Accent Lighting for Your Home: Picking What Deserves the Light|How Does Accent Lighting Differ From Everything Else?|Accent Lighting Done Right: Less Is the Whole Technique

Accent lighting is a choice about what to leave darkMost outdoor lighting answers the question of how to light a property. Accent lighting answers a different one: what deserves attention. It is selective by definition. Point it at one tree, one column, one entry and stop. The dark part is not a gap in the plan. It is the reason the lit thing stands out.That is really the whole idea, and it is not complicated. Choose a small number of things and let the rest of the property stay dark. Every plan drifts toward more, https://evercrestlighting.com/contact/ https://evercrestlighting.com/contact/ from the homeowner and sometimes from the company selling fixtures.What is worth accentingNot everything looks better lit. Anything with surface relief responds well, since the shadows a texture throws are the point. Flat painted siding mostly just gets brighter. Form is the other thing to look for.How people get it wrongPlans go wrong when the list grows. One feature turns into six as the plan grows. Once everything is lit, nothing is emphasized, and the plan is just illumination. Restraint is the actual skill here.The best accent plans read as sparse in a drawing and correct once you are standing in front of the house after dark.How it fits with the restAccent lighting is usually one layer of several. The other layers are path and bed lighting, security coverage, and the house itself. It is what makes a plan look considered.Dimmer than you thinkOutput almost always ends up too high. After dark it takes very little light to draw the eye, and overshooting looks harsh rather than impressive. You are highlighting something, not trying to read a book by it.Uplight and downlightDirection changes the whole character. Uplighting throws shadows upward, which nothing in nature does, so it reads as dramatic and slightly theatrical. Downlighting comes from above, the way light normally does, so nobody notices the technique.Accent lighting is not set and forgetLandscape accents point at plants, and plants move. A shrub uplit perfectly this spring will have swallowed the fixture in three years. Nothing is broken. The aim just needs a look. Re aiming every couple of seasons keeps the plan looking the way it was designed to.The test is unchanged: go outside at night and look at it. If a fixture has drifted off the subject, it is a five minute adjustment.Where to startAccent lighting comes out of walking the property and choosing. EverCrest Lighting installs accent lighting as part of a full outdoor lighting plan for homes and businesses throughout Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, from Greenville. The consultation is free. Reach them at (864) 252-1732 or info@evercrestlighting.com.