The definition nobody gives you
Most outdoor lighting is trying to cover ground. Accent lighting inverts that. It is not coverage. One feature, lit deliberately, while everything around it stays dark. The dark part is not a gap in the plan. It is the other half of the effect.That is really the whole idea, stated as plainly as it can be. Choose a small number of things and let the rest of the property stay dark. Every plan gets pressure to grow, from the homeowner and sometimes from the company selling fixtures.
What is worth accenting
Not everything is improved by a fixture pointed at it. Anything with surface relief picks up light and shows it off, because light raking across a rough surface creates shadow and shadow creates interest. Smooth surfaces reflect light without doing anything with it. Shape helps too: a tree with structure, an arch, a column, a gable peak.
How people get it wrong
Plans go wrong when the list grows. One feature turns into six as the plan grows. Once the whole yard is bright, nothing is emphasized, and the plan is just illumination. A disciplined plan says no more than it says yes.The best accent plans tend to look almost underdone on paper and exactly right on the property at night, which is why they are hard to sell and easy to appreciate.
Accent lighting and everything else on the property
On most properties it is part of a larger plan. The other layers are path and bed lighting, security coverage, and the house itself. It is the difference between a lit property and a designed one.
One more thing about brightness
Output is easy to get wrong upward. After dark the threshold is low, and overshooting looks harsh rather than impressive. You are highlighting something, not trying to read a book by it.
Two directions, two moods
Accent light can come from the ground or from overhead, and the two look nothing alike. Uplighting throws shadows upward, which nothing in nature does, so it feels staged, in a good way on the right subject. Downlighting comes from above, the way light normally does, so nobody notices the technique.
A maintenance note
Landscape accents are aimed at living things that keep changing. A shrub uplit perfectly this spring will have swallowed the fixture in three years. It is not a fault, it is just how it works.
https://blogfreely.net/teigetnhoj/h1-b-outdoor-lighting-for-greenville-south-carolina-homes-and-across-the Re aiming every couple of seasons keeps the plan looking the way it was designed to.The test is unchanged: go outside at night and look at it. If a fixture is lighting mulch instead of the tree, it takes a moment to correct.
Where to start
Accent lighting is decided at the property, after dark, by somebody looking at it. EverCrest Lighting does accent lighting along with landscape, patio, security and permanent roofline systems for homes and businesses across Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, from Greenville. Consultations are free. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or
[email protected].