Hi, I am looking to light a walkway that leads to my in ground pool. (see rendering) There will be concrete step pads surrounded by grass that lead to an in-ground pool. I was looking at well lights but those seem to shine a somewhat harsh light straight upward, and also look like they are more intended as 'spot lights' rather than path lighting.?? I cannot use anything that will stick up out of the ground like typical path lighting, due to people potentially tripping and knocking it over when crossing left-to-right across grass. I know there are 'paver' lights which I really like, but I don't want to have to alter the footprint of my step pad to pour concrete around the housing. Are there any in ground lights, with soft pathway lighting that are flush with the ground? Any other suggestions?
A ShadowMaster in the shrubbery bed to the right of the walkway would be one option. I have one of those in my backyard. The light pattern is really nice, but has a limited radius. The stock light is 3 feet tall and puts out an 8 foot radius pattern. Adding a 1 foot riser increases the radius to 12 feet, which means the edge of the shrubbery bed would have to be 6-8 feet from the path to get good light coverage. Going with the 2 foot riser, to further increase the light radius, might make the light look a bit ungainly and would likely produce an unacceptable glare when walking by it. Another option would be to extend the shrub bed to within 1-2 feet of the path, line it with a low brick or stone wall and light the wall and path with angled hardscape lights. As a third option, I noticed that Volt has just come out with some mini, MR11 well lights. The optional turret covers should not produce any significant glare. If you stagger a row of those along both sides of the path and rotate the covers at a 45 degree angle you would get an interesting criss-crossing light pattern. Varying the bulb wattage and beam angle would be an easy way to get the desired illumination. The tripping hazard should be minimal but the potential for bare foot toe stubbing would still be present.
Robert, thank you for the suggestions. I should have pointed out the shrubbery to the lower right in the image isn’t truly in my yard. Just some silly tree that the designer decided to put there in that rendering. I’ll check out the new lights you suggested. Another option would be some Down lights on a patio cover directly behind the steps. I’m trying to find a good way to illuminate the steps and highlight the walk way to the entrance of the pool/spa without blinding any bystanders in the process
Lori: I understand about the plants in the design rendering. But, since your yard is going to get torn up anyway, before the pool guys put down fresh sod when the pool install is done, it wouldn’t be that hard to add a small raised mulch bed with a ShadowMaster a few feet from the walk way. Just a thought. Bob
Unfortuntely, the closest place a raised bed could be placed is along the fence line, at right (actually I am planting podocarpus trees there along property line) -- which is about 30-35 feet to the right of the paver walk. The pavers are actually shifted the left (not center as pictured). there is nothing close to place the type of light that you depict. I think my best option is probably down lighting from a patio cover directly behind the first step (you can see the roof of the patio cover in the rendering). I appreciate the feedback. I knew this would be a challenging area to light
