Lighting in landscape design

A house in Oakville, in addition to being a place of permanent or seasonal residence, also provides an excellent opportunity for self-fulfillment. And the easiest way to do this is to devote yourself to improving the surrounding landscape.

The work will be not only planting plants and breakdown of beds, but also to give the garden a special charm. If during the day for this atmosphere will be responsible for the flowers and decorative elements, then in the evening it will be the responsibility of the landscape lighting in Oakville. This is a fairly large area of work in the design of the homestead. The arrangement of lighting has its own subtleties and requires a serious approach to the implementation of ideas.

How lighting is created in landscape design

High-quality garden lighting can provide only a multilevel system of wisely grouped correctly directed lighting elements. They will have to simultaneously perform both the main functional task of illuminating the territory, and decorate its space with their glow.

The layout of the lighting fixtures is usually created during the final phase of the landscape design process. Presenting landscape lighting fixtures should accentuate the best views from windows, mark the private areas and represent the front. Then determine the adequacy of the points of placement of lighting structures and pre-estimate how powerful should be in their lamps. This will also decide:

• the number and type of lighting fixtures landscape lighting, which will need to purchase;
• color solution of the dome;
• the direction of the light flux.

Landscape details that need to be illuminated

Be sure to illuminate all the obstacles on the site, whether they are natural or man-made. First of all, is arranged lighting ponds in the landscape design. It requires a special approach. If you make a perimetric backlighting, then even the puddle will seem  inordinately deep, almost a dark abyss.

But the location of light sources at the bottom or directly on the surface of the water object, will produce just the opposite effect, and instead of a black frightening abyss on the site will appear mysterious pond, for example.

It is good to hide decorative landscape lighting fixtures in the crowns of plants. Shrubs and trees gain volume, and the site is enriched with a luminous object of ornate shape.

Alpine hill – a great place to turn the imagination. Lighting such an element in the landscape design can be made as a single floor lamp, installed on top, and several flat lights, stacked in the base. Either solution will certainly enrich the composition and advantageously present its most successful elements.

You can resort to a non-standard option for landscape lighting and let the alpine slide with a glowing serpentine, garland. If there is no need to accentuate any details of the object, it is better to remove the lamps from it. In this case, such representatives of landscape lighting as directional lights will be good. Surrounded by them the rockery will look natural.

Flowerbeds and flower beds can be illuminated in a non-standard way, using as a lamp an old wide vase of glass. Inside the container is laid bulbs, working on solar energy. The vase is placed in the center of the bed, turning it upside down and slightly digging. The soft light of the solar lamps will be quite enough to emphasize the beauty of the blooming plants.

But paths are illuminated not only for decorative purposes. It is also relevant aspect of safety, so you need to make an adequate selection of lighting designs. They must match the architectural design of the walkways.

Types of landscape lighting Oalville

Before we begin to deal with the variety of ways to organize lighting in landscape design, it should be noted that the lighting can be presented as:

• general;
• accent lighting.

By properly balancing the flooding general light and accent lighting, you can achieve a high artistry of the decorated area.

Creating a light design project, you need to highlight the main objects and background elements of the overall picture, to designate focal points, and then form between all of this smooth transitions.

Ways to light your landscape

To make the homestead territory in the evening hours is not less attractive than during the day, you need to light it competently. In fact, the development of a lighting project is a set of certain techniques. This is a combination of different levels of landscape lighting schemes and lamps.

So, the site should be:

1. general lighting.
2. floral lighting.
3. Architectural lighting.
4. backlighting of water bodies.

General lighting

Its task is to emphasize the layout of the territory, to show the location of major objects, access roads, grounds, gazebos, buildings, etc. Landscape lighting in Oakville is provided here by fixtures such as:

• lanterns;
• floodlights;
• decorative pillars;
• pendant lamps;
• bollards.

Flora illumination

In any landscape, there are green spaces that can be highlighted with a stream of directional light. This is a great way to turn flowerbeds, rockeries, rock gardens, alpinaries, trees and shrubs into art objects. With skillful landscape lighting, they will play with new colors.

What height, power, type of light supply to choose lighting fixtures will depend on the size and shape of the plants, the texture of their trunks, light-absorbing capacity of leaves and their seasonal variability.

Architectural Lighting

“Designing architectural lighting in landscape design, necessarily take into account the shape, proportions and design of the house, especially the transition of some architectural forms into other, the color scheme of facade finish”.

This method of lighting in landscape design is designed to emphasize the beauty of the architecture of buildings. The emphasis is placed on the individual fragments of houses, the texture of the walls, the originality of the roof. Preference is given to elegant with good design, lighting structures, which are installed on the canopies of buildings, their walls or buried in the ground. For greater efficiency, you can try combinations of lights.

Backlighting a structure allows a home to remain attractive in the evening hours. Designing architectural lighting in landscape design, be sure to take into account the shape, proportions and construction of the house, the features of the transition of some architectural forms into other, the color solution of the facade. This will help determine the point of installation of lamps and the angle of filing them light streams.

The task is complex, so it makes sense to resort to the services of professionals. They have knowledge of the latest technologies in landscape lighting and practical skills that will allow to realize any fantasy regarding the arrangement of the night garden. 

Artistic highlighting of objects, except for the professional approach, also requires a specific lighting equipment. In landscape lighting modern fixtures can reproduce the entire light patterns on the walls of buildings, create dynamic lighting and original tracking light. Here you need to play with the intensity and color spectrum of the outgoing beams, as well as the direction of their filing. Designers use three basic home lighting schemes.

Flood lighting

Its task is to illuminate the building as a whole. The reception is relevant for lighting large-scale constructions, usually non-residential type. The object is vividly shown in the dark by powerful landscape lighting fixtures: floodlights mounted on the ground or nearby buildings, and street lamps.

Their rays clearly show the shape of the object and all the original details of its finish. The presence of floodlighting is mandatory in the landscape design of church sites, palaces of culture, museums, as well as in places where at night there is a lot of life. 

Local illumination

Their beams illuminate only the most expressive parts of the facade decor and emphasize the peculiarities of the building structure. It’s a great way to highlight balconies, balustrades, cornices and friezes. To achieve the effect a group of spotlights is used, giving a directional light flux. They are installed directly on the facade of the illuminated object.

Concealed lighting

A relatively new trend in landscape lighting. The task of the lights is not to illuminate the walls, but to create a unique light pattern on them. You can not only follow the architectural relief of the structure, but also create arbitrary decorative compositions.

Backlighting of water reservoirs

Illuminated water objects will certainly become an accent zone of any territory. With the right approach to choosing for this type of landscape lighting Oakville fixtures, streams, waterfalls, ponds, lakes, pools and fountains will look like real works of art.

Conclusion

There are many options for lighting in landscape design in Oakville. The leading criteria for choosing its scheme are financial opportunities and the vision of the object by the customer. The right solution – a pledge of comfort in the garden and park area at night and its round-the-clock decorativeness. Trust the arrangement of the landscape specialist and believe me, the result will be worth the effort and money!

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Often, in order to decorate the yard, owners resort to the services of professionals. Of course, an experienced landscape designer knows the techniques that can turn any site into a sample of elegance and good taste. However, a simple landscaping design in Toronto can provide your own forces. This requires inspiration, patience and imagination.

Issues of registration of garden plots, suburban plots, adjacent territory are always of concern to their owners. A plot of land requires a lot of attention and effort. Here you always want something to improve, add, redo, radically change … To help comes a simple landscaping design – the art that allows you to transform the untended, overgrown area in a well-maintained and harmonious garden.

Simple landscaping design takes into account many factors: the topography, soil, climatic conditions. No less important is the expression of preferences, style and lifestyle of the owners of the territory. In the arrangement of land plots used two approaches: preserving the original natural beauty or create a radically new image. As a rule, designers choose the golden mean, ennobling the natural base of spectacular landscapes.

Stages of a simple landscaping design

A memorable, picturesque, yet simple landscaping design requires preparation:

• Initially, the site is divided into zones, in which the garden, vegetable garden, flowerbeds, recreation area, area for children, household area.
• In the second stage, a graphic drawing with the designation of paths, landscaping and landscaping elements is made. At the same time, a landscaping plan is developed – an integral part of the landscape design. After all, the territory of the future site – a continuation of the country house or cottage, on which lawns, decorative ponds, orchards with fruit trees and shrubs are harmoniously arranged. The selection of plants is made taking into account the climatic conditions and lightness of the territory.
• The next step is to equip the territory with an artificial pond. The source of moisture will fit harmoniously into the environment, will bring romance, will allow the growth of many types of moisture-loving plants (water lilies, lilies). Rest area, gazebo near the pond is an ideal solution to restore strength. According to feng shui the pond should be placed in the lowest place of the site or where there is less vegetation. This will not allow the negative energy of these places to come to the surface.
• Decorative lawn and rock garden decoration is a fresh solution that will serve as a decoration for any area. After all, the lawn is the perfect backdrop for a flower garden – it performs the function of maintaining a certain level of humidity, absorbs noise. As a rule, the mixture for ordinary lawns contains hardy, hardy varieties of grass (meadow-grass, red fescue). Care for it is not difficult, it requires regular mowing every seven to ten days, the necessary irrigation. When creating a stone garden, it is required to take into account the combination of stones with other materials – plants, water, decoration of the house. Decorative lighting will give the compositions a spectacular appearance at any time of day.
• If deadlines are running short, you can use a quick landscaping option – planting large trees. This complex procedure requires preliminary preparation of the root system of trees and takes place with the participation of specialists.
• It is important not to forget that any simple landscaping design needs modern automated irrigation systems, which is taken into account in the design.

Little tricks and simple solutions for simple landscaping design

Specialists often use methods that add zest to the simplest solutions, charge the space of the garden plot with positive energy, contribute to a full-fledged rest. These methods for simple landscaping design can apply and you on your site! Today, at the peak of popularity techniques that can be used in the design or improvement of the territory of the finished garden:

• A sense of naturalness and harmony in the garden can be achieved through winding paths. They seem to have no beginning and no end! This way you can visually extend the boundaries of the plot. Another technique – the path skirts the real objects (lanterns, decorative elements), adding a naturalness and harmony to the landscape.
• Charming rockery or alpine hill, which mimics the landscape of the mountain slopes, it is not difficult to create their own hands. Alpine garden is located on a hilly or uneven terrain. Material for the hill – the stones and flowers, you can pick up according to the general idea. The principle of the combination of plants is to ensure that the flowering all season with the periodic change of colors. Often unpretentious, frost-resistant plants are preferred.
• Achieve a sense of volume and fullness of the garden plot will help the following technique. On the bank of the pond should be placed vertical stone height of about two-thirds of human height. At the foot of the stone is important to plant any flowing plant. In front of this stone or in the pond is set another, similar in outline, vertical stone, about five times smaller than the first. The composition of twin stones attracts attention, induces quiet contemplation, philosophical reflections. If there is no pond on the site, a similar technique can be used, creating a small composition of stones.

You can also order a simple landscaping design service from us in Toronto and throughout the GTA!

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Construction landscaping and garden construction

Construction landscaping is a measure for the improvement of the land to create a zone of comfortable living and recreation. It is a rational transformation of the territory: the proper distribution of buildings, recreation areas, landscaping. Landscape architecture and construction – a complex multi-step work, including the implementation of pre-project analysis of the territory, the creation of sketch design, approval of the master plan, its implementation on the territory.

What garden construction includes

Construction landscaping includes:

• Preparation of the site for construction
• laying of drainage systems
• reconstruction of natural ponds
• modeling of paths and squares
• planting of trees and bushes
• laying out garden lighting
• lawn and flower beds
• establishment of rockeries and alpine rocks
• construction of auto irrigation systems

Features and scope the construction landscaping are determined on the basis of a master plan, which takes into account how extensive changes to be carried out.

At what stages do you order the service construction landscaping

Ordering the services of a landscape designer is needed at the stage of:

1. site acquisition
2. construction planning
3. Right after construction

Before you buy land for construction consulting a designer is necessary, as not every site is suitable for the implementation of the wishes of the client to improve it. A specialist will help to avoid mistakes when buying, which are sometimes very difficult to correct.

Consultation with a specialist before starting work will help to develop a site for construction, so you can implement ideas for landscaping.

However, even after the construction is not too late to take advantage of the advice of a landscape designer who will help create a plan of improvement and landscaping of the site.

Construction landscaping techniques

Landscape design creates with the use of computer programs, allowing you to see in three dimensions the final result of site planning. The design involves a combination of traditional and modern technologies in construction landscaping.

The device garden paths

Paths – the basis of the improvement of the entire plot. The material used to cover paths is limited only by the imagination of customers. In addition to traditional paving tiles are used:

• clinker brick
• wooden elements
• natural stone
• bulk items
• polymeric coating
• concrete slabs

The choice of material for road and construction landscaping depends on the functional load. Particular attention – driveways, places of frequent walking. But do not forget about the material for the foundation of paths: it is also worth choosing based on the functional load of the latter. Geotextile is widely used as a basic base when creating garden paths.

Geosynthetics saves the cost of sand, prevents deformation of the terrain, the subsidence of the path under heavy loads, controls moisture and the work of the drainage system.

Arrangement of water compositions

The high level of development of design technologies allows you to create a variety of objects of landscape and garden construction, as well as to equip natural or artificial ponds. These can be ponds with standing water (pond, swamp, marsh) or flowing (stream, fountain, cascade, waterfall). A small waterfall or pond on the site give the dynamics of the landscape.

The stages of creating water reservoirs are as follows:

• preparation of the pit
• laying of communications and drainage system
• waterproofing
• decorating
• filling with water

To ensure that the water in the pond was always transparent, set the purification system.

Small architectural forms

These objects of mass use (street lamps, flowerpots), decorative objects (sculptures, gazebos, fountains) and platforms for outdoor activities (sandpits, swings, slides). Small decorative forms include garden furniture, fences.

It is impossible to imagine a garden plot without the objects of the construction landscaping, they fill the space, creating a characteristic style.

Stages of construction landscaping

The improvement of the site – a painstaking long work, which requires effort and enthusiasm. Landscaping is not the privilege of wealthy people: even a family with average income can improve their plot.

Stages of construction landscaping Toronto:

• project creation
• site planning according to the ready project
• civil engineering works
• planting

From the project depends on how the homestead will look like after the work is completed. At this stage, choose a style of design (regular, landscape, oriental), make a plan of communications, alternation of buildings with the green area. At the planning stage it is necessary to provide drains for water removal after rain.

Engineering and construction work involves the laying of underground utilities, structures, geodetic support of construction landscaping, construction of buildings, decorative ornamentation of the territory. This is a practical implementation of the created plan.

The final stage – landscaping: arrangement of flower beds, lawns, planting large trees.

How much time will it take to improve the garden plot? It depends on the volume of the order. On average, the implementation of the entire complex of works together with landscaping takes 2 – 5 months.

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