Attaching photos of our (golf course and water facing) lanai. Just finished obtaining plantings selected to not interfere with view. Would like to gently accent the blanket Carissa which line most of the lanai...using higher plantings to just pop up over the spa area. Not in picture are a Pygmy Palm and a West Indian Mahogany tree which I intend to up light (I think ;-} Can you suggest the best way to light the exterior without having the lighting distracting from the beautiful evening views when the moon is right. Thanx for all you do.... . Thanx!.
Hi, Mongojerry. I diagrammed a few of your photos. I would probably highlight the Carissa by tucking a path/area light behind each of those pillars (including one at the corner of the pillar in the foreground of the photo) so that all you could see from the lanai are the highlighted plants. You can choose how much coverage you want by selecting a fixture with a narrower or wider beam spread. I believe those plants don't get much taller than a foot or two so you could either go with one of the regular sized fixtures or you could go with one of the mini fixtures and add a telescoping extension. For the taller plants you mentioned, I think either a Mini Splash or the new Wide Splash flood light placed in front of those plants (that is, pointing towards the shrubs and away from the lanai) would work well. If you wanted to go even lower profile, a Salty Dog Well light or Salty Dog Beacon are other good choices. Further, it looks like you could even mount downlights from your gutter to light those shrubs. Finally, the flood lights models I mentioned previously could also be used to either illuminate the low white wall behind those plants or you could also simply place the lights in front of the plants along that wall. I think if you're careful not to go too bright with your lumens, you should find that these approaches still allow you to enjoy the night sky from your lanai. Hope this helps.
Great idea to conceal the path lights behind the screen's pillars @Mesodude ! I would not have thought of that but, not used to seeing these awesome panoramic type screens as well; I dig them a lot! All about the views. @Mongojerry With the 'relaxed' spa area, I would definitely recommend lower-level illumination like the Gentle Splash Meso recommended (with a 2W LED bulb). If you were concerned about this being too much illumination on the spa and it distracting from the view, you could use a path light here as well directly on the corner behind that pillar and elevate it more than the other path lights using a similar extension riser. Another way for some subtle lighting would be mounting a few deck lights on the corner pillar; it would provide subtle light on the plantings and some on the interior would provide good ambiance lighting for the spa.
Mesodude and Evan; can't thank you enough. Will sketch out from an aerial view and plug in suggestions. Run it by ya before ordering? Front house lighting in pictures actually looks brighter than it actually appears in the evening...all my neighbors love it. The "picture window" lanai structure (just installed after Hurricane Irma) is awesome...Here is the view (daytime) I'm focusing on...Eastern facing, but great early evening light..Out here every evening once cooler weather visits. Love to have folks over.....
Awesome; looking forward to seeing the end result! Batten down the hatches and stay safe for hurricane Dorian!
