Incorporating Attractive yet Functional Outdoor Lighting in your Fishkill, NY Landscaping

In order to achieve landscaping lighting in your Fishkill, NY backyard that is both attractive and bright enough to be suitable for providing safety and food preparation or other tasks, a balance between functional lighting and decorative/ambient lighting is required. Skewed towards function and the lighting becomes blinding and sterile. Too much focus on ambience can result in a space that is too dim for tasks and safety.

Capped lights for walkways

When navigating walkways in the dark, effective lighting is essential. Walkway lighting that is stark, however, not only reduces the charm of your landscape, but can also be a hazard in itself and make navigation even more difficult when contending with a glare. To limit walkway lighting from affecting the ambience of your landscape, capped lights are best. These may take the form of mounted lamps, or lights built into the underside of the coping around retaining walls or low walls alongside the walkways.  In addition, low voltage LED lighting can be embedded into the walkway itself, outlining the walkway without creating unnecessary glare or discomfort.

Downlights for work surfaces

Functional lighting is important, particularly in outdoor kitchens, bar counters and other work surfaces where tasks are performed. This is fittingly referred to as task lighting. For task lighting that provides clean bright light that does not create glare or interfere with a gentle atmosphere, downlights are an excellent option. These focus the light onto the required area and can be embedded into overhead shelves, roof covering or strung from overhead structures in a way that remains pleasing to the eye. White light is best for functional lighting as it limits the distortion of the perspective of color. This is particularly important for deciding when the steaks on the grill are cooked to perfection.

Multiple sources of gentle ambient lighting

Layered ambient lighting ensures a gentle, pleasing mood. Single sources of light are often too bright for comfort and create shadows that interrupt the aesthetic. Instead, consider multiple sources of warm lighting for just enough light to create atmosphere. These may take the form of shaded lamps, lanterns, ornamental arrangements or even the soft glow of a fire. Colored lighting can also be used to influence the mood of the setting or to create a sense of the surreal for a unique evening environment.

Well-focused feature lighting

Whether it’s lighting up a focal feature or reflecting off the surface of water, feature lighting should be well-focused and just bright enough to create the desired effect. To ensure feature lighting doesn’t ruin the mood, avoid spotlights that shine towards your entertainment and leisure spaces. Instead, they should be aimed upwards for lighting up trees and vertical structures or placed within trees directed downwards for a moonlight effect. Reflections of feature lighting should also be taken into account to ensure that light scattering doesn’t interfere with ambient lighting.

Add sparkle with decorative lighting

LEDs are perfect for that extra touch, providing pinpricks of light with very little spread. These can be incorporated into structures, or be incorporated in the form of string lighting to highlight trees and other features to create an air of magic and romance.