Pool & Garden Lighting

[Susie]

We are having an area under our house - by our pool renovated and repaved with a lovely undercover area being knocked thru into our hallway. We have a large rock wall around our pool and I m thinking of putting some lighting embedded into some of the gaps of the rocks.
Does anyone have any great ideas on what would look good, or already have this sort of thing. Any ideas would be much appreciated also where is a good place online or offline to purchase from.
Thanks.
:o

[Julie-Ann]

Hi Susie

I spoke to a lighting consultant that I often work with yesterday. These are her ideas:
Fairy lights would look great if you could hide the wire behind some rocks. Be careful what type you buy as most brands the transformer on them can not remain outside but must be under cover. Also this is a good option for lights that will be used occasionally as they are expensive to run regularly.

Use LED lights. You can buy small LED lights that will sit in between the rocks. Again the wire will need to be hidden. These can be installed by you not an electrician and they are cheap to run. The other advantage with these you only need 1 transformer to run up to 150 lights.

You can purchase small solar lights that could fit in between the rocks. So no wires and no running costs. I liked this idea. I have seen small solar lights at Bunnings.

I don't have any experience with buying online but there is a big online company called http://www.onlinelighting.com.au/index.php?cPath=60_130
I like to use lighting stores so that I can touch and see the quality.

I hope this helps.:)

[Susie]

Thanks Julie-ann, I will check out this website. We have the cable in place, by our electrician, (who is our best friend) so i just want to find something that looks really cool at night, im a bit of a romantic at heart.
I like the idea of solar lights too, which wouldnt cost anything to run, but i do want bright and sparkly without being tacky.

[Julie-Ann]

From what I understand the LED lights are softer than halogen lights. But they say the halogens will be expensive to run. I wonder if they have low energy halogen in garden lighting, like they have introduced with inside lights. If they do I would go that option as you would get your brightness without a hefty energy bill.