Outdoor Accent Lighting, How to Use It Without Overdoing It|What Is Accent Lighting?|Using Accent Lighting Well: Less Is the Whole Technique

Accent lighting is defined by what it does not light

Most outdoor lighting is trying to cover ground. Accent lighting asks which one thing should be looked at. It is not coverage. Point it at one tree, one column, one entry and stop. The dark part is not a gap https://penzu.com/p/48b336fa00b3fedb in the plan. It is the reason the lit thing stands out.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, and the pressure comes from both directions.

What tends to earn it

Not everything looks better lit. Texture is the best predictor: stone, brick, rough bark, a heavy timber, a carved door. Flat painted siding gives you almost nothing back. Shape helps too: a strong silhouette, a distinct form.

The most common mistake

The failure mode is easy to describe: everything becomes an accent. One feature becomes four as the plan grows. Once everything is lit, nothing is emphasized, and the plan is just illumination. Restraint is the technique.A good accent plan seems minimal on a page and lands properly once the sun is down and you are looking at it.

Accent lighting and everything else on the property

Accent lighting rarely stands alone. Landscape lighting handles the yard. Security lighting covers approaches and dark corners. Roofline lighting takes care of the house itself. It is what makes a plan look considered.

One more thing about brightness

Accent fixtures do not need to be bright. Your eyes adapt, so a modest amount of light on a dark property does a great deal. The goal is emphasis, not visibility.

Two directions, two moods

Accent light can come from the ground or from overhead, and the two look nothing alike. Light from below is inherently dramatic, which is why it suits a column, a trunk or a stone face and flatters very little else. Light from above reads as ordinary, which is why it suits places people sit.

A maintenance note

Anything aimed at planting drifts out of alignment over the years. A shrub uplit perfectly this spring will have swallowed the fixture in three years. Nothing is broken. The aim just needs a look. Re aiming every couple of seasons keeps the plan looking the way it was designed to.Aim gets checked the way everything else here is judged: by standing on the property after dark and looking.

Getting it designed

Accent lighting comes out of walking the property and choosing. EverCrest Lighting does accent lighting as part of a full outdoor lighting plan for residential and commercial properties across Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, from Greenville. Consultations are free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email [email protected].

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