Landscape Lighting for Avalaire’s Storybook Estates
Avalaire is a gated community of 56 custom homes on more than 100 wooded acres in north Raleigh, with homesites from about three-quarters of an acre to nearly three acres. Roughly a quarter of the land is set aside as preserved natural space, and old oaks border the grand entrance. Much of the architecture draws on French and English cottages and estates, with brick and stone accents and, on some homes, castle-like details.
That’s a setting with a story already built in. At dusk, rooflines, chimneys, arched doorways and stonework turn into silhouettes. The question is whether they fade into the dark, or step forward like a set when the house lights go down.
Lighting Old-World Architecture
Cottage and estate styles reward a light touch. Steep gables, dormers and stone chimneys look best when they’re revealed in pieces, not floodlit as one big wall. A soft graze up a stone tower, a glow framing an arched front door, warm light catching the brick between two windows: each one is a small scene, and together they make the house feel welcoming and lived in.
For homes like these, we often explore:
- Arched entries and front doors framed with soft, warm light
- Stone and brick accents grazed at a low angle so their texture reads
- Chimneys and gables picked out gently against the night sky
- Heritage oaks lit from several angles, with their limbs reaching over the roof
- Pool terraces, screened porches and pool houses lit as outdoor rooms
Closer Neighbors, Careful Aim
Some Avalaire homesites are under an acre, so homes can sit closer together than on the big-acreage enclaves farther north. That makes aim and shielding important. A fixture that looks harmless from your patio can shine straight into a neighbor’s bedroom. Joe checks every scene from the street and the property lines, not just from your own terrace, so the glow stays on your side.
The preserved natural areas help, too. Left dark, the woods become a deep backdrop behind the lit architecture, the way a black curtain makes a stage set pop.
Theater Training, Personal Design
Joe Yanulevich spent more than 35 years lighting concert and theatrical stages before turning to landscapes. In the theater, the audience never notices the lighting rig. They just feel the scene change. He brings that idea to every property: lower lumens, more fixtures and shadows on purpose, so you notice the home and garden, not the lights. His work appears in the book Masters of Landscape Lighting, and he lays out what separates good lighting from bad in You Can’t Un-See Bad Landscape Lighting.
Nothing is designed from a photo or a plan alone. Joe visits after dark, walks the property with you and designs the job himself. After installation, he comes back at night to make the final adjustments in person.
Explore More
Browse the landscape lighting portfolio or our page on North Raleigh and Falls Lake.
Nearby communities we serve: Bay Leaf Farm, Norwood Ridge, Morning Mountain Estates, Sanctuary at Falls Lake, Maple Ridge Cove, Glenhill, Alpine Creek Estates, Greywalls at Trego, The Cove at Falls Lake, Radcliffe, Buckingham Manor.
Old-World Charm, Lit Softly: From Our Portfolio
The photos on this page come from other Lite Visions projects around the Triangle.
Book a Design Consultation
If you’d like to see your Avalaire home step forward after dark, Joe would enjoy walking the property with you as the sun goes down and talking through the scenes that matter most to you.
Prefer to talk first? Call Joe at Nine one Nine-518-9950.