Every house in Texas has light, but few houses have lighting designs that add aesthetic preeminence to the physical dwelling itself. The universal nature and psychological power of light make it the most effective decorative element available to man when layered proportional to architecture, landscaping, and indigenous vegetation surrounding the residence. The complexity of truly impeccable house lighting requires a level of expertise and sophistication simply not available through retail channels or online superstores that push bargain products without any corresponding design or installation services. However, when installed correctly by a professional firm such as Illuminations Lighting and Design, fixtures remain hidden and glare disappears altogether. All that remains is a house enveloped by light as if magically illuminated from a powerful, unseen source.
The term house lighting differentiates from home lighting by referencing proprietary methods of architectural and landscape lighting that distinguish and compliment the physical structure of the house and the aesthetic elements of the surrounding property. Because our team cross trains and partners with a number of architectural and landscaping firms, we are able to synthesize outdoor lighting elements with architectural lighting themes so that every aspect of our design points at least a portion of the light back toward the house itself—making it appear the central, dominant feature of the landscape.
The architecture of a house distinguishes it as a unique residence of a distinctive individual style, design, and nature. Because of this fact, effective architectural house lighting constitutes an absolute design requirement upon whose quality the success of the entire project depends. To meet this challenge, we position special fixtures at key points on roofs and along walls so as to keep them hidden from viewers on the ground. We utilize advanced CAD software that enables us to customize beam spread and “wash” the entire surface of the house in light. We then accentuate gables, window shutters, balconies, and ornamental fixtures with additional uplighting or downlighting fixtures that add a second, more prominent layer of light in select places. Many custom home clients have remarked that from a distance their house now appears to be almost made out of light.
We then compliment the lighting of the house with additional layers of illumination positioned and distributed throughout the property. One of the many ways we do this is to turn darkness into a servant of light by creating moon shadow effects on the ground. Mercury vapor lights carefully concealed in trees cast pools of light downward onto the earth so as to combine soft light with shadow and to form moving patterns that enhance vegetation, water features, pathways, patios, porticos, and Southern-style porches. We can then add accent lighting to landscape and house lighting by giving extra emphasis to decorative elements that homeowners most desire to showcase, bringing out the rich color and texture of outdoor sculptures and structures and making the greenery, garden, and resident water features clearly visible at any hour of the night.
As every house and yard require a clear sense of boundary to set themselves apart from neighboring properties, tree canopy lighting envelops the entire perimeter of the property in an intimate circle of illumination that delineates the property line, highlights the wood and foliage of the trees, and balances the house light with outdoor lights that work toward completing the project with a unified theme. Up lights positioned on the ground shine illumination onto branches and leaves above with beam-spread proportional to tree growth, age, degree of foliage, and general form. This helps make the illuminated house appear in harmony with nature. Further harmony develops by lighting the larger trees (if present) that stand next the house itself and partly overshadow the roof. With a combination of up lighting and down lighting, trees immediately adjacent to homes can dual function as decorated compliments to building style and simultaneously house mercury vapor lights that scatter moon shadow movements along hedges and flowerbeds next to the walls. We are Tree Lighting Specialists.
Our award-winning professionals have worked for many years throughout Houston and greater Texas in all of our city’s most exclusive neighborhoods. Knowing that every home is a homeowner’s castle regardless of size, we have made it a point to develop custom solutions for every home—not just homes classified as custom. Call Illuminations today to see what we can do to make your home a world of light that enhance your lifestyle with satisfaction and sophistication.
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