Landscape Lighting

Top Landscape Trends For 2020

The National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) has announced its official list of the top lawn and landscape trends for 2020. Crafted using the expertise of professionals across the country, NALP annually predicts design and maintenance trends that will inspire Americans to create healthy and beautiful green spaces.

“Foundational landscape elements remain on homeowners’ wish lists, but modern updates and technology are now a top priority. With a wave of design and technical innovations, our members report that ornate hardscaping, contemporary features, lush gardens, and smart irrigation are all trending and will influence landscape designs across the country in 2020,” says Britt Wood, CEO, National Association of Landscape Professionals. “This year’s trends showcase how homeowners of all generations desire a striking, custom and well-maintained outdoor space that benefits their community and the environment.”

The Five landscape trends that will define outdoor spaces this year:

Ornate, Geometric Hardscaping:

Professionals are noting an uptick in requests for intricate hardscaping patterns including waves, chevron, lattice, and basket weave to sweep the country. From walkways and patios made out of flagstone or pavers to retaining walls and fire features, homeowners are looking to integrate popular home décor patterns into their hardscape designs.

Contemporary and Transitional Landscape Design:

Boomers, gen Xers and millennials are seeking sleek, contemporary and simple landscape designs. Whether opting for an elegant outdoor kitchen, contemporary sculpture, or modern fire or water feature, professionals are seeing a shift towards simplistic designs. Multi-season functionality is essential as more homeowners are selecting elements that can survive a range of temperatures, such as native plants, heat lamps, and protective structures.

Bountiful Shades of Blue:

Landscape professionals anticipate rich tones of blue to make a striking impact in 2020. With PPG naming Chinese Porcelain, a cobalt and moody blue, and Sherwin-Williams declaring Naval, a strong and calming dark blue, as their respective colors of the year, experts predict these tones will influence the design of outdoor spaces this year. To add touches of the hue, homeowners could consider a blue sculpture or water feature. To incorporate shades of blue into gardens, look to plants such as blue fortune, delphinium, hydrangea, globe thistle or grape hyacinth.

Your Style, Your Garden Design:

Gardens serve as a relaxing escape for many across the country. From creating edible gardens for farm-to-table dining to planting gardens that produce favorite fruits, vegetables or herbs, homeowners are more aware of the options that exist for installing gardens that meet their personal needs. For smaller spaces, consider container gardens, vertical gardens and interiorscaping to create an outdoor garden oasis.

One-click, Remote Irrigation:

Technology continues to be a staple of the lawn and landscape industry. In 2020, homeowner demand will contribute to a rise in high-tech irrigation systems that deliver just the right amount of water to a lawn or landscape, conserving water and saving money in the long run. The latest irrigation systems are controllable from anywhere with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and smartphone apps or your Alexa or Google smart speaker to help maximize efficiency.

NALP develops its annual trends report based on member surveys and the expertise of landscape professionals from around the country. Along with industry insight, NALP trends are influenced by popular lifestyle shifts and designs, and reflect Americans’ growing passion for healthy, well-designed green spaces.

5 Backyard Remodeling Ideas That Will Attract Potential Buyers

By Jordan Swift of Innovative Building Materials

The condition and features of backyards are becoming more important to success in the residential real estate market. Homeowners are always looking for ways to increase the value and appearance before they put their house up for sale. The right backyard remolding ideas that will attract buyers can make the home selling process easier and more profitable.

It takes more than mowing the lawn and trimming the hedges to attract the right kind of buyers to your home. Critical attention will be made to all aspects of the home, with the exterior areas the most visible and providing the first impression of the house. Upgrades to the systems and structures of your back yard can go a long way in increasing the overall valuation of your home. Remodeling and renovation projects will add character and functionality to show prospective buyers the full value of the home.

Deck Building

Installing or remodeling a hardwood deck will improve the look of the entire property and offer an impressive selling point to attract potential buyers. A deck provides a spacious and versatile entertaining place for family and friends, or simply a nice place to enjoy some quiet time along outdoors without having to stray from your home. Including ample seating areas with benches, tables and chairs, and lounge chairs fills out space and provide natural gathering spaces. Fire pits and spas are luxury features that will only add to the attractiveness and value of the home.

Drainage Improvements

Ineffective or poorly maintained drainage systems can lead to standing water, leaking, and long-term damage to the structural integrity of the home. There are several ways to make drainage improvements that will attract potential buyers when it comes time to put your home on the market.

Drainage systems that prevent water from flowing downhill can result in serious damage with costly consequences. Remodeling or upgrading structure and landscape drainage on your property will increase the value of the home.

Installing porous, permeable pavement materials for patio and walkway areas is an eco-friendly option that improves the water drainage process in your backyard.

Adding Shade

If people are going to be spending a lot of time in the backyard, ample shade will be needed to maximize their comfort level throughout the day. Areas that protected from sunlight and weather elements can be achieved in different ways.

The planting of trees in your backyard adds character and style to go along with the shade they provide. Older trees will offer more shade and do more to increase the value of your home, but new trees are also a great selling point to help potential homebuyers see the future of living in the home.

Installing a pergola or porch ceiling will be like adding another room to the house, adding protection from the elements, shade, and overall resale value to the home.

Exterior Lighting

Advances in technology have made it easier than ever to install an impressive exterior lighting scheme with a wide range of operational options. Customize colors, styles, designs, and automated features to light up your backyard seating area, walkways, and lawns to set the mood and offer added security after dark.

The emergence of money and energy-saving LED technology makes lighting your backyard a cost-efficient option to attract potential home buyers to your property for sale.

Outdoor Kitchen

Installing a fully functional outdoor kitchen, complete with refrigeration, an oven and stovetop, and food preparation counter space provides everything you need to throw great outdoor parties and meals. Outdoor kitchens are impressive showpieces for prospective buyers and offer a great return on the investment.

Any experienced real estate agent will say that home renovation or remodeling projects can have a significant impact on the overall value of your home when it comes time to sell. Even if you are planning on staying in your home for many years to come, improvements made now, like planting some trees, for example, will be beneficial to the selling process down the line.

Jordan Swift is a contributor to Innovative Building Materials. He is a blogger and a content writer for the building materials industry with an interest in landscaping and outdoor remodeling. Jordan is focused on educating homeowners, contractors, and architects on innovative materials and methods of construction that increase property value, improve sustainability, and create a warm and welcoming ambiance.

Benefits of Landscape Lighting

One of the best ways to create a great aesthetic vision on your property is to utilize landscape lighting outside your home. Not only is this a great way to decorate your front yard area, it is also an effective safety measure that can keep intruders away from your house.

However, there is always a question of which type of lighting works best: LED or halogen.

There are pros and cons for both, and it is worth exploring them in detail so that you can make the best decision as to which one is more appropriate for your landscape lighting project.

Halogen Landscape Lighting Pros

A major benefit of halogen lights is that they are cheap. In fact, they are cheaper than LED lights, which means you can spend far less money on many of them when you are using landscaping lighting on your property.

Depending on the brand and wattage as well as the size of bulbs you purchase, you can expect to spend anywhere from $4 to $10 per bulb.

The quality of lighting of halogen bulbs is generally considered very good. This means that they are great for landscape lighting.

You should experience a good amount of brightness for your property, which is both good for aesthetics and safety. Halogen lights are also capable of being used with a timer. This means you can use them in your landscape and have the timer tell them exactly when they should light up or turn off.

In particular, low voltage halogen lights are good options when you are looking to save energy with your landscape lighting. They are generally low on energy, although they are not inordinately so.

You can expect to save around 20 percent on your energy bills overall when using halogen lights for landscaping.

In general, you can place your halogen lights anywhere, whether high or low. This means you have a lot more flexibility with your landscape lighting when you rely on halogen.

Halogen Landscape Lighting Cons

Unfortunately, in spite of the cheap cost of halogen lights, they do not last very long when compared with other types of lighting.

This type of landscape lighting will actually end up costing you more in the long run due to the fact that they only last from 2,000 to 5,000 hours total. What this means is that you will have to replace them more often, which can add up over time.

The costs for wiring halogen lights can also be pricey. You may shell out more money for the fixtures and other parts just to get the lights running.

Maintaining halogen lighting might end up being more trouble than it’s worth in the long run, especially when you have 100 or more bulbs in your landscape lighting setup.

Additionally, you must keep halogen light bulbs that are working off of the same system positioned at an equal distance from the transformer. This is necessary for the sake of consistency and can be a burden over time.

LED Landscape Lighting Pros

Although LED lights are more expensive to buy, in the long run, they are worth it. This is because they have a much longer life than halogen bulbs at anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 hours. You can rest assured that your landscape lighting will burn bright for much longer than one year. You can expect to get at least a good 10 years out of your LED lights, depending on use.

Like halogen lights, the lighting ability of LED lights is very good. You will get great quality out of your landscape lighting when you use LEDs.

Maintenance costs are much less frequently needed and end up being less money with LED lighting. You will not have to do much in that regard, and this type of lighting is much more energy efficient.

In fact, you can save up to 80 percent of your typical energy costs when you use LED lights for your landscape lighting.

LED Landscape Lighting Cons

Initially, LED lights really can be expensive for the average homeowner. Depending on the type of bulb and its wattage, you can expect to shell out anywhere from $20 to nearly $100 per bulb.

If you choose LED lights to use in your landscape lighting, it is recommended that you place their fixtures higher up in a place that is difficult to reach.

This is largely due to the fact that it will allow you to save costs on maintenance. LED is much more easily damaged when placed in lower areas.

LED vs. Halogen Landscape Lighting

Overall, you will benefit more from using LED lights for your landscaping due to the fact that it is less expensive to maintain and gives you more flexibility in your designs.

Although halogen lights are far cheaper to buy, they won’t last anywhere near as long and you will find it pricier to have to maintain them over time. LED lighting also has the edge due to their greater efficiency, which means you will save a lot more – up to 80 percent – on your energy bills.

Halogen lights are generally better if you want more flexibility with the design of your landscape lighting.

Great Landscape Lighting Ideas

After you have an idea of which type of lighting you prefer to use, you will want to begin thinking about what type of landscape lighting design to use.

Of course, there are many different ways you can go about bringing your landscaping lighting ideas to life. It’s best to talk with a landscape lighting contractor for help with the design and installation of your lighting.

If you have a lovely walkway in front of your house that leads up to your front door, you can have a little fun with it. If you are like a lot of other homeowners, you probably have plants creating a fashionable walkway to your home, such as shrubs. Consider winding some small bulbs in the plants so that you have an area that it lit up and draws attention to your landscape.

You can do something somewhat similar with your landscape lighting if you have a stone walkway that leads to your front door. This is a great design idea whether you have steps or not. Place your lights on either side of the stone walkway so that they create a line that leads right up to your doorway.

For many homeowners, incorporating an outdoor pond in the front of their house or even a backyard waterfall is one of the most beautiful ways to utilize landscape design.

You can take that a step farther by adding gorgeous lighting to these areas. Place lights inside your pond or as a decorative border around it to really enhance your outdoor living space.

A common trend among homeowners is incorporating beautiful landscape lighting ideas into the garden.

For instance, if you have some flowering plants in a distinctive pattern along your property, whether in your garden or front yard, you can use lighting fixtures inside of stakes to hold the plants in place in the soil. This type of landscape lighting serves a dual purpose of lighting a path along the area as well as keeping the plants affixed so that they can thrive and blossom.

It may seem odd, but an uneven and irregular setup with your landscape lighting can really work well in some settings.

Instead of following a regular pattern of lighting up a path on your property, consider placing lights in a more irregular manner so that random areas are lit up.

It will probably surprise you that they will look even more beautiful than if they were arranged in any particular way. Moon lighting is an absolutely gorgeous way to play with lights in your landscape.

You can light up a good deal of your property by placing lights very high up in the trees. As a result, you will find that your home will have more of a woodsy feel and will appear to be spotlighted. One thing to keep in mind with this type of landscape lighting, however, is that you will have to get the lights at least a good 30 to 40 feet up in the trees. It’s best to hire a landscape lighting company to help. Consider this design method to create a dreamy effect. It works well if you have a body of water on your property or simply a stone walkway.

If you have a patio or terrace, you can light it up beautifully by placing your landscape lighting high up in surrounding trees. This is an excellent way to light up the area at night and sit with family or friends without having to be bothered by harsh lighting. You can even use bulbs that are of a different color for an even cooler effect.

This method will make it seem as though the lighting is more indirect, which makes for a more soothing experience while out on the patio or terrace. It is referred to as “indirect lighting.”

Once you’ve decided the landscape lighting design you would like to use in your yard, be sure come by any of our stores and see our display by Corona Lighting!