Hello, I recently purchased the Costco 9 piece path and area light kit to start with and could use some help figuring out lighting placement. I would also like to light the tree in front of the walkway. There are also 3 trees (not pictured) in the front yard I would like to light that are beyond 25' from where a hub could be easily placed. What would be the best way to reach those trees? I'm open to purchasing additional lights where needed. Thanks for the help!
Beautiful home! I'd be happy to offer some suggestions. I attached a photo to help illustrate. With the 6 spotlights from the kit, I'd likely target the 6 areas designated in yellow. Then, when/if purchasing more I'd try to target the areas in green (not buying a pre-bundled kit, this would allow for buying bulbs with narrower beam spreads for those more narrow applications as well). I think you have ideal placement for the path lights already. I myself always like to make recommendations for second-story lighting granted bedrooms aren't suffering from light intrusion during the night. So, I'd personally likely not place any lights on the upper-left side of the house (this is of course preferential). Accenting peaks always looks great because it highlights the architecture and gives life to the second story but, I can't tell from the photo if there are gutters on the front sides of those forward-facing overhangs. Without gutters and gutter mounts, surface mounts have been used for second story applications, granted the drilling is done properly to where it doesn't compromise anything (main concern being leaks). If you're not really looking for second-story illumination, you could just relocate those 2 up top; possibly one to that small tree/shrub near the garage light and the other where you see fit. From what you described, it may be easier to run a single strand of cable which passes by each of those 3 trees for a single main run to connect to, or running 3 main runs to each of the trees. It would really depend on the distance & obstacles between each how easy this would be. Depending on the sizes of the trees, you may need to bump up the wattages of the bulbs - the 5W bulbs in the Costco kit would be ideal for some of the more averaged sized trees pictured.
Hi, I am having a difficult time selecting the lights for our home. I need to light up the entry to the pedestrian gate. Need type of light to light up the fountans without blinding people walking into the house. I don't know when to put in a well light or just use flood lights. hopefully someone could recommend which. I need to get light on the driveway from the oak there is a pedestrian gate to the right. I am having tough time uploading an image
It looks like you've piggybacked onto another thread, Bruce. Anyway, spectacular property. It's not entirely clear which areas you want lit but I'll do my base based on your photos. First, Volt offers many different types of glare guards for their lights (see link below) so you shouldn't have any problem choosing an underwater fixture that suits your needs. For the fountains you could aim two or three spot lights on the centerpiece of each fountain without fear of blinding passersby. For lighting those walkways, I would take advantage of some of those beautiful tall trees and mount some downlighting/moonlighting. If you're not familiar with the effect, do an image search on moonlighting so you can get an idea of what you can accomplish.. By placing downlights high up in those trees, you'll not only get a lot of lighting bang for your buck but the effect (which is to bathe large sections of your property in a soft light and create interesting shadows) is truly enchanting. With well positioned lights that are not overly bright, you can light those areas in a way that's both beautiful and functional. Others may chime in and offer suggestions as well. Hope this helps. https://www.voltlighting.com/landscape-lighting-led-underwater-lights/c/19
tree is huge and do want to get some lights up there. I bought a ton of tree lights from you. will put in some lights. What size bulb would you recommend. I was thinking of putting three of four lights in there. The front driveway is in front of that large oak, Would you put the lights on the apple trees in front of the gate or between them. I bought 6 well lights. can you look at this large fountain. I need light on the gravel around the fountain. I will put lights in the fountain. I will sent photo in the next post.
For downlights (lights mounted in a tree to provide downward illumination), the most common bulb would be a 5W LED - the beam spread to use would be dependent on what feature/area you were trying to illuminate. How many well lights (in-ground fixtures) to use would depend on the size of the tree and the effect you were trying to create - it is difficult to tell from the photo how large the trees you're asking about are. Typically, 2 lights would help to create a dimensional effect by illuminating the trunk and canopy - 3 may be needed for larger trees. For illuminating the gravel off to the side of that fountain, you could consider using rotatable led hardscape lights and mounting them under the lip on the outside of the fountain. Or, you could also consider installing directional led path lights in the small retainer garden around the fountain and aiming them towards the driveway.
