighting can also be used to bring attention to features that may go unnoticed during daytime hours, revealing new perspectives – and enhancing evening aesthetics as the sun sets.
Small spotlights are directed at tree canopies, making them stand out in the dark – like glowing umbrellas!
Larger Landscape and Hardscape Features
Larger landscape and hardscape features can be lit with carefully placed spotlights or up lights. Their narrow beams are contained and directed at a feature in such a way as not to bleed light beyond the targeted area. Plants with a warm glow and strikingly lit hardscape features are excellent ways to make a home’s curb appeal last well into the night.
Professionally installed in-grade lights can illuminate the perimeter of any hardscape area for beauty – and safety.
Pathways
Adding lighting to walkways and paths makes them more inviting and easier to navigate. This can be achieved with intermittently placed in-grade lighting or post-mounted lights. Spacing between lights is determined by the breadth of the area to be illuminated. Post lights are available in various heights and styles to match specific applications and desired aesthetic enhancement.
In-grade lights can also be positioned along driveways to enhance nighttime visibility – or placed under smaller trees to provide gentle illumination for their low canopies. Many in-grade light fixtures are engineered for extreme durability, as they may come into contact with vehicles when installed along a drive.
Post lights illuminate ground cover plantings and nearby steps, making backyard areas easier to traverse at night.
Steps and Walls
Recessed lighting can offer subtle illumination – without disrupting the ambiance of surrounding areas – while also highlighting potential evening tripping hazards, such as steps and elevational shifts. Small, decorative post lights provide an alternative option for step illumination – while also doubling as downlighting for landscaped flower beds or ground cover planted adjacent to steps or walkways.
This ground-retaining seat wall includes built-in down-lighting – illuminating the outdoor dining and entertainment space well into the evening.
Hard-scaped vertical surfaces offer additional opportunities for creative lighting applications. Recessed downlights may be installed to create a grazing effect, enhancing the wall’s texture and adding visual interest. Larger plantings can be strategically illuminated to cast shadows onto walls, for a more dramatic ambiance. Retaining walls, serving as dual-purpose seat walls, benefit from subtle illumination through discreetly placing in-wall lighting fixtures place just under the walls’s capstones.
Professional Outdoor Lighting – An Investment in Aesthetics, Safety and Security
Whether looking to enhance the nighttime appeal or the functionality and safety of outdoor spaces, trust that the lighting experts at Heinen have the experience to do the job right. Heinen takes the time to really listen to the homeowner to create the lighting system they desire – one that effectively meets the property’s unique lighting needs and pairs those needs with the best lighting products on the market. From soft and subtle lighting ambiance to bold and dramatic lighting displays, Heinen has worked to extend the appeal of home exteriors for more than 30 years. If the time has come for your home to “light up the night” – maybe it’s time to get to know the lighting professionals at Heinen.
