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Tis the season for making changes in and around the home. The arrival of warmer weather renews homeowners vigor for various home improvement projects, and many have grand plans for interior and exterior renovations as they prep their living spaces for comfort, beauty and entertaining opportunities. While there are many worthy projects to pursue, adding outdoor lighting to a home can help increase its value and make the home safer and more attractive in the evening hours.
According to the American Lighting Association, with a few updates to outside lighting, families can make even better use of their homes at night. Adding outdoor lighting is easier and less expensive than many homeowners may realize, allowing them to transform an existing patio, deck or pool area into an enjoyable nighttime retreat. Pool parties, dinners on the patio or barbecues with neighbors become even more memorable when outdoor lighting is added or improved. But homeowners who want to install or upgrade their outdoor lighting should consider the following tips, courtesy of ALA.
Improve navigation. Lighting is typically layered into a room or outdoor space in three ways: overhead, task and ambient. Even outdoors, where there are no typical boundaries and borders, those three layers are necessary. Outdoor overhead lighting should improve visibility on steps, paths and walking surfaces, especially where theres a bend or an intersection. Task lighting can be used around cooking or gardening areas. Ambient light will cast a comforting glow around any outdoor space.
Enhance security. To improve visibility and security, combine a motion detector with a sconce to illuminate dark corners or entryways. Be sure to aim lights away from the door to improve visibility. Lanterns on either side of the door can give a home a warm, welcoming appearance and improve the safety of entryways.
Create outdoor rooms. Outdoor lighting at the borders of a space is a great way to create barriers, both vertically and horizontally. Lights in a tree create something akin to a chandelier hung in the middle of the sky, and even accent lights in the general area of the edge of a patio, deck or porch will shine across the space and provide enough of a comfort level for people to understand where things are.
Reduce glare. Outdoor lighting that casts a glare can be blinding, as can light thats too bright. Lighting along paths should be cast downward, with fixtures that are hooded. A variety of lighting options will create layers, allowing you to add or subtract as necessary. Exterior-safe dimmers also can provide flexible control over the level of light, as can movable fixtures added to a patio or porch.
Add decorative elements. Just as arbors, pergolas, patios and other outdoor elements help to enhance the style of an outdoor space, so, too, can lighting contribute to a well-designed landscape. Lighting should play up decorative features of a yard and add the ambience that homeowners desire. Step lights make passage safe while also highlighting molding or trim details. An outdoor chandelier can make for a wonderful accent during dinnertime on the deck or under a pergola. Patio lights provide atmosphere as well as illumination for cooking outside.
Enhance views from inside. Outdoor lighting can make the view from inside pleasant and enjoyable. Use a variety of lights, including spotlights on trees, lights dotted along pathways and accent lights on unique landscape features, to create an idyllic landscape visible from inside the home.
Outdoor lighting enhances functionality of yards and landscapes while making such areas safer for homeowners and their guests once the sun has gone down.
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Lighting sets the stage for outdoor fun
There are one million acres of lawn across the country. Many homeowners aspire to having a lush, green lawn as the showcase of their properties. The front lawn can make a statement and indicate to passersby the property owners personalities and design preferences.
Lawn care takes some dedication and hard work, but there are certain ways to cut down on the amount of effort required to maintain a landscape. By employing a few different shortcuts, you can have a healthy, lush lawn without spending all of your free time cutting the grass or pruning the trees.
Stop weeds at the start. Weeding is one of the most time-consuming parts of maintaining a lawn. Weeds can proliferate throughout the lawn if not addressed in a timely manner. Once weeds take root they can become a nuisance, so its best to treat weeds before they even have a chance to sprout. Apply a preemergent weed control product as soon as possible in the spring and then reapply it about three months later to ensure weeds are eradicated. That equates to much less tedious lawn maintenance during the season.
Plant a urine-resistant grass. Having a dog and maintaining a lush lawn has always been a particular conundrum for homeowners. Dog urine is high in nitrogen. While nitrogen, when applied in the correct ratio, can be a lawn-growth stimulant, in the large concentration that occurs in pet urine, it causes the grass to dry up and burn, resulting in bare spots. Replanting with urine-resistant grasses can help cut down on the level of damage to the lawn from your own pet or pets that happen to make potty stops on your property. The grasses most resistant to urine tend to be perennial ryegrasses and fescues.
Wake up and water. Watering in the early mornings saves time and energy in the long run by fostering a tougher, more drought-resistant lawn. If you water early in the day, less water will be lost to evaporation. Limit watering to a few times per week, and less if you have had adequate rain. Avoid watering at night, which can expose the lawn to bacteria and attract insects.
Mow when the lawn is dry. Its not adviseable to mow the lawn when it is wet. Slippery conditions can not only make it more dangerous to push a mower, but also slow down the time it can take to tackle the chore. The mower blades can become clogged and coated with wet grass clippings, necessitating stopping and starting the task. Another thing to consider is lawn diseases spread more readily through wet clippings. Stick to mowing when the lawn is completely dry.
Let clippings fly. Mulching mowers, or those that just distribute clippings on the lawn as you go, can be healthier for the grass. They will serve as fertilizer and redistribute nutrients to the lawn as they breakdown into the soil. According to The Organic Lawn Care Manual, leaving clippings on the lawn will fulfill about 25 percent of fertilizer requirements. Plus, you save time bagging up clippings.
Dont cut corners. Adjusting a landscape design to have arches and curves can reduce the time it takes to mow and edge a property. Hard corners in a landscape will require more time to keep straight and pristine.
Getting your lawn mower ready: Check the Blade, Spark Plugs and Filter
Youll get longer and better performance out of your lawn equipment if you
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Shortcuts to a lush lawn
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Legislation awaiting a likely veto by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon would create a new tax break for the owners of local diners and downtown antique stores. Accountants and doctors could benefit, too. And farmers and car dealers and architects.
So could lawyers and lobbyists.
Nixon has focused on those latter two professions while denouncing the legislation as an unaffordable giveaway to special interests that would provide especially generous benefits for folks that dont need anything.
But Nixon may be oversimplifying the issue while highlighting his opposition.
He could just as easily describe it as a break for ambitious college students running their own lawn-mowing services over the summer. They would benefit, too.
The legislation would gradually cut Missouris top individual income tax rate to 5.5 percent from 6 percent. It also would phase in a 25 percent deduction for business income reported on personal tax returns - a category referred to as pass-through income.
Its true that many lawyers and lobbyists would benefit from the new tax deduction because of the way their businesses are structured. But so would most Missouri businesses.
If the policy decision is made to provide a tax cut to businesses, you have to figure out some way to address pass-through entities, because thats the vast majority of all businesses, said Chuck Pierce, a lobbyist for the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants.
The tax break would not apply to C corporations - which generally are publicly traded - because they pay a separate state corporate income tax. But it generally would apply to businesses structured as sole proprietorships, partnerships and limited liability corporations.
Missouri has more than 500,000 active businesses registered with the secretary of states office. Nearly four-fifths of those are limited liability corporations. Each of those businesses could have multiple owners, partners or members claiming the tax deduction.
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Analysis: Mo. business tax break has wide reach
FINDLAY, OH (Toledo News Now) -
The Easter spiritual sand sculpture in Findlay is complete.
For fifteen years, landscape architect Roger Powell has turned 400 tons of sand into an inspirational message.
"It's beyond amazing," said Cynthia Bowling.
That's the reaction folks have when they see the intricate sculpture.
Roger and a crew of 100 volunteers worked six days to complete the project.
All the images, including Jesus on the cross, are hand crafted.
There's no underlying support.
"When you're working on the sculpture and look out into the audience and see the fellowship going on and the people smiling together, that's the reward for me," said Roger.
Those smiling faces come to the Hancock County Fairgrounds at all hours of the day and night to admire the sandy sculpture.
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Architect turns 400 tons of sand into Easter joy
If you plant it they will come. Birds, butterflies and other wildlife you and your family can enjoy right in your own backyard. Whether you have a large yard or garden in a pot you can attract wildlife to your garden.
Start by providing food. Include nectar producing flowers like phlox the butterflies and hummingbirds love. And plants that produce berries or seeds for the birds to enjoy.
Evergreens, thickets and birdhouses provide beauty for us and wildlife with shelter from predators and the weather. Include trees, shrubs, perennials, water or nesting boxes for birds, butterflies, beneficial insects and other wildlife to raise their young.
Then skip the pesticides and go green. Consider joining thousands of others and register your yard with the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat.
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Garden Moments: Creating an Attractive Landscape for You and the Wildlife
Richard Bergmann Architects, of New Canaan, received a Connecticut Design Award for a project on Hollow Tree Ridge Road in Darien.
The design, which was for the "Bend-in-the-Road Landscape" entry, focused on engaging an historic house with the land and the land with the house, according to Bergmann, whose office is at 63 Park St. The house "had the appearance of being arbitrarily plopped down on the land."
The awards, presented by the American Society of Landscape Architects, Connecticut Chapter, recognize excellence in landscape architecture design. Eligible applicants must be a licensed landscape architect either living in Connecticut or with a project in the state.
A specific challenge was to draw visitors to the front door, instead of entering through the kitchen. The original driveway led straight to a detached barn/garage and guest parking area behind the house, near the kitchen entry. The problem, according to Bergmann, was solved by creating a four-foot-high fieldstone linear wall and planting a row of tall columnar Hornbeam trees, which reinforce the architectural features of the home with its row of pillars framing the front porch. The wall and trees separate public and private spaces, screening the kitchen entry and creating an obvious path to the front door.
"The overall design is an incredible improvement, straightforward and a terrific upgrade," according to the competition's jurors.
"This shows what a creative landscape architect can accomplish."
Bergmann said another major goal was to solve safety issues, entering and departing from a blind driveway on a major bend in the road. This was resolved by relocating the driveway. A new semicircular drive was created, incorporating a large area for guest parking and a turnaround area near the front door. Honoring "green" design guidelines, the pre-existing asphalt was replaced with gravel, allowing storm water to recharge the site. Overhead wires were buried underground. A redesigned swimming pool and terrace completed the landscape project.
"The overall design is an incredible improvement, straightforward and a terrific upgrade," according to the competition's jurors. "This shows what a creative landscape architect can accomplish."
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Bergmann receives state landscape architecture award
