Outdoor Pool Lighting in the Raleigh area

Posted on April 16, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

Homeowners in Raleigh NC take advantage of sunny days with outdoor living spaces. When you create an outdoor living space around your pool, you will be able to encourage your family and friends to spend time outdoors and enjoy some fresh air. With today’s busy lifestyles, families want to be able to enjoy their outdoor living spaces every minute of the day—even after dusk. Lite Visions Outdoor and Landscape Lighting offers several techniques can achieve a dramatic look while providing a safe, cozy, people-friendly environment.

Around the pool, you should have both functional lighting and mood lighting. At night, most people spend little time swimming; they’re more likely to be cooking and socializing. You want lighting that’s conducive to all of that and creates a pleasant experience, so we avoid anything that looks like a harsh spotlight across the pool – instead, we use combination lighting effects to illuminate elements around the pool.

Like the illumination from the sun and the moon, the most natural form of lighting comes from above. If a tree canopy hangs over the pool deck, moonlighting can create a mystical effect. You can put moon lights in tall trees or off the side of the house. Soft, uplighting adds a touch of class to any setting. River Birch, Crepe Myrtles, Japanese Maples and Palms are one of our favorite candidates for uplighting. With complex limb structures, the evening sight of these beauties can be enjoyed year around. As a bonus, If the trees are close by the pool they usually provide a beautiful reflection on the surface of the water as well. Path lighting is a much smaller version of downlighting, this popular fixture treatment displays streams of light along walkways.

The landscape surrounding the pool area can act like a backdrop; it can create the perfect lighting canvas…many landscapers now are showcasing beautiful water features or water falls or fences. We will be sure these features are not over lit and that the right color temperatures are used and that you are not competing with the lighting that may already be provided from inside the pool. Finally, a lighting technique that will define the property or boundaries by softly washing the pillars of the walls with a soft warm light is wall washing. This technique can truly refine and finish off the pool area and provide that feeling of balance and composition to your landscape.

Exterior lighting not only adds to the ambiance and atmosphere of a pool area; it also adds safety and security. There is no shortage of ideas or possibilities when it comes to exterior lighting. Lite Visions will gladly discuss lighting ideas and possibilities for your Pool,Home and Outdoor spaces

The best thing about installing low voltage lighting around the pool area is 12 volt lighting is 100% safe around the water

Call Lite Visions today for your outdoor pool area lighting in the Raleigh NC area 919-518-9950

Call us Today 919-518-9950

Lite Visions Outdoor Lighting and Landscape Lighting Professionals Raleigh NC

Working with an outdoor landscape lighting designer in Raleigh NC

Posted on April 12, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

As a lighting designer , we work with homeowners in and around the Raleigh NC area to determine how you enjoy your outdoor space, particular features or a structure that you would like to highlight with outdoor lighting. What you like most about your homes architecture, specific trees or plant you like. A walkway or path you would enjoy or use more if it was illuminated. A favorite pond or water feature. Features you love most in your outdoor kitchen or along your hardscaping that would look great with outdoor lighting.

Accent lighting,which is light gently grazing the surface of the stone, stucco, and brick will add depth and dimension your home’s architecture as well as showing the features. This home is a great example.

Accent outdoor lighting such things as an arbor, fence a statue or structure and trees will give you a dramatic and attention-getting visual lighting effect, creating a lighting scene with a backdrop as well as mimicking moonlights natural effects.

Water feature lighting.

Illuminating a water feature, pond or pool combines 2 effects, you might have some trees or plantings near the water that will look interesting with up lighting. You also get stunning mirrored images on the water’s surface, creating dreamlike effects rippling across the water’s surface.

Accent and illuminate a bridge over a water feature with outdoor lighting to highlight it’s features and create safety.

Path way outdoor lighting will create a sense of security along stone pathways and lawn walkways as well as adding a hint of intrigue to plant beds and boulders along the way.

Down lighting with lights placed up in trees shining thru the trees creates stunning shadows on the ground below mimicking moonlighting effects.

Patio and deck lighting will feature and accentuate all of the architecture, beauty and detail of your deck, patio, outdoor kitchen, hand railings, steps and more while creating safety.

Hardscape outdoor lighting brings out your stone features along with your outdoor kitchen, retaining walls, steps and more.

Call us Today 919-518-9950 Lite Visions Outdoor Lighting and Landscape Lighting Professionals Raleigh NC

5 Ways to Determine the Cost of Your Landscape Lighting

Posted on April 10, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

5 Ways to Determine the Cost of Your Landscape Lighting

AOLP June 7, 2018

By: Brandon Kuehler, CLVLT, COLD
http://blog.lightitright.com/blog/5-ways-to-determine-the-cost-of-your-landscape-lighting

When it comes to landscape lighting there is no standard cost structure – it is not a One Size Fits All world. Pricing of lighting can and does vary from State to State, City to City, and Provider to Provider – everyone uses something different and designs very differently than another. So when looking at landscape lighting and what you think the system of your dreams is going to cost take these 5 tips into consideration.

1) Quality of Materials

First and foremost – Quality of the materials being used by a certified lighting designer over a landscaper or handyman are going to be substantially higher and of higher and the warranties will meet the demands of these designers. Lighting designers have taken the time to increase their education in lighting and the differences in fixtures and their proper uses, LED options, quality installation methods, and have mastered the fine art of tricky installs. All of this training has taught designers how to spot a quality fixture over a cheap one and they prefer to use the best quality they can get to give their customers the experience they expect, and demand. Remember fixtures are NOT all the same – many are made of plastic or powder coated aluminum, and depending on the climate where you live those materials will crumble in a few years. For example, if you are in Houston, we have salt in the air from the Bay and that salt will eat away aluminum before you know it. You should be looking for fixtures made of SOLID brass or copper – those will withstand any climate and…..yardcrew!

2) Design

Are you looking for something straight forward or something with more detail? Depending on the difficulty of the design and installation your cost will vary. If you are looking just to up light the front of your house and there are only flower beds in front, well for most certified lighting designers that would be considered a straightforward installation. Now on the other hand, if you are looking to up light the front of your house, driveway with concrete, backyard with waterfall lighting in your pool and fence lights around the whole perimeter, and then add some lights into your fire pit that would be trickier and take a true expert to install so expect the cost of that to be substantially more than the straightforward up lights.

3) Special Features

Do you have a Fire Pit? Waterfall? Fountain? Putting Green? If you do and you want to highlight them to be able to enjoy them at night that takes extra time, special lighting, and special installation techniques. The end result is beautiful, but does cost more than just placing a light in the ground as a fair amount of labor goes into making these lights look like they have been there all along.

4) Concrete?

Do you have concrete in the way of where lights need to go to up light your house, along your pathway, do you want lights on your garage? Many think that because there is concrete present a light can’t go there….NOT TRUE! Now, is it easy – for a real professional lighting designer and their crew – YES! It does take a little more time but with the use of proper tools and experience, getting a light into already existing concrete is doable. Of course if you are in the process of pouring concrete and know you want lighting where it will be poured have your lighting expert get the prep work for your lights in before the pour happens, that will save you money and your lighting team time. NOTE: Not all lighting companies can do this – if you are quoted a “core” ask to see examples that company has done if they did not show you one at the time of your onsite meeting.

5) Scale

How large of an area are you looking to add lighting too? Do you just want the front of the house for security? Looking to have soft lighting in the front and back? Do you have a pool, putting green, dog run? Is your yard on a small plot or are you on acreage? The size of your home, property, and your end goals will really give you a better idea of what your lighting system cost will be. If you are acreage you should expect to spend more than someone in a master planned community. If you go into your onsite meeting thinking OK for my 5000 sq foot house on 1 acre with a pool I should expect a quote for $2500 you are going to be very surprised and sticker shocked when your quote comes in. Now if you go into your meeting thinking I will be looking at about $10,000 then you will be close to the ballpark. But, if you are only looking for certain areas to be done let your designer know this up front so that they do not provide you a quote for everything – you may want to see everything quoted, but don’t do this because you will just be hurting yourself in the long run and wasting the designers time as you will then decline their quote since it was more than you wanted to spend – even though they did exactly as you asked, showed you EVERYTHING when you really only wanted the front yard.

Landscape lighting can cost you $2500 or it can cost you $200,000, it is all up to you and what you want done and want to spend. Keep these 5 tips in mind when you start searching for your lighting designer. Remember hire a certified lighting designer and you will get the best product, design, and service for the right price – this is an investment, not something you should be redoing every few years (read this article to learn how to find the right expert). Nothing is apples to apples and professionals are not going to compete with your landscaper or handy man on price or materials, and there is a reason why, we know what we are doing and it is all we do.

We Fix Outdoor Lighting Installed By Landscapers or Homeowners

Posted on April 9, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting

One of the sad things in this industry is how many outdoor lighting manufacturers trying to push their products by giving a short class to landscape industry companies who stick lights in the ground and never come back to focus them properly and do not use good installation methods. Here are a few recent examples of what we fixed.

VOLTAGE PROBLEMS Outdoor lights getting 16 volts to a 12 volt light fixture and blowing bulbs on an old halogen system, we corrected the voltage and then installed all new LED lamps.

BAD WIRING Outdoor older halogen system browning out due to getting only 8 volts to some of the lights, there was corrosion in many wire splices and poorly done wire connections. We fixed the voltage and now they have an energy efficient LED system.

NO MAINTENANCE, system not working due to tree roots damaging cables and lights actually growing into tree roots. We ran some new wires replaced fixtures and re-lamped with new LED lamps.

DIFFERENT LAMP TEMPERATURES, lamps had been purchased at several different chains and were not all the same color temperature or beam spreads. We took out and reinstalled all new same color temperature LED lamps and the system looks brand new.

WHITE LIGHTS ON CREPE MYRTLES : There are several different color temperatures of LED lamps, some DO NOT look right on certain trees. We installed correct color temperature lamps along with a filter and now the Crepe Myrtles look natural lit up at night.

A Lighting Designer is someone who understands the science of working with light and shadow,using a pallate of many different outdoor lighting fixtures,lamp types,different color temperature lamps for different purposes as well as different lamp beams and shields, filters or louvers to shield light from peoples eyes so they can see only the effect, not the source. He might only use one fixture from a certain manufacturer that does one thing better for the specific outdoor lighting job.

A customer recently called and asked if I could look at updating their older lighting system and that they were getting a quote from their landscaper also after telling him about their lighting interest, I said No Problem I can guarantee my quote won’t be as low as his but feel free to call me to fix the landscapers work as I do it all the time.

A lighting designer installs the outdoor lighting system correctly the first time, with the bulletproof waterproof connections that will not be a problem down the road. He also checks to make sure all the light fixtures are getting the correct voltage and comes back the evening after the lighting install to properly focus the outdoor lighting system.

As a Lighting Designer who only installs outdoor lighting , we stand behind our outdoor lighting installs and use the best-LED lamps available to the professional outdoor lighting designer,I have overheard pond people and landscapers talking about once they pickup their check they simply do not care how long the lights last.

We are a member of the Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals, we are one of only a small handful of professional lighting designers in the NC area.

Please read our 5 star reviews on Google and give us a call about seeing your home in a new light

https://www.google.com/search?q=lite+visions+raleigh&oq=lite+visions+raleigh&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l3.7727j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x89ac596758afaaab:0xe909f0828895089b,1,,,

919-581-9950

Creating a private escape in your own backyard

Outdoor Lighting for safety and beauty in Raleigh NC

Posted on April 6, 2019April 2, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting

A lot of us in the Raleigh NC area like to spend as much time as possible outside during the summer months. However, that fun can often be cut short when night falls and you can no longer see or enjoy your outdoor space. Instead of moving indoors or trying to stay outside while blind, consider outdoor lighting as an option. Designed to work with the layout of your outside space, outdoor landscape lighting can make your outside space a more usable and enjoyable living area. You get a larger living space and you get to stay outside as long as you want to–it’s the best of both worlds!

Safety and visibility are the most important practical points to consider when it comes to changing an exterior space like a garden or patio area for outdoor living. If people are moving around in the dark, they can hurt themselves, hurt someone else, or even trample your plants because they can’t see. Especially if you’re moving between the house and your outdoor living area with food and drinks, visibility is extremely important. Nobody wants to be the one who ruins the party by spilling dinner on the floor on the way to the table! An effective way to deal with this issue is to install a few path lights to illuminate paths, walkways, and obstacles. If people can see where a path is, or where the terrain of the garden changes, they can move around in the space with much more ease and confidence. With outdoor lighting in place, both you and your guests can move around your outdoor living area with added safety, no matter how late you stay outdoors.

Looking at the practicalities of lighting is a necessary step when you’re looking to make your yard or garden into a prime living location during the hot months, but there is also the artistic side of the situation to consider as well. Lighting a space is not all that difficult, but no one wants to have bright floodlights hurting their eyes on a summer evening or to have a garden eyesore lit up at night so it becomes the focus of attention.

When you’re in the process of making your outside space into a living space, you can use your lighting to help create a sense of background and space, and to highlight (or hide) specific features. In many ways, your outdoor lighting plan is a way of decorating your garden or yard, much as you’d decorate or furnish a room. Landscape lighting design professionals can advise you regarding where to use solar landscape lighting for a soft glow and where to use wired lights for illumination that you can control more discretely. They can help you decide on the placement of lights that will highlight special garden features and take attention away from spots on your property that still need work! With the right lighting design, you can create an artistic space that you and your friends and family will be able to enjoy all summer long.

Outdoor living spaces are a wonderful addition to any home. Outdoor Landscape Lighting can help to make these spaces both practically and artistically pleasing so that you can eat, drink, and relax outside to your heart’s content, no matter how late it gets.

Showcase Your Home in Raleigh NC with Landscape Lighting

Posted on February 21, 2019January 24, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

Showcase Your Home with Landscape Lighting

AOLP September 17, 2018

By: Jason Sponzilli, CLVLT
https://sponzilli.com/showcase-your-home-with-landscape-lighting/

Strategically placing landscape lighting throughout your property is an essential part of showcasing your home. Illuminating your exterior allows neighbors and guests to share in the design and style you have created in your outdoor space. Whether inserting lights by a green screen of evergreens or highlighting one particularly beautiful tree in your yard, creating a lighting design that complements your home and suits your lifestyle provides a welcoming and safe entrance for family and guests.

Adding exterior lighting to your landscape design increases the amount of useable space that you and your family can share. Imagine doubling the size of your livable space by utilizing your outdoor areas well into the evening hours!

Introducing low-voltage, energy efficient lights to your backyard and patio can create a variety of settings throughout your landscape. Visualize a family-friendly patio with a wood burning stove, pizza oven, putting green, water feature, and comfortable lounge seating. Or envision a backyard oasis that spotlights your spectacular pool, pergola, fire pit, lush plantings, and intimate spa. Appropriate lighting enables you and your family to use your sport court for practice or recreation long after the sun goes down. Illuminating your backyard, walkways or paths, side yards, and driveway spaces creates more versatile outdoor spaces and leaves a lasting impression.

Properly positioned lighting not only highlights the features of a home, it offers a higher level of safety for the people you care about most. Icy sidewalks and driveways are dangerous but proper lighting can make them safer to negotiate during the winter months. Pesky deer and rodents can be deterred by placing motion sensors on some of your landscape lighting to give the illusion that they may be spotted. Dark pathways in side and backyards can also be lit for safe use.

A good landscaper uses many techniques such as silhouetting, shadowing, up lighting, and cross lighting — even moon lighting and more. A good design can highlight features you want to highlight and hide features you don’t. Allow the beauty of your home to shine anytime and be the envy of your neighborhood. The secret is in the design.

LED Retrofit into older outdoor landscape lighting systems Raleigh

Posted on February 2, 2019January 24, 2019 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

LED RETROFIT INTO OLDER LANDSCAPE LIGHTING SYSTEMS

Sometimes I will get a phone call from a customer in the Raleigh asking if it is possible to come and look at their 15 year old landscape lighting system in and around the Raleigh area and possibly retrofit it to the new LED bulbs. I am always glad to come look at an older existing system as long as it is a professionally installed system with professional landscape lighting fixtures and not some of the big box store lighting that someone installed themselves. If the light fixtures are high grade materials and there is an existing professional transformer in place and the wiring and connectors are still in good shape, it is possible to upgrade an older landscape lighting system to the new energy saving and green friendly LED bulbs. There are many options available ,from just retrofitting the existing fixtures with drop in LED lamps,to redoing the system’s connections,updating wiring and installing the new long lasting LED chip on board landscape lighting fixtures. Some of these nice fixtures even have a variable wattage and focus on the fixture.

Give me a call today to look at your old outdoor lighting system in the Raleigh NC area.

Light Visions Outdoor Lighting and Landscape Lighting

Raleigh NC

919-518-9950

Lite Visions Landscape Lighting Google Reviews

Posted on August 26, 2018February 18, 2020 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting, outdoor lighting professionals raleigh

Lite Visions – Landscape Lighting Raleigh

Raleigh, NC

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11 reviews

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Thomas Jones

1 review

a month ago

I am so pleased with my new lighting, installed last week by Joe after laying out the demo and design.
The fixtures are beautiful, high quality, and the outdoor lights look amazing at …More

Pat Sullivan

1 review

3 months ago

Love our new outdoor landscape lighting, Joe and Lite Visions are the best you will ever find. I have never dealt with a more precise person. Joe went out of his way to do a full night lighting demonstration for us and explain everything …More

Response from the owner3 months ago

Thanks Pat for allowing me do your lighting,I enjoyed meeting and speaking with you and your wife at the home show and can’t wait to do the back water feature.

Kathy Blair

2 reviews

3 months ago

‭Joe is extremely knowledgeable and a real lighting professional. He installed lights in our front yard and turned a dull looking yard into something very interesting and appealing. He will create a plan and communicate that plan, and then …More

Response from the owner3 months ago

Thanks Kathy , I am looking forward to adding some lighting at your home soon.

Rick French

1 review

3 months ago

I typically don’t write reviews but I couldn’t be more pleased with the professionalism, design and great work that Joe did for me, hence the exception here. He is a true pro who has provided lighting set-design for many major touring acts …More

Response from the owner3 months ago

Thanks Rick, I feel so fortunate to have been able to light your home’s beautiful architectural features that remind me of something that might have been seen in Greece or Italy.

Matthew Holman

3 reviews

3 months ago

Joe does the best Landscape lighting in the area! From his music touring days and professional lighting experience he knows the ins and outs of the lighting systems he is installing. I had several quotes from other companies which were …More

Response from the owner3 months ago

Thanks Matt, for the kind words and for allowing me to light up your beautiful home. It is always a pleasure to work with customers who truly appreciate what I do. I try to treat people like I would want to be treated and the look on your face when we first looked at the patio lights made it all worthwhile.

Ramakanth Kodumagulla

2 reviews

4 months ago

Decided to go to NC home show at State Fair Grounds and met Joe. He is very professional and extremely creative. He setup a demo system for one night and it looked stunning. Few of my neighbors were impressed as well. So we decided to get the lights installed. He made our home look great in the evening and we love it.

Response from the owner4 months ago

Thanks Rama,it was very nice meeting you and your wife and getting the chance to light your beautiful home. I am looking forward to being a part of the new outdoor patio installation later this year.

Phil Walters

1 review

4 months ago

Lite visions landscape lighting of Raleigh just finished a beautiful lighting job at my residence in Raleigh. I got Joe’s info from a neighbor whose house he had just lit and I am loving our new outdoor lighting. I was impressed with Joe’s …More

Cary Golfer

1 review

2 months ago

A neighbor had recommended Joe and Lite Visions Landscape Lighting in Raleigh to us. Joe spoke with me on the phone,came by one afternoon looked around the property,he then came back and absolutely convinced me he was the only person for …More

Holly Bishop

3 reviews

3 months ago

Joe did an amazing job with the lanscape lighting in our backyard. He is an expert at what he does and offered lighting ideas that completely changed the look and feel of our yard.

Response from the owner3 months ago

Thanks Holly, I appreciate the fact that you and Matt saw my night demo and liked it so much you decided to have me do your backyard lighting. People like you guys who appreciate my creativity make it all worthwhile. Thanks

Bob Johnson

1 review

5 months ago

Lite Visions Landscape Lighting of Raleigh recently did our homes outdoor lighting and we could not be more pleased with the outcome. Joe is a true lighting designer and a lighting artist and made our home and landscaping look great in the …More

Robert Hammond

4 reviews

3 months ago

If you want landscape lighting you can be the envy of your neighbors call Joe, he will make it happen. I don’t think there is anything he can’t do with accent and lighting, very professional.

Call Lite Visions today for your outdoor lighting project needs 919-518-9950

Raleigh Fall Ideal Home Show Outdoor Lighting

Posted on August 18, 2018February 18, 2020 by admin in Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting, outdoor lighting professionals raleigh

Make sure to stop by Lite Visions Landscape Lighting’s booth# 2129 at the Raleigh Fall Ideal Home Show

Sep 21-23, 2018 – North Carolina State Fairgrounds

Stop by and fill out a contact form for a show discount on your outdoor lighting installation