The Bright Ideas Blog

If you're used to desert living, then you know the cooler evening temperatures are always a welcome relief. After the blistering heat of the day disappears with the setting sun, we get to enjoy time out on the patio or next to the pool with friends and family.

Illuminating your home and its beautiful desert features not only allows you and your guests to extend your evening enjoyment late into the night, it also enhances beauty and safety.

Lighting Your Outdoor Pool

Don't stumble around in the dark! Illuminating your pool deck and pathways will help you and your guests traverse your property safely at night. If you have elevated trees or elevated soffits coming off your house, this can be utilized to create a beautiful lighting effect with down lighting. Down lighting can create a resort like feel. Placing a fixture up high and aiming it downward will allow a soft wash of light to be cast down over steps, patios, etc. Down lighting can provide beautiful moon lit effects for you patio, pool deck, and pathways.

The Surrounding Landscape

When cast in the right, the landscape surrounding your outdoor living space can create a stunning backdrop.

Many desert homes showcase beautiful palms, cacti, and rock work. Creating an oasis can be accomplished when the right lighting effects are splashed over these different features.

It's important to not over light everything. Soft, warmly toned lighting levels should be our goal. 

Kelvin temperature, the color of the light, can also play an important role in desert landscapes. When cacti, for instance, are illuminated in the right kelvin temperature, their various colors can really pop. Click here to learn more about kelvin temperatures.

Outdoor Kitchens

Today's outdoor living spaces have evolved in so many ways. Outdoor kitchen areas are becoming more popular, and task lighting for them has become essential.

Lighting the outdoor bar top can really set the tone for the space and help elevate your kitchen to greater heights.

Having lighting for your grill helps you see what you are cooking. The last thing you want is for your medium rare to accidentally turn out well done.

Fire Pit

Who doesn't enjoy sitting around the fire pit at night?  Under cap lights hidden beneath the rock, like in the image above, illuminate the fire pit in an indirect way that reveals the ground around the fire pit. This is a great safety feature for you and your guests. 

Even if your fire pit is already built, under caps can still be incorporated with the right skills and know how. 

Conclusion

The desert landscape lighting surrounding your home isn't just about having pretty lights. Your outdoor living space, your personal escape from the rest of the world and hot summer days, should be enjoyed to the fullest after dark. The pool, patio, outdoor kitchen, and fire pit all benefit greatly from landscape lighting. Turning your backyard into a personal oasis can be achieved with the right lighting. 

Landscape Lighting Makes All the Difference

At Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah, the art of outdoor illumination is a real passion we work to perfect. Designing elegantly bespoke landscape lighting systems is simply all we do. For over 15 years, our award winning team of designers and craftsmen have striven to bring the best outdoor lighting experience possible to people’s homes and businesses across the Wasatch front and beyond.

If you have an upcoming project you’d like help with, call us at (801)440-7647 for more information, schedule a free consultation, or feel free to simply fill out a contact form on our website, www.utahlights.com

Located in Midvale, Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah installs, maintains, and repairs lighting systems throughout Utah's residential areas, including Salt Lake City, Park City, Draper, Davis & Utah Counties.