Wakefield’s courtyards, golf lots and woods
Wakefield is a large planned community at the northern edge of Raleigh, close to Falls Lake and the Wake Forest line. Its neighborhoods range from traditional homes on wooded lots to larger houses along the golf course, and many properties back onto stands of hardwoods and pines. Courtyards, pool decks, arbors and garden gates are common, and they are wonderful places to spend an evening if they’re lit well.
The challenge in Wakefield is usually not a lack of features but too many of them competing at once. Light every shrub and the scene turns busy. Light the arbor gate, the trees that frame it and the path through it, and you have a composition that pulls you outside.
Lite Visions works only in landscape lighting. We would design each Wakefield property individually, starting with how you move through the grounds and where you like to sit. The light is warm 2700K, and darkness is left in place on purpose.
From a North Raleigh project near Wakefield and Falls Lake. Featured in Masters of Landscape Lighting
How Joe designs: entrances and reveals
Joe Yanulevich is a Raleigh native who spent more than 35 years working in the concert and stage lighting industry. He designed lighting for regional bands like the Embers, Nantucket and Glassmoon, ran lights for opening acts on national tours, and worked as a lighting technician on tours with Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Whitney Houston, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Joan Jett.
Stage shows are built on reveals: a curtain opens, a light comes up, and something new comes into view. Joe uses that idea in courtyards and along the side of a house. A lit gate or arbor draws you forward, and the space beyond reveals itself as you walk through. In the woods behind a Wakefield home, he lights just enough of the trunks and canopy to give the property a backdrop, instead of leaving a black wall at the edge of the lawn. Warm 2700K white is the standard, and color-changing light is available for the woods if you’d like it for holidays or game days.
Because the woods keep growing, he plans for change, too. Fixtures are placed so they can be re-aimed as trees fill out, keeping the scene balanced from one year to the next. He earned awards at the 2023 Sterling Lighting Summit Lighting Design Challenge.
The courtyard arbor gate at the top of this page is from a North Raleigh project near Wakefield and Falls Lake. The pool view and the brick garden walk are from other North Raleigh homes. Lite Visions has not yet completed a project inside Wakefield itself.
Featured in Masters of Landscape Lighting
The arbor gate at the top of this page is Joe’s work as it appears in Masters of Landscape Lighting. These additional project photos from the book show the same idea: composition, not installation, with warm light and an ambient atmosphere.
See more of Joe’s work
Browse the full landscape lighting portfolio, or start at the Lite Visions home page to learn more about Joe. For a closer look at how he thinks about light, read why great lighting is composed, not installed and why good lighting is balanced, not bright.
Nearby, we also design lighting in Falls Lake and North Raleigh, Wake Forest and Hasentree.
Questions we hear in Wakefield
What does landscape lighting cost?
Most Lite Visions projects start at about $4,500. The final number depends on the size of the property and how many areas you want to light. A larger design can be installed in phases: start with the scenes you’ll enjoy most, and add the rest when you’re ready.
Will my lighting be warm white, or can it change color?
Warm 2700K white is our standard. It flatters brick, stone, bark and foliage, and it gives a home a relaxed, natural glow. Color-changing lighting is available as an option if you’d like to change the look for holidays, seasons or game days, and it can return to warm white whenever you want.
How is the lighting controlled and maintained?
Your lighting can be set to come on at dusk and turn off at the time you choose, so you don’t have to think about it. As trees and plantings grow, fixtures can be adjusted to keep each scene looking right. Joe personally designs every system and is available to take care of you if anything ever comes up.
Start with a daytime design consultation
Every project begins with a daytime design consultation: a conversation and a walk around your property, with no pressure. Joe will listen to how you use your home in the evening, look at what makes your Wakefield property special, and talk you through what’s possible.
Schedule Your Daytime Design Consultation
Prefer to talk first? Call Joe at Nine one Nine-518-9950, or email litevisionsrdu@gmail.com.
Please have a look through our website and see what makes Lite Visions different.