Ready for a Brighter Winter? Get Started Here

When it comes to outdoor lighting fixtures in the pacific northwest, quality is of utmost importance. Our cold and wet winters coupled with our hot and dry summers means your lighting fixtures will need to endure harsh elements in order to last. This means quality wiring, seals, and internal components are critical to the longevity of your system. After all, an outdoor lighting system is only as strong as its cheapest components. For these reasons, we primarily use FX Luminaire at GRO. This brand has decades of experience building top-quality lights that last years and years while also adding beauty to our landscapes. The LED bulbs this company uses last ~50,000 hours (50x longer than incandescents), are dimmable, and the use warm light to simulate traditional incandescents and compliment the natural colors of your landscape. Below are the fixtures we recommend most and examples of them installed.

Path Lights

Pathlights are great because they serve a functional purpose and add beauty to your landscape. FX Luminaire has many varieties of their pathlights so you can customize your space to your liking. Many people are initially interested in solar path lights because of their low cost, their installation is as simple as sticking them in the ground, and they don’t draw any electricity. These are great features on paper, but the reality is solar pathlights that do not put out as much light and usually only last a season or two. For homeowners that are serious about their outdoor lighting, we strongly recommend installing a wired LED system. These offer a brighter and longer lasting system that is extremely energy efficient because of the LED bulbs.

Uplights

Uplights create ambient lighting by shining direct light on plants and features you’d like to highlight in your landscape. This style of light is what brings a landscape to life at night. We use them just as frequently as our path lights for this reason. FX Luminaire offers a variety of uplights that can be matched to your pathlights to create a cohesive look and feel to your landscape lighting. 

Recessed Lights

Recessed lighting is a great way to add light to covered areas and roof overhangs. They’ll add ample light to home exteriors and outdoor living spaces with just the flick of a switch. The important thing to note for exterior recessed lighting is that special fixtures will need to be used because of outdoor temperature and moisture conditions. The appropriate fixtures will have a damp/wet rating (damp for exposure to humidity and condensation, wet for exposure to direct water) and will be made to withstand temperature swings. 

These are the most commonly used outdoor lights here at GRO, for more varieties of landscape light. Check out our previous blog here.