Lighting

I just got home from work, its 7.10pm and it’s dark, if you’re like me you’ll get your dinner and then perhaps get a chance to get out into the back garden for a cuppa and a ciggy! I have plenty of lights in my own garden and therefore its easy for me to find my way around, but if you have not yet invested in a good lighting system now is a great time to get cracking!
You get two gardens for the price of one with a good lighting system. Many of our gardens have plenty of day time clutter, kids bikes, swings – those awful trampolines and the dreaded washing line! A lighting system can shadow off these areas and highlight the better parts of our gardens, giving light to the entertaining areas and masking off the unwanted areas. Cleaver lighting is an essential ingredient in a well designed garden and the variety of lighting available today is stunning.
A good lighting plan is vital to getting it all right. Testing the scheme at night, moving highlights and introducing shadow areas will make your garden a haven at night. Motion sensor spot lights are not what we are talking about here, garden lighting should be elegant and graceful it should highlight the best areas and shadow the others. Your underwear may be very fancy, but you don’t want to put a spot light underneath it to show it off at night!

There are three main categories of lighting,

Mains lighting
Low voltage lighting
Solar powered lighting

Mains lighting is of course the biggest and brightest of the bunch, it must be installed and commissioned by an expert, it not the sort of stuff you want to mess up over a weekend project. Mains lighting connected through dimmer junctions can be used to vary the output of lights and this is a great feature to have. The ability to dim all or individual lights is a very nice feature to your lighting display. Junction boxes are widely available for outdoor use with dimmer capabilities and are also available with remote control. Safety is paramount and suitable cable and trip switches must be used. Mains lights are usually the most expensive of the group, as there lighting capabilities require better construction and safety standards.

Low voltage lights are easy to install, very economical to buy and also to use. Again installation by an expert is advisable. In this category you’ll find all sorts of lights available, spotlights, path lights, strip lights and down lights. The lighting industry as a whole has really made the effort to make this range user friendly and attractive. The introduction of LED’s has again widened the market and the range of LED lights is fantastic. LED are particularly useful as spot lights they give a great amount of light as compared to their use of power. There is also a great range of lights available that can be inserted into decks and patio’s, walls and also mounted lights.

Solar lights are certainly becoming more popular and I would love to say that they could be used solely in a scheme but to date they just haven’t come up to the mark in output. They can of course be used as a permanent lighting source which compliments the other two groups. They are very easy to install good value and have zero running costs. I would imagine that over the next few years solar lights will get even better, the advantage of having no cables is fantastic as it reduces safety requirements, it means that anyone can install them and they are also easy to move around to change scheme if required.

You should be able to find a few bargains as most of the big stores are clearing out for Christmas stock. You should seek advice from the stores and always read the instructions carefully. Good luck – Lights action!