The Bright Ideas Blog

When the topic of holiday lighting comes up, it’s hard for me not to think of Clark Griswold from the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Clark, played by Chevy Chase, had a lighting style all his own – a style you and I might sum up into one word, excessive.

In one scene from the film, Clark’s asked if his house is on fire. He responds, “No, Bethany; those are Christmas lights.”

There’s a good chance your neighborhood has endured a Griswold house in the last 20 years or so. But in my experience, no one wants their house to look like it’s on fire. Fortunately for us, outdoor holiday lighting styles today are a bit more refined and better designed.

To help your home stand out in a good way this holiday season, here are three top holiday lighting trends for 2014 from Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah.

The process of Outdoor Lighting Design is a very important step in the overall process of a outdoor lighting project. This is the step where art and technique integrate to bring the landscape lighting professional into their own special niche. Many professionals, who are capable of constructing patios, decks, pergolas, steps, etc. outside your home, also offer the service of installation of an outdoor lighting system as a side service.  

A company like Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah only concentrates on Landscape Lighting Design, Installation and Maintenance of outdoor lighting systems. In all their marketing materials, they use the tag line “Art of Light”. This phrase actually gets at the soul of the outdoor  lighting industry. The Design Process of an outdoor lighting project is where the lighting professional collaborates with a home owner from the very beginning of that person’s decision to have a lighting system installed on their property.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains after the sweetness of the low price is forgotten”   Benjamin Franklin

This quote is so true in regards to the Landscape Lighting Industry.  You can go into “big box” hardware stores and find a complete lighting system in a box at a real attractive price.  Installation is relatively straight forward and doable.  In relatively little time you will have a landscape lighting system.  At that point, ask yourself how long will this system last before repair and replacement of parts will occur?  Maybe it will be a few years or a few months. (Remember, in Utah we have those long cold and snowy months of winter).  Or, you can contact Landscape Lighting Pro of Utah and consult and ask these questions to the lighting professional who has experience and expertise in the landscape lighting Industry, especially here in Utah.

As the days get shorter here in Utah, we begin the Summer Trek of high temperatures during the day and we find ourselves retreating beneath the shade trees or the coolness of the swimming pool or pergola.  The evening hours begin after sunset when we begin to enjoy our outdoor features with family and friends.  These are precious hours to relax and cool down from the heat of the day.

Your landscape lighting system is controlled on the macro level by your power transformer which can be time set, photo cell controlled or astronomically controlled.  Typically, your lighting system will come on at dusk and then turned off at a designated time like midnight.

This timetable has been a standard for low voltage lighting systems. There is an additional system to add versatility to your lighting system which can be remotely controlled. This is called a zone controlled system. This system can control individual sectors of your lighting system with dimming, eliminating sectors or controlling individual lights.

A few days ago I was inspired to write about this topic after a service call our team had performed. We received a phone call from a local home owner in Salt Lake City who had a landscape lighting project installed by his landscape contractor that had also provided a complete package installation including retaining walls, paver patio, water feature, jacuzzi, pergola, etc...

This particular home owner contacted me after a lot of frustration with his contractor failing to return his calls. The new 5 step paver stairs that were installed on the patio to the back entry of their home had tread step lighting installed for safety and functionality.

Out of the 10 lights installed 4 of them were not working. I certainly understood his frustration. He also shared with me that his wife had fallen one night as a result of this problem. To top things off, the problem was that 4 of these 10 lights never worked from the very beginning.

This blog is being written on Memorial Day May 26, 2014 ten days after the dedication of the Utah Freedom Memorial at the Sandy City Hall.  This memorial is in honor of ALL Utah military service men and women from the past to the present and for the future.  In particular, it honors Adam Galvez, a Sandy resident, who was killed in combat in Iraq serving his country and protecting the freedoms we all experience and cherish.

     When you are thinking about a landscape lighting design to enhance your evening outdoor experiences, consider in addition to your lawn and garden, your portals and gathering places.  Porches, decks and patios are essential links to the interior of your home as well as your transitions from your home to your outside areas.  These elements should be lit in a consistent flow of lighting both inside and out.  Segmenting and partitioning all these areas with your lighting only makes visual confusion for your family, friends and guests.  This is where a landscape lighting professional can bring their expertise and experience to the design and installation process.