New Lighting Installation in the Rob Roy Community in Austin

March 24, 2020/in Uncategorized /by Beth Mayor

Our latest client in the Rob Roy community in Austin, Texas contacted us for an outdoor lighting consultation because they were tired of living in the dark at night. Their home did not have an outdoor lighting system currently and they wanted to add it for security and safety, but also to highlight the architecture of the home.

When we went out to meet with the client, we showed them some projects we have done in the area for properties with the same concerns. Our lighting designer worked with the client to show how we can add the peace of mind with security lighting while adding beauty.

With our lighting design, we were not only able to give them a very safe and secure lighting system around the property, but were also able to give a very dramatic and beautiful new lighting scene around their home, one that they are very proud to drive up to every night.

Our lighting system, coupled with our smart home integration, now gives our clients the ability to have a beautifully lit home at night while feeling safe and secure.

Texas Outdoor Lighting’s award-winning designers work with homeowners to produce a well thought out and laid out design plan to highlight your outdoor living spaces to create a warm and inviting space while adding safety and security. Call us today at (512) 504-3030 to schedule a consultation.

Patio Lighting

November 6, 2018/in outdoor lighting /by Beth Mayor

Now that the weather has cooled off a bit, us Texans are able to enjoy our outdoor patios. A patio is an extension of your home, as it adds another entertaining or relaxing space. Outdoor lighting can make your patio more beautiful as the sun goes down and help you use it for extended hours. At Texas Outdoor Lighting, we provide expert lighting solutions for homes and businesses. We can turn your outdoor living space into a warm, inviting place to sit and enjoy this beautiful Fall weather.

Our lighting designers can work with you to design your patio lighting to brighten up your space without distracting from your patio’s decor and design all while enhancing the architectural qualities. Adding lighting to your outdoor living space will provide more functionality. You can extend the hours you are able to spend out there, have family dinner, have a party, or just sit on your patio furniture and enjoy the peacefulness and bright stars.

In outdoor spaces like patios, LED lights provide an ideal solution. These lights offer an energy efficient lighting option that offers strong and lasting light. This type of light works well in outdoor weather conditions, even in areas with a lot of water. LED lights offer a low voltage solution that is stronger and longer lasting than other types of bulbs. LED lights also emit very little UV light, which makes them less attractive for bugs, which also increases your enjoyment of your outdoor living space!

Give Texas Outdoor Lighting a call or click here to meet with one of our award winning lighting designers to help create your perfect outdoor living space.

Creating a Budget for Your Lighting Project

You’ve seen all of our posts and beautiful photo images of landscape lighting and are ready to move forward: You want to have a lighting system of your own installed.

Coming up with a budget can be intimidating. There are three things you need to do to be on your way to creating the outdoor living space you’ve been dreaming about.

Figure out your budget. Think about how much you are prepared to spend on your outdoor lighting system. Like most any home improvement project, chances are you will end up needing to spend a bit more than you originally intended. So it’s important to have a realistic budget in mind.

Decide what elements of the lighting design will be most important. Ask yourself – what are you wanting to accomplish? Is security the biggest priority? Is it most important to have functional lighting for your outdoor living space? Deciding on lighting priorities early will help you when you are looking at your budget. While having every element of your outdoor space illuminated with differing levels of ambient light would be spectacular, it’s important to set a realistic budget. If you’re looking at doing lighting for your own personal enjoyment, consider where you spend your time in the evening.

Meet with a professional lighting designer. Landscape lighting can be intimidating when you don’t know where to start. This is where working with a professional lighting designer can make all the difference. It’s easy to design a lighting system when there aren’t any budget restraints, but this is not always the case. Don’t be afraid to let your lighting designer know that you have a budget and what that budget looks like. Our lighting designers can work within a budget to still create a lighting system that has a WOW factor. They can also help you revise and reconsider what is most important in the design and give you ideas how to stay within your budget while still being happy with the final look.

Texas Outdoor Lighting has award winning lighting designers who can come out to your property and together work with you to create a beautiful design that will fit in your budget. Call us today!

Fall is the Right Time for Outdoor Lighting!

October 23, 2018/in Fall Outdoor Lighting, outdoor lighting, Outdoor Retreat /by Beth Mayor

Even if we hate to admit it, summer is officially over! That means you have to pack up the grill, pull the plug on the outdoor lighting and completely forget about your landscape until next spring, right? Wrong! When the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter, people tend to focus on indoors, but this is the best time of year to enjoy your outdoor lighting and get the best use out of it!

Fall is an ideal time to have your landscape lighting done. In the summer, the days are so long that we only really get to enjoy our lights for a short time each night. We are lucky in the fall: the turning of the season, the cooling air, colored leaves and shortening days all mean its time to throw on a sweater and step out onto the patio to enjoy the season!

There is never a bad time for outdoor lighting. But there is a best time for outdoor lighting, and that’s now. Longer nights mean more time for your landscape lighting features to do what they do best — illuminate your beautiful home and landscape.

While it can still be quite warm in fall, evenings can get chilly. Create a warm, welcoming environment in your outdoor entertaining areas by adding uplights, downlights or sconces that provide just the right amount of light to warm up the space. Another great option of lighting to make your outdoor living space POP with all your fall entertaining is to add some café lights! Work with one of our amazing outdoor lighting designers to use landscape lighting to help create the perfect space for fall entertaining.

Want to extend the life of your landscape this fall? Get your outdoor lighting design process started by contacting us directly for a free estimate! (512) 504-3030

Driveway outdoor lighting providing safety and security Spicewood Texas

Driveway Lighting

October 16, 2018/in outdoor lighting, Safety Lighting, Security Lighting /by Beth Mayor

Have you ever pulled into a driveway that was so dark you had difficulty navigating yourself through it? Not being able to see properly probably made you worry about hitting something on the property or not seeing someone.

Now, consider your own driveway. Would your guests have any difficulty at night?

Lighting a driveway serves several purposes. It provides safety for you and your guests and adds that curb appeal to your property that we keep talking about!

Lighting your driveway serves as a guide to navigate you and your guests, creating a warm, welcoming ambiance at the same time. Driveway lighting gives your home that WOW factor, leaving a great first impression.

Here are 3 cool ways to light up your driveway

Down-lighting

If you have large trees along your driveway, down lighting is a great choice. Down lighting emulates the feeling of moonlight. Downlighting appears to be natural, feels natural, but is (in reality) luminaires skillfully placed and aimed. Depending on how many trees you have and your how your driveway is laid out, utilizing bollards or well lights might be needed in combination with down-lighting. Mixing up the light sources can help balance out the light and ensure an evenly lit driveway.

Bollards

Bollards are solid, sturdy, and stately. Providing a soft light around a driveway, bollards are great markers to define the edge of a driveway. Texas Outdoor Lighting will provide you with an outdoor lighting design that will space the bollards on your driveway proportionately. Alternating sides provides optimal light without creating a runway effect.

Up-Lighting

While bollards stand taller with a light source above the ground; up-lights are located closer to the ground. If you prefer fixtures that are less noticeable, up-lights are a great choice. If you have mature trees along your driveway, up-lights will help define the driveway edge and add ambient light. One amazing use of up-lighting is installing fixtures into the driveway cement or at the garage entrance.

Whichever type of lighting fixtures you choose, Texas Outdoor Lighting can highlight any potential obstacles along the driveway – trees, fences, walls, etc. – or at a change of direction. Additionally, providing adequate lighting at the entrance to the destination makes finding the entrance to your home easier and more appealing.

Call us today at (512) 504-3030 to schedule your free consultation.

Outdoor Lighting Home in Rough Hollow Lakeway Texas

Increasing Curb Appeal & Value

October 9, 2018/in Fall Outdoor Lighting, lake house lighting, lighting fixtures, outdoor lighting, Safety Lighting, Security Lighting /by Beth Mayor

As Austin continues to grow, the demand for homes for sale is high. According to the Statesman, experts expect another strong year for Austin housing market. If you are looking to sell your home, how can you set your property apart from the next?

Outdoor lighting can enhance the curb appeal and even possibly increase the value of your home or property. According to the National Association of Home Builders, over 40% of home buyers they surveyed listed outdoor lighting features as “essential”. Lighting is a key part of a building’s appearance. During daylight hours everyone gets the full effect, but once the sun starts to set, all the details and aspects of the property that made it so appealing disappear into the darkness. LED landscape lighting can transform the look of your property at night. Outdoor lighting will highlight structural features like pathways, fire pits, water features, fencing and more. If you have outdoor patios, decks or other outdoor living spaces, those will also be included in the overall lighting design.

When you drive through a neighborhood at night, chances are the homes that stand out most are those where lighting plays an important role. Adding light to any outdoor space enhances its beauty. This applies especially to the landscape of your house. By highlighting your lawn, the walkway, and any other aesthetics, you make your house more pleasing to the eye, and in the process, increase its market value. Professionally installed, subtle lighting can even make the space appear larger. An investment in outdoor lighting does more than just make your home look great; by illuminating your lawn and yard you make your home a less appealing target to potential burglars and those wishing to do you harm. Lighting up the areas around windows and doorways can enhance the look of your home and boost your security as well.

Simply put, shedding some light on the exterior features of your house and property adds to the beauty a potential buyer experiences. Let Texas Outdoor Lighting send one of our award winning designers out to your property to increase your curb appeal!

Our Process: From Ideas to Finished Product

October 2, 2018/in outdoor lighting /by Beth Mayor

If you’ve been considering adding outdoor lighting but find you’re hung up on design ideas like where to place lighting and what kind of lights to use, let Texas Outdoor Lighting help you! We can professionally design and install the right outdoor lighting system to turn your ideas into reality.

The first step in turning your lighting dreams into reality is to contact us. You can call us at (512) 504-3030 or complete a request here. Texas Outdoor Lighting will come out to your property at no charge to you for a free consultation.

When we come out we will do a walk-through tour of your property together. This is a really fun process where we get to explore all of your expectations! We will discuss your wants, needs and desires for exterior and landscape lighting that adds beauty, safety and functionality to your outdoor spaces. We will also discuss with you how you would like your lighting system to be controlled. A great option for most homeowners is our smart home automation technology that allows you to control your lighting from anywhere. After our property tour, we will sit down with you to get your feedback and make sure we are all on the same page. Texas Outdoor Lighting wants your finished lighting project to be exactly what you imagined or better!

After our discovery meeting, our award-winning lighting design team will collaborate to create a unique, personalized, and tastefully executed lighting proposal. This detailed estimate will be emailed to you along with photos of your property marked-up with designators of where fixtures will be placed to give you a visualization of the finished product. We will then follow up with you to see if our visions match, make any necessary changes, and once you are completely happy with the design, we can move forward with scheduling your installation to turn your vision into reality!

Once our installation is complete, your designer will meet with you after sunset for the BEST part of this entire process: the look on your face when you see your property for the first time after dark! The transformation is always dramatic and beautiful, and our team LOVES experiencing it with you!

Give Texas Outdoor Lighting a call today! We would love to work with you on designing your new outdoor lighting system!

Outdoor Lighting Backyard Outdoor Living Space

DIY vs Hiring a Professional for Your Lighting Project

September 18, 2018/in outdoor lighting, Questions to ask companies, Security Lighting /by Beth Mayor

In the era of HGTV, Pinterest, YouTube Videos, etc. we all get the urge to get our hands dirty and DIY some of our home projects. Whether a small job such as painting a bedroom, or a larger job like redoing your kitchen cabinets, the tutorials available make the jobs seem easy and more affordable. But is it always the right and best decision in the long run?

Installing outdoor landscape lighting within your property is a long term investment and if done properly, can increase your home’s curb appeal as well as add essential security. There are quite a few reasons why, in this case, hiring a professional to install your lighting will be more beneficial in the long run.

Our lighting designers can create a layout for your outdoor lighting while considering all the details. A professional lighting team will spend time to understand your vision for outdoor lighting, assess the layout of your property and come up with ways to enhance your space through different lighting effects. As professionals in the field, we are able to discuss your lighting options such as the type of fixture, the light temperature and the spacing required as well as develop unique looks for your home.

The variety and range of lighting fixtures available to you at the hardware store is generally very limited compared to what we as professionals have access to. Commercial lighting typically has longer warranties and are significantly better quality. Our team is confident the fittings supplied are durable enough to tolerate outdoor weather conditions and outdoor factors such as bugs, pets and humidity. They also understand electrical systems, wattage needs and permits required to complete your professional installation.

Hiring a professional will typically cost you more than doing a DIY lighting project, however our team of designers can keep your project on budget, save you time on research, and help you avoid costly repairs.

Call Texas Outdoor Lighting today at (512) 504-3030 to schedule your free estimate today and let us be your preferred outdoor lighting team!

Making the Switch from Halogen to LED

September 4, 2018/in Commercial Projects, lighting fixtures, resort lighting, Safety Lighting, Security Lighting /by Beth Mayor

We have seen a lot of changes and progress within the lighting industry over the past decade. As with everything these days, newer technology and efficiency is developed and becomes available over time. An outdoor lighting system installed many years ago may be becoming old or even obsolete compared to today’s standards.

Halogen bulbs used to dominate the lighting industry. It was not until a few years ago that LED began to take over and become the industry standard. Now, it has become the choice of many outdoor lighting designers.

A few of the advantages of using LED vs Halogen are:

Longer Lifetime
More Durable
Low Energy Consumption
Easy to replace
They do not attract insects because LED lights emit very little heat and UV light
Much more cost effective

In these photos, you can see the before and after of a parking garage that Texas Outdoor Lighting converted from Halogen to LED.

If we haven’t convinced you yet of all the benefits of making the switch to LED, read this article from the Washington Post. Many manufacturers have stopped carrying Halogen light bulbs making it harder and more expensive to replace your bulbs.

Texas Outdoor Lighting offers free consultations to see if we can convert your current lighting system to LED, or one of our designers can work with you to design your dream lighting system. Give us a call today to schedule! (512) 504-3030

New Lighting Trend: Bistro Lighting

May 2, 2018/in outdoor lighting /by Beth Mayor

Bistro Lighting is a new and unique trend that’s specifically geared for use while entertaining. There are a number of ways this light can be used, from smaller deck projects to larger scale projects that light entire backyards.

As the weather continues to warm up, outdoor bistro lights provide a breathtaking way to provide light to your outdoor living spaces. Not only do they provide light to previously dark living spaces, they also increase the safety of you and your guests as well as add a festive, incomparable flair to your outdoor spaces.

Texas Outdoor Lighting uses the highest quality fixtures so the bistro lights we utilize are much more durable than the lights you can find at local home improvement stores. Contact us today for a free at home consultation with one of our award winning lighting designers to see how the hot new trend of bistro lighting can improve your outdoor living spaces.

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