Accent lighting is a choice about what to leave dark
Most outdoor lighting answers the question of how to light a property. Accent lighting starts somewhere else. It is selective by definition. One feature, chosen on purpose, while everything around it stays dark. The dark part is not a gap in the plan. It is the reason the lit thing stands out.The concept is simple to say and hard to hold to. Choose two or three features and let the rest of the property stay dark. The pull is always toward adding, and holding it is the entire skill.
What tends to earn it
Not everything looks better lit. Texture is the usual test: stone, brick, rough bark, a heavy timber, a carved door. Smooth surfaces reflect light without doing anything with it. Shape helps too: a strong silhouette, a distinct form.
The most common mistake
Plans go wrong when the list grows. The homeowner sees one lit feature and wants more, then a third, then the corners of the house, then the shrubs. At some point there is no dark left to contrast against, and nothing stands out anymore. Restraint is the technique.The best accent plans tend to look almost underdone on paper and exactly right on the
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Where it sits among the other work
Accent lighting rarely stands alone. The other layers are landscape, security and roofline work. Accent lighting is what keeps the result from looking merely lit.
One more thing about brightness
Output almost always ends up too high. Your eyes adjust to darkness, so a small amount of light reads as a lot. You are highlighting something, not lighting a work area.
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. Light from above reads as ordinary, which is exactly why it works so well over seating and paths.
A maintenance note
Anything aimed at planting will be aimed slightly wrong eventually. A shrub uplit perfectly when it went in will grow past the beam. Nothing is broken. It simply needs adjusting. Re aiming every couple of seasons keeps the plan looking the way it was designed to.Aim gets checked the same way the design was made: by standing on the property after dark and looking.
Having a plan drawn
The choices are property specific, so the plan begins with somebody coming out. 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, based in Greenville. Consultations are free. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or
[email protected].