A Wexford home, from the street to the front door
Wexford is an established Wake Forest neighborhood with wooded lots and a mix of home styles. The photos on this page come from one Wexford home with a distinctly modern look: a wood front door, stacked stone walls, a curving driveway and a red Japanese maple at the bend. It’s a good example of how lighting can carry a guest from the street all the way to the front door.
That journey is what we design for. An uplit Japanese maple marks the curve of the drive. The stone accent wall glows with grazing light that brings out every edge of the stacked stone, and the entry steps are lit so they’re easy and safe to climb. Each piece is modest on its own. Together they make a complete arrival.
Lite Visions works only in landscape lighting, and every Wexford design starts with how people arrive at and move around your home. The light is warm 2700K, and the shadows are left in place on purpose, so the property feels composed rather than installed.
Both photos above were taken at one Wexford home in Wake Forest.
How Joe designs: texture and direction
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 and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He’s credited as Second Electric on Alan Jackson’s Who I Am album.
In stage lighting, the angle of a light matters as much as its brightness. Light something from straight on and it looks flat; light it from the side and every surface comes alive. Joe uses that on stone, wood and bark. On a stacked stone wall, a fixture set close to the base throws light across the face so each stone casts a small shadow. On a Japanese maple, light from below shows the shape of the branches. Modern homes reward this kind of precision, because their materials are the decoration.
Precision also keeps the front of the house calm. A handful of well-aimed fixtures does more than a row of path lights along every bed. Joe earned awards at the 2023 Sterling Lighting Summit Lighting Design Challenge.
Featured in Masters of Landscape Lighting
Joe’s work is featured in the book Masters of Landscape Lighting, alongside designers recognized for what the craft can be at its best.
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 most landscape lighting looks flat and why good lighting is balanced, not bright.
Nearby, we also design lighting in Wake Forest and Hasentree. For neighborhood pages across the Triangle, see North Raleigh and Falls Lake.
Questions we hear in Wexford
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 Wexford 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.