One more request from forum members

The team here helped me immensely during my lighting project in the front of the home, Thank you all. I just finished installing a 25’ flag pole flying a 4X6 American flag. I was thinking of installing 3 well lights in pavers around the base. I want to illuminate the flag and not the pole, without washing out the lighting on the house and landscape. Any opinions? Thank you in advance

 

Hi Eric, you might want to review the flag lighting primer linked below. I'm not sure why you only want to light the flag but I think lighting both the pole and the flag is considered the most aesthetically pleasing way to light it. I think if you only light the flag, you'll have a floating, Casper the friendly ghost like feel to your yard. Lighting both the flag and the pole will anchor the flag to the ground and give your landscape lighting plan a bit more dimension. Speaking of which, I think you might have mentioned at some point illuminating some of the trees on your property? If not, that would also give your lighting plan some more depth and cohesion. Btw, is there some reason you chose not to light that statue/fountain in front of the window? If your fountain is working and has a reservoir deep enough for an underwater light, that would make a stunning addition to your plan to have water shadows shimmering against the facade of the house. And whether you uplight the fountain or front light it (so that shadows appear against the facade), you can't lose. Also, if there's a way to route a wire (maybe along a sidewalk crack) to your curb, I highly recommend you illuminate your address column. Again, will add more dimension and complexity to your plan.

On your facade, it looks like you chose beam spreads wisely. I would consider tweaking the angles or distance of the fixtures from the walls (so that they match). On the left side of the house, it looks like the third fixture from the left is angled bit more towards the house than the other two. Either that or it's slightly closer. If you have to, measure the distance and try to dial in the same angle for all three of the lights. If you want to avoid the crisp edges of your light beam spread, think about putting in some frosted lenses. They will dial back the light level a tad but they'll soften the edges so that they fall off and the crisp triangular shaped edges will be less pronounced. Same tjomg wot the ;ogjts pm the bricked sections. Try to match them as closely as possible. The third light from the left appears to be either too close to the wall or angled more toward the wall than the others. FYI, it looks like you already have frosted lenses on the fixtures on the brick wall sections...or is that an optical illusion. Regardless, as always, please take my criticisms and suggestions with a grain of salt. If you like the lighting effects as they are, ultimately that's what matters. https://www.voltlighting.com/learn/how-to-light-flag-pole

 

Meso,

thank you very much for your insight, read up on the flag lighting, will go with 3 Of the MR16 salty dog, well lights. Lights on the house are 2700k do you recommend I stay with the same? I see the misplaced light angles as you mentioned, we had a wicked winter storm pass through Texas and put down blankets to cover plants, so I’m sure I bumped several around, needless to say most of the plants didn’t make it. I will dig into the submersible lighting in the fountain well as you suggested, 3 up ward in a circular pattern, 2 directing inward from front, or 1 in front projecting up?
never consider the mailbox, that would be a very easy run.

again thank you for your guidance

Eric

 

Thanks for being receptive to some constructive criticism. I’m having second thoughts about the fountain lights.As cool as I think it would look to have the water movement projected onto the facade, I’m thinking it could throw off the facade lighting balance. I suppose it depends on how you aim your lights, though. Might be better to simply illuminate the fountain from one side or flank it with a pair of narrow beam spread spotlights. Including your gas flame sconces, you’ve already got two color temps in your design. I would stick with 2700K for the flag. You are off to a great start, btw.

 

Meso, Keep the criticism coming, helps my out Tremendously. Your saying for the fountain to put the Small spots On either side and facing each other?

 

Hey Eric. What I had in mind is lighting the fountain from one or both sides. I especially like the idea of lighting from one side because it creates a little more drama than the more 3D effect you’d get from lighting it from both sides. But I think either approach would look great. Again, I would opt for fairly narrow beam spreads so you avoid making the left side of the bricked section significantly lighter than the right side.

 

Evan, Meso, laid out my well lights I think I hit those and preparing to mount into ground, thank you for the help.

I did put two small all star mini brass spotlights,On the water feature currently a I have two opposing, going to need to try one as currently the two opposing aren’t quite making

 

This really looks phenomenal, Eric. The flag looks terrific and even as illuminated, the fountain really stands out. A riser or (risers depending on the approach you settle on) might help you achieve the positioning you need to illuminate the statue the way you want to. Of course, submersible spotlights in the fountain would work as well. I can't remember if I suggested this already but I think it would be really cool to illuminate that serpentine walkway. It's part of your landscape design and I think it would enhance your overall plan. Thanks for sharing your homework.

 

Got the pavers and decomposed granite in, need a little more leveling and set the escutcheon at the base of the pole. Meso thank you for all of your insight. Still not happy with the illumination on the fountain, will keep playing around with it.

 

Suggestion for the fountain - consider an All Star downlight, partially hiding it by mounting it to the soffit behind the downspout. A 2W, 38 degree bulb should work well. Bob

 

Robert thank you for the suggestion, should be an easy set to try out. Will show the results when completed