From path and deck lighting surrounding your poolscape to actual in-pool lighting, your pool lighting can do more than provide a safety feature: it can also create an inviting ambiance. The atmosphere of your pool area can be especially conducive to intimacy, excitement, or relaxation, depending on your personal preferences and desires. Of course, none of that will be accomplished if you don’t have enough light to make your pool area safe for nighttime use. Like pool heaters, the right pool lighting can help you extend the usefulness of your pool not only into summer evenings, but also into the fall months when the sun sets earlier.
Pool Lighting Distinctions
When you consider lighting your pool area, you first need to realize that this particular lighting will be different from other landscape lighting used throughout your backyard oasis; instead of illuminating areas which people simply view or walk through, it will be lighting a space where people will remain for an extended time period. You may, of course, want more or less dramatic lighting, based on your personal taste, but what you do not want is something harsh or blinding. You should also know that in addition to the incandescent in-pool lighting of past generations, today’s swimming pool lighting also offers LED and fiber optic options.
Pool Lighting Placement
You’ll want to make sure that the walkways leading from your home to your pool are well lit. The same path lights you choose for that purpose can be used to surround the pool, offering a coordinated look. Instead of positioning them in grass where they can be easily damaged by lawn mowers, you’ll want to place them in planting beds. Ideally, your landscape lighting should be in strategically placed landscaping beds — either several grouped together or a single, significant bed. When landscape beds predictably border the paving surrounding your swimming pool and lighting enhances those areas, you’ll stand to achieve a unified look along with a stunning atmosphere. An added bonus that accompanies the lighting surrounding your pool is that it reduces the need for in-pool lighting, keeping light-attracted insects out of your pool water.
Pool Lighting from Above
Think about it: most of your evening guests will spend more time in the area surrounding your pool than actually swimming in it. As they cook and socialize on the patio surrounding your pool, you’ll want to make sure that the spaces they frequent will be well lit. Mimicking light from natural sources, lighting from above can help meet this need while also creating quite the dreamy setting. If you have a tree canopy or pergola, you already have the ideal framework from which to hang moon lights. Either white light or a variety of colors can be used, depending on the mood you wish to create. With computer-controlled systems, you can even change color and mood at the touch of a button.
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