Isn’t it true that smart pool lighting can make or break the aesthetic of your backyard at night?
Pool lighting is more than just a matter of convenience. It’s all about setting the tone and putting on a spectacular nightlight show for your friends and family in your Scottsdale home. A well-lit pool may generate a warm ambience, a tranquil vibe, or even a Vegas-style party environment.
Even when it’s pitch-black outside, it’ll make you want to plunge right in. When it comes to pool planning and inground pool ideas, both homeowners and pool builders desire a stunning, seamless outdoor experience.
With the right ambience and illumination, your nocturnal swimming experience may be elevated to a whole new level. Who doesn’t enjoy the thought of unwinding in the pool late at night?
Many people consider investing in pool lighting options. It improves the swim experience by making it safer and more beautiful.
If you’re unsure what will look best with your pool, here is everything you need to know about pool ideas and pool lighting.
We at Sun Valley Pools AZ, pool builder from Scottsdale Arizona, have created a helpful list to help you choose the right lighting for your inground swimming pool.
Table of Contents
Advantages of pool lighting
What are the pool lighting advantages? Pool lighting has benefits that affect both your pool’s safety and appearance.
Here are some of the benefits of adequate pool lighting:
- Improves night-time visibility in the pool area, which is especially important if children or dogs are in the house.
- Improves safety in situations where light can spill over (such as the entire yard).
- Allows you to utilize the pool later in the evening or even until daybreak.
- It adds a feeling of mystery or drama to the pool area.
- Illumination is reflected onto the water’s surface, creating a lovely poolside ambience.
- Depending on the lighting and the colors chosen can positively affect the mood.
- Pergolas, gazebos, fire pits, walls, and decks are some of the architectural and design components that the pool lighting can define
- The pool lighting highlights water attractions, including waterfalls, ponds, spas, fountains, and bubblers.
The use of strategically placed lights can help you establish the tone for your poolside oasis.
You may transform an average pool area and backyard into a lovely and peaceful section in your AZ home’s exterior by using the proper selection of swimming pool lighting accessories.
Mood-enhancing lighting might be used to make the space more dramatic or festive. You can alter the lighting and décor to suit the occasion if you enjoy entertaining. Lighting can also be used to enhance important occasions like birthdays and weddings.
Different types of Pool Lights:
People may now choose from a wide range of lighting alternatives thanks to advances in lighting technology. When it comes to picking the best pool for your pool lighting fixtures cost considerations and energy efficiency always come first.
Incandescent bulbs have been used in Arizona homes and on the outside of houses for decades.
We now know, however, that they consume far too much energy and have a short lifespan, resulting in excessive energy costs and waste.
Fluorescent light bulbs, which are more energy-efficient, were introduced later and have since surpassed incandescent light bulbs in popularity.
However, two relatively newer lighting choices for pools have proven to be popular:
1. Halogen lights
Halogen pool lights are old-school torches. They work by passing electricity through a tungsten filament, which causes the filaments’ tips to vaporize, releasing particles.
Within the bulb, evaporated tungsten interacts with halogen gas to form a tungsten-halogen molecule, which creates a hot, intense light.
This is a reasonably basic process that does not require expensive microchips or diodes, but not all of the energy is used and is expelled as heat, which is highly wasteful, especially given the rising cost of electricity.
Halogen lamps subsequently supplanted incandescent light bulbs as the typical pool lighting when they became available. They were more energy-efficient, long-lasting, and environmentally benign than incandescent lights.
The disadvantage is that they are more expensive than fluorescent bulbs, costing twice as much.
Despite being more durable than incandescent lights, they still need to be replaced on a regular basis, with a lifespan of 2,000 to 4,000 hours on average.
As a result of these limitations, they are a less-than-ideal swimming pool lighting solution.
2. LED lights
Light-emitting diode (LED) illumination has touched the world of lighting, which extends far beyond swimming pool lighting. LED light bulbs are the most cost-effective, have the greatest life spans (up to twice that of compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs), and are extremely energy efficient.
When compared to a 100-watt halogen bulb, an LED light uses only six watts of electricity to generate the same amount of light (measured in lumens). Because they are covered with heat sinks that dissipate the heat, LED lights can feel cold to the touch even when turned on.
They are mercury-free and cold-tolerant. LEDs, like CFLs, can come with energy-saving features like dimmers and sensors. As a result, they are ideal for both indoor and outdoor lighting. They require minimal maintenance and replacement because they have extended lifespans (an average of 50,000 hours). This is why LED pool lights are the ideal pool lights for new swimming pools in Arizona.
As previously said, programmable smart bulbs can be set to turn on or off at specific times. This improves the energy efficiency of LED light bulbs by allowing them to turn on and off as needed.
Home automation technology can also be used with smart bulb lighting systems. Your innovative home system can control them from afar.
Other advantages of LED lighting include:
- LEDs are energy efficient, have a long lifespan, and are cost-effective in the long run, as we’ve already explained.
- They’re available in a variety of colors: Multi-colored LED light bulbs can be used to create the mood poolside and make the area look more attractive. Colored lights that match the event’s theme can also be used to light up the pool area.
- Some LED lights can be customized and paired with apps: Smart lights, as the name implies, can be dimmed, scheduled (on and off), and controlled remotely via your smartphone, with some even having color-changing capabilities.
- LED pool lights have a higher frequency, making them a fantastic pool and home safety feature. This implies that the human eye sees the light they produce as brighter and bluer than incandescent light, which means you can light up your pool area with just a few LED lights. Consider lighting up nearby portions of your property, not just the pool area, to minimize the blinding impact of LEDs while traveling from a darker region to a well-lit section of the house.
- They can add to the attractiveness of your Scottsdale home: You can choose LED lights to suit the entire aesthetic of your property, in this example, the pool and backyard area, because there is a range of design possibilities to choose from. Of course, their capacity to beautify settings where they are correctly employed is enhanced because they come in a rainbow of colors.
5 Great Pool Lighting Ideas
1. Pool Deck Lighting
While lighting the pool is obviously beneficial, it’s also a good idea to light the area around the pool, such as the deck, to view your backyard in all its splendor at night. This effect will create an illuminated border outside the swimming pool, making it the focal point of your outdoor space.
It will also provide you with a safe pedestrian zone, which will be excellent for your guests who benefit from your pool lighting ideas. There’s probably a lot of activity going on in the vicinity of your pool. To illuminate the way, in-ground lights, rather than above-ground directional lights, are a terrific option. There’s no need to worry about the lights being knocked over, broken, or tripping your energetic visitors.
2. Moonlighting
Nothing beats the sight of moonlight pouring through the trees to your terrace below on a balmy summer evening. Moonlighting is a technique for simulating the moon’s natural light in your yard.
This lighting is understated, elegant, and adds a great deal of ambience. Moonlighting your landscape is placing lights high in trees or structures throughout your property to create a silvery glow that resembles moonlight.
The appearance of moonlight is created by lighting a pool deck from above-using lights positioned in trees or on roof eaves. Who doesn’t enjoy swimming in the moonlight?
If your pool is surrounded by mature trees, you can add lights above the branches to simulate natural moonlight. This casts intriguing shadows over the pool area from branches and leaves.
This approach is less widely used because it takes more effort and talent to pull off correctly. The effort is well worth it because homeowners are immediately enamored with the result.
3. High-End Tiki Torches
Tiki torches are a simple way to add this stunning effect to your lawn. They are a must-have for individuals wishing to bring a distinctly tropical flavor to their outdoor space, simple to install, inexpensive, and gorgeous.
One of the most prominent reasons for the Tiki torch’s success is its attempt to replicate Hawaii’s tropical environment. There is, however, more to this than meets the eye. The Tiki torch is a simple and easy way to create a dreamlike and fascinating outdoor lighting option.
There is relatively little work to be done compared to all those string lights and enormous fires.
When compared to modern lighting systems and outdoor fireplaces, Tiki torches are a value even as an investment. Consider investing in professional Tiki lights that provide not just a festive flame but also wired-in lighting.
Tiki lights are hard-wired into your landscaping and are made of high-quality brass and copper. Fill them with oil and a wick for a real torch flame, or turn on the lights for a bulb-based light. They come in a variety of sizes, ranging from three to eight feet in height.
4. Highlighting Trees And Plants
Surrounding your pool with lush vegetation and lighting it at night is the greatest way to give it a resort vibe. However, you’re concerned that your start landscape is too little to be illuminated? A gentle 150 or 200-lumen bulb can delicately illuminate that 3-foot Japanese maple without overpowering its delicate beauty.
You can easily change the light bulb without altering the fixture as the tree develops. As your landscape develops, you adjust the lighting.
Suppose your AZ pool area is surrounded by mature trees; in that case, you may need two or three lamps to artistically illuminate that majestic maple, one with a small beam spread to penetrate high in the tree and another with a broader beam spread to accentuate the leaves and branches softly.
5. Water Features
Adding a water feature to your backyard pool or outdoor living space can be a terrific way to improve the visual appeal. To enhance the appearance of your water feature, you can employ a variety of various lights and lighting approaches.
These lighting options may give your backyard additional dimension and even be utilized to enhance neighbouring features like landscape or architecture and create visual interest and movement.
A waterfall might be lit below, with the light dancing off the water. A soothing flood of light is created by a wash light shining from the pool’s edge or nearby a tall tree nearby tree.
The air bubbles are caught, and the movement is highlighted by aiming light where the water contacts the pool’s surface.
Conclusion:
The advantages of installing the appropriate lighting system for your pool are apparent. Aside from obvious safety considerations, the correct lighting features can lead to great nighttime swimming sessions and turn your pool area into a true visual treat. Changing pool lighting can turn your backyard and inground pool into a tropical oasis.
Your backyard may look and feel like a high-end vacation resort with the correct lighting.
A well-lit pool, as well as soft lighting along paths and gardens, create a soothing ambience while maintaining good vision at night. If you live in Scottsdale AZ area and need a new inground pool build or lighting to be added to your existing pool, feel free to request a free quote below.