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Garage Lighting: Curb Appeal and Safety

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The garage can play an important role in increasing your home’s curb appeal.  Unfortunately, it can also be an easy target for thieves.  A comprehensive landscape lighting design can enhance the beauty of your garage and boost curb appeal while deterring potential intruders.

The garage may not seem like a high priority when creating a landscape lighting design.  You’ll want to consider, however, whether your garage is the focal point of your home’s curbside view and if it has interesting architectural features. 

Up and down lighting can both help showcase stonework, brick, architecture and the garage doors themselves.  While up lighting garage doors is easiest when the landscape lighting company collaborates with the builder before the concrete is poured, Texas Outdoor Lighting can core into already established driveways to get the same great lighting effect.

A combination of different lighting techniques such as up lighting, down lighting, column lighting, dormer lighting, soffit lighting, and nearby tree lighting can help illuminate the unique aspects of the garage doors while keeping your property safe.  Our award-winning lighting designers can help you develop a comprehensive landscape lighting plan to keep your safety, security and the beauty of your home in mind so contact us now for a free consultation.

Texas Outdoor Lighting added lighting to feature Yippee Ki Yay at the Pease Park Conservancy

Feature Lighting: “Yippee Ki Yay”

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Texas Outdoor Lighting had the privilege of lighting the stickwork sculpture created by internationally acclaimed artist Patrick Dougherty that’s entitled “Yippee Ki Yay’.  The sculpture is located in Pease Park in Austin, TX.  Mr Dougherty utilized locally harvested materials to build the stickwork sculptures including depression willow, ash and ligustrum.

Joel Mayor, our lighting designer for this project, used Thomas Kinkade paintings as his inspiration for lighting the structures.  His goal was to create a warm, glowing amber light that appears to be coming from within the structures while also creating a cool, moon-lit feel outside the structures.  

With this artwork being open to the public, Joel had to keep in mind that children may be climbing on and about the structures.  He, therefore, had his experienced lighting installers weave the wiring within the stick structure itself then made sure to place the lights up high, ensuring that tampering with the lights would be difficult.  

Another tricky aspect with this installation was that there was no power source within Pease Park.  While this was a challenge, Joel and the crew were not going to let this stop them.  A crew member, therefore, climbed through a drain tunnel under the street near the park to find a power source on the other side.  Texas Outdoor Lighting won’t let anything stop them!

For more information on our projects, please visit our website.  

 

Photo Credit: Matt Capo

Lake Home Outdoor Lighting

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A lake home is a popular weekend retreat here in Austin and its surrounding areas.  Spending your spring, summer and fall days exploring Texas lakes via fishing, boating and tubing then capping off the adventures with leisurely evenings gathered around the fire pit telling stories and roasting marshmallows is a favorite for Austinites.  

Texas Outdoor Lighting can help make the most of your evenings outside with a landscape lighting design that perfectly enhances your lake home.

Outdoor spaces included outdoor fireplaces, kitchens, pools, walkways to the lake and more. Homeowners today are either building or renovating their homes to include more outdoor living areas and some extra light comes in handy once the sun sets.

Keep scrolling to see some of our favorite lake home outdoor lighting projects.

The lighting on this home on Lake LBJ adds the perfect ambiance to this lake retreat while adding security for guests walking around the property after the sun sets.

The lighting on and around this boat dock on Lake Austin adds a glowing moonlight effect to make it easier for guests to walk to the boat dock at night time, while creating a warm, inviting ambiance at the same time.  The under water lights also add a fun twist, making night time fishing so much more enjoyable.

Texas Outdoor Lighting went all out on this lake cabin off of Lake LBJ.  The lighting showcases the unique architecture while adding safety for guests walking after the sun sets.  The lighting here is the perfect mixture of beauty and security.

The outdoor lighting on this pathway from this Lake Travis lake house to the water adds not only safety for those walking the pathway at nighttime, but it also highlights the beauty of the property that can easily be admired from the lake.

Spring is just around the corner so there’s plenty of time to enjoy your weekends at the lake.  A professionally designed outdoor lighting design can enhance the security, beauty, and functionality of your lake home, all year long.  Light not only transforms the ambiance of your outdoor space, it also makes it more functional and safe. 

If you want even more lake home outdoor lighting ideas, feel free to contact us to schedule a free consultation with one of our award winning lighting designers.  They’ll walk your property with you and work with you to develop an outdoor lighting design you’ll love for many years to come.

The Best Time to Start Planning for Spring Outdoor Lighting

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With only a few more weeks left of winter, spring is just around the corner.  This is the perfect time to start thinking about sprucing up your outdoor living areas.  Today, we are featuring some of our favorite outdoor retreat lighting projects as inspiration to those of you who are considering utilizing outdoor lighting to take full advantage of those areas.  Please keep scrolling to see all of these fun projects.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Some outdoor projects may involve several contractors and the collaboration between these companies help achieve a flawless installation and meet completion goals. Also, working together helps ensure the installation of materials is efficient and cost-effective.  

Oftentimes, Texas Outdoor Lighting is called in after the garden, landscaping, and hardscaping plans are finished. We are happy to accommodate our clients’ needs regardless of where they are at in the renovation process. Keep in mind, however, it is less expensive and more cost-efficient for our clients when we can get involved before renovations begin.

We understand that most people prefer to tackle one project at a time, but some pre-planning now will help avoid higher costs later on.

If you already have exterior lighting and plan to make some major changes to your landscape or outdoor space, contact us.  From relocating fixtures for a tree removal to adding more lights to maximize your outdoor living space.  We’re here to help.  We’d be happy to provide you with any advice, suggestions, and discuss your outdoor landscape lighting design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questions to ask potential landscape lighting companies.

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A good landscape lighting design will increase the safety and security of your property, transform your dark outdoor spaces to warm and inviting living areas as well as add value to your home.  The first step in beginning to plan your outdoor lighting is to hire the right expert for the job.  Asking the right questions can help guide you towards choosing a lighting company that will fit your needs, so keep these questions in mind.

Can this lighting design be added onto later?

This is always good to discuss with your potential lighting designer.  Time and time again, we have clients that like to have us install their outdoor lighting in phases.  For example, some homeowners want lighting in the front of their home immediately for security purposes then want to complete the backyard at a later date for entertaining purposes.  A few minor adjustments made at the start of a lighting project (such as the size and location of the transformer) can make adding additional lighting down the road much easier and much more seamless.

Can the lighting system be integrated into my smart home system?

Our LED lighting systems can be integrated with most existing smart home systems.  This is something our lighting experts can help you with, but not all lighting companies offer this option.  If you do not already have a smart home system but are interested in including one with your lighting system, our experienced lighting designers can help with this.

What are some ways to save energy?

If conserving energy is important to you, this would be a good topic to discuss with any potential lighting company.  There are many landscape lighting options to choose from including, but not limited to, halogen, LED, mercury vapor and incandescent.  Choosing an LED system, however, provides several benefits such as energy savings.  LED bulbs use a fraction of the electricity and have a much longer life than the other lighting options.  Another way to conserve energy if you already have a high-voltage system is to have a lighting company switch your system to a low voltage lighting system.  Make sure to ask your potential lighting company if they are experienced in retrofitting existing systems because not all companies offer this option.

How will my lighting system be maintained?

Regular maintenance is an important aspect of a lighting design in order to maintain its functionality and beauty.  Not all lighting companies offer maintenance services, however, so it is a great idea to discuss this with your potential lighting designer.  Find out if the company has a service department, how their maintenance program works as well as their product warranties.  The last thing you want as a homeowner is to place your trust in a lighting company only to have them install your lighting system then disappear and not be able to provide maintenance.

If you are interested to learn more about what Texas Outdoor Lighting can do for you and your property, please fill out an online inquiry and we will call you by the end of the next business day to get you set up with one of our award winning lighting designers.

Hardscape Outdoor Lighting

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Do you want outdoor lighting on your established home but are concerned it can’t happen due to your hardscaping?  Here at Texas Outdoor Lighting, our installation manager and technicians have professional experience installing lighting systems in hardscaping.  Installing outdoor lighting in hardscaping takes precision and that is what we focus on every day here at Texas Outdoor Lighting.

Hardscape outdoor lighting will add dramatic lighting effects to retaining walls and other masonry around your property.  We can install lights under the top lip of concrete, stone or masonry walls to light the walkways along entrances, around pools and to your outdoor living areas.

 Frequently, we add lighting in hardscaping to light the front facade of homes and garage doors for safety and security.  

 

 

The lights we use in hardscaping have a simple elegance and smooth flowing edges designed to complement stonework, concrete, masonry and other architectural elements.

 

Contact Texas Outdoor Lighting today and ask how we can use our innovative techniques to add outdoor lighting in your hardscaping areas.

In the meantime, browse our gallery for more lighting ideas.