Lighting designers love to work in landscapes

What is more beautiful than a building lighted at night in the appropriate places? Unless you are a naturalist who only believes in seeing things out in nature, you probably can't think of many things.

If you think you need a mansion to accomplish aesthetically pleasing landscape lighting, think again. It's probably within your budget.

Landscape lighting has come a long way within the last decade. While many may envision uninteresting fixtures that light a walkway or similar area, landscape lighting encompasses an entire range of possibilities, from decorative yet functional task fixtures to spotlights that highlight the architecture of a house.

Although installing these elements doesn't seem terribly difficult, like with most things, there is a correct way and an incorrect way to design and install outdoor lighting for your home. Install it incorrectly and it can be downright dangerous.

Bottom line: look for someone who is experienced in installing lighting for a living. By doing so, you'll be assured of a quality design and safe installation that won't fail because of subpar components.

Quality landscape lighting begins with a design, and for that, someone should come out to your home to look at the lay of the land, trees and shrubs and any other elements that will affect the number and type of lights, as well as their location.

“Generally, we ask clients to tell us a little bit about their project, such as what other work they're having done,” said Tushar Patel, owner of Nite Lites in Arlington Heights. “If they're having landscaping done, we like to have some sort of say in the placement of trees and bushes as that can affect how lights are placed.”

In fact, a quality landscaping design company will often work in conjunction with the traditional landscaper to make sure everything fits properly.

“The majority of our clients come from referrals from landscaping companies or else the landscaping company pulls us in to work with them,” said Nick Miller, lighting designing for Lightscape Inc. in Libertyville.

Why is design and proper installation so important? Aesthetics are one consideration, but beyond that, landscape lighting is more than just laying electrical lines and installing the lights.

“You need to buy cable and transformers as well as timers and all the different lights,” said Lisa Cauldren, design consultant for Littman Brothers in Schaumburg. “The cable has to be trenched down into the ground at least one foot deep, stakes need to be put in and the lights need to be mounted onto the stakes.”

Not only that, but an improper installation may have too many lights feeding into one transformer, therefore making it run hot and ultimately causing a safety hazard. Another consideration is Chicago's extreme temperature and weather changes, necessitating proper housing for all of the components, which further points to the need for proper design and installation. The design process is so important that some companies, such as Nite Lites, have two design documents — one for the homeowner that spells out where the lights, transformers and all of the components will be located, and a more detailed one that indicates where all the wires and technical components are.

“That way if there is a need for troubleshooting down the road, it's easier to figure out where the problem may be,” Patel said.

Even with a detailed design, fine-tuning often needs to be done once the lighting system is installed. Patel views a newly installed job at night to make sure that lights are pointed in the proper manner and that the color is just right.

“Even though we have a pretty good idea of how things should work before going in, every job is custom,” Patel said. “Sometimes the aim of a light isn't quite right or there needs to be an adjustment of the color of light on the house because every surface will react differently.”

Landscape lighting is essentially comprised of two major types — path or spread lighting, used to illuminate walkways and the like, and accent lighting, often placed in wells or ground-based, spotlight-type fixtures. Variations on accent lighting include water lighting fixtures designed to be used around pools, fountains and similar features. Entryway lighting can also be part of the design, as can deck and patio lighting, depending on lifestyle needs. Proper placement of deck lighting can particularly create a mood.

“Decks generally have unfriendly lighting because what you usually see comes from the lights mounted on the side of the house,” Miller said. “We try to mount lights on the outside of the deck looking in so that it's lit all around.”

Gone are the days, too, when bulbs were encased in unremarkable fixtures. Today's lighting often has a theme and can incorporate a wide range of figures as part of the design.

“Asian themes, particularly the Zen garden look, are very popular,” Cauldren said. “A lot of what's available in pathway lighting has a lantern look, but there really is such a variety, from gnomes to frogs and squirrels and even a Tiffany lamp look.”

The whole idea, just as with landscaping elements, is to create an atmosphere in the immediate area outside of the home.

“Landscape lighting really makes the look of the house come to life because the lights are focused on the jewels of your home,” Cauldren said. “ So it's really beneficial to have good design because it enhances your home's curb appeal.”

With the popularity of green design, the uninitiated may think solar power would be the go-to light source given that landscape lighting is outside. That, however, is not the case.

“The standard for years has been halogen because it has a good, warm feel,” Miller said. “The majority of people when they see it go for halogen because it's warmer, but years down the road, I think LED (light-emitting diodes) will be the standard.”

That's a position that Benson Littman, co-owner of Littman Brothers Lighting, shares. Not only will LED take over the outdoor market, most likely it will dominate all lighting, particularly as bulb prices continue to decrease, industry professionals say.

“Literally 10 years from now, every light in this store will be an LED,” Littman said. “The bulbs are expensive yet, and that's part of the drawback, but also some people don't care for the look of the light.”

Littman noted that LED lighting has softened over the last several years from a stark bluish-white tone to a warmer feeling. Manufacturers are improving the way the bulbs are made.

“They are literally coating the bulbs with phosphorus and everyday these manufacturers are finding ways to make LED better,” Littman said.

The price of LED lighting increases the price of landscape lighting about 30 to 40 percent depending on the scope of the installation. Their energy-saving properties allow the use of smaller transformers, while the bulbs themselves use much less electricity and last upward of 50,000 hours, meaning they will rarely need to be changed.

Caution is needed, however, in the selection of LED fixtures, as some of the claims are not all they are cracked up to be.

“A lot of the manufacturers are just pumping them out and unfortunately there isn't a manufacturing standard,” Miller said. “There's a lot of junk out there and we have found this out by testing the bulbs ourselves that some of these LED bulbs don't last anywhere as long as the manufacturers claim.”

Another important consideration when choosing a contractor to install a landscape lighting system is whether the firm that installs it will be able to service it next year or 10 years down the road. While a bricklayer or regular landscaping contractor may have the goods to properly install the system, they may not be able to fix it if anything goes wrong.

“Landscapers can hit a fixture with a lawn mower or when putting in a tree, wires can be cut, kids can be destructive and bulbs wear out,” Patel said. “In landscape lighting, you have to use the same bulbs because different bulbs have different light characteristics and not everyone knows where to find them.”

Installation for a suburban home of about 3,000 square feet usually only takes a day, with larger homes taking anywhere from two to four days. Cost is more affordable than you think. Patel said 80 percent of Nite Lite's installations range between $2,500 and $4,000.

Lightscape's installations run higher, with Miller indicating front yard lighting averaging about $5,000, and front and backyard systems running $10,000 to $15,000. Oddly enough, Lightscape's larger installations running $20,000 or more are the ones that have carried the company during the current sluggish economy.

If anything, that should shed some light on the landscaping subject.