We just finished installing a disappearing fountain water feature in our new patio. The water feature is a 4' basin with three basalt columns on top, surrounded by polished rocks. For the path lights, we're using the China Hat path lights, which are excellent. Everything looks awesome at night, but with the dark color of our fountain, and the fact that there are no lights right next to it, you can't really see the fountain when it's dark outside. Any recommendations for how to light up a fountain like this? The two options I've managed to identify are either a spot light, or direct up lighting mounted in the rocks next to the fountain. For the spot light, it would have to be about 8' away since that's the nearest place we can put it in the ground. Presumably we'd want a pretty narrow spread at that distance, but I can do the math to figure it out. For up lights, I'm not sure which would work best - they'd have to be pretty low profile (e.g. not tall) if we want them to "hide" within the rocks around the fountain. See attached image. The spot would go in the bed at the left side, most likely.
Hello Ben, Beautiful layout! For your application, I would recommend considering a few Top Dog MINI Spotlights. This particular spotlight is low profile, it matches the copper finish of your China Hats, and it uses an MR11 LED Bulb which will provide subtle accent lighting on your fountain for an elegant effect. The Top Dog Mini also offers highly adjustable features so that you can adjust the light as needed to get the desired effect on your fountain. Although it is difficult to tell if possible from the photo, placing a few of these outside of the paved area directed at your fountain would help establish a 3D effect on the water feature. Given the distance you said that you will install them at, I would certainly agree with you about using a more narrow beam spread. After adding either the spotlight or the lightbulb to your online shopping cart, you will be presented with various customization options where you can select your beam spreads!
