Landscape Lighting: It’s never too late to put your home in the spotlight.
Thinking about illuminating your home? There are many misconceptions surrounding landscape lighting and just how much of a transformation it can make to the beauty of your home. If you’ve ever stopped to admire a well-lit home at night or have had the privilege to enjoy the ambiance of a skillfully designed lighting system at a restaurant or hotel then you know first hand what effect it can have as our surroundings seemingly come to life at night in a way that daylight can’t capture. Thanks to the tremendous increase in popularity of landscape lighting in recent years, homeowner’s and landscapers alike are considering landscape lighting to be a necessity in much the same way as they do with their irrigation system. Many more people, however, live with the regret that they didn’t have the foresight to realize how much more they would enjoy their landscaping if only they had added lights when they installed their landscaping. Fortunately, there are many reasons why adding a landscape lighting system to your property after your landscaping is established makes a lot of sense.
Professional, award winning lighting designer David Bilik insists that it’s never too late to light up your home and landscaping. “People look at our portfolio of work and automatically assume that our systems were installed when the house was built, more often than not that’s not the case,” he says. The first couple years after your landscaping is installed is usually the time when your landscaping experiences the most growth it’s after this time that you can most often design a lighting system that requires little maintenance to accommodate plant growth. Thanks to advancements in low-voltage landscape lighting it’s now easier than ever to get power to even the most secluded areas of your property.
When you say landscape lighting most people automatically picture a 10 light kit purchased from your local hardware store and installed in half a day. While there’s no denying the convenience of this type of lighting, today’s lighting systems are capable of making a much larger impact on your home’s look. “We do a lot of things that people have never seen before,” says David Bilik. “From spotlights off a second story eve with a filter to create a “moonlight” effect, to a well light core drilled into a driveway to light the column between two garage doors, there’s not much we can’t do,” he added. Thanks to advancements in low voltage lighting it often doesn’t take more than hiding a wire in a drain spout or behind a satellite TV cable to inconspicuously bring low voltage power to your roofline. Running wires under walkways, driveways, or an artificial lawn usually prove to be simple tasks as well.
David admits that this type of designer lighting is often best left to a professional. “There’s an art to wiring a whole lighting system without leaving any lasting indication that you were there, sometimes you have to be creative in your installation methods and that creativity often requires some experience and nurturing over time.” David recommends asking a lot of questions as a way of making sure the company you’ve chosen has what it takes to meet and exceed your expectations. “Ask them for pictures to reference a particular lighting idea and ask them how they plan to get the wiring to a specific location.” A good landscape lighting designer will be proud of his installation methods and should be able to make you feel at ease with the more advanced installation methods your plan may call for.
What about cost? With all this talk about expertise and professional designs, you’re probably running up the tab in your head as you read this. “For what many people would spend on a new piece of furniture you can often illuminate your whole front or backyard and really extend your living area to the outdoors,” says David. For an average home lighting system either front yard or back, you can expect to pay around $2,000 – $2,500 for 10-12 fixtures and a transformer designed and installed. Considering the benefits a lighting system can add to the beauty and safety of your home, for many it’s a small price to pay.
David Bilik resides in Las Vegas where he has installed hundreds of landscape lighting systems since 2003 and is available for designs, installations and consultations. He runs Twilight Designs in Las Vegas, David got his start with a company where he grew up in Chicago that has been around for over 15 years that has proudly put their name on over 3,000 lighting systems. For more information visit call (702) 907-5444.