Category: Daily

Home Automation has quickly become the next big thing in Technology. Fortunately, learning how to control your home system has never been easier. Home automation puts control of basic home systems and appliances into the hands of the homeowner and provides access from a remote point- like a smartphone app, or from a centralized unit inside the home. This means you can unlock your doors, turn your lights on and off, lower your cooling system and even answer your door right from your phone or tablet.

The idea of home automation has been relatively unfamiliar to most homeowners and may sound a little to “techy”. Ideally, anything that can be connected through the internet can be automated and controlled remotely.

Picture this: you finally have the kids all packed into the car and you are on your way out of town. Suddenly, you begin to feel like you forgot to do something. Is the door locked? Did I leave the stove on? Did I leave the dog out or in? If your home is automated, you will have the ability to investigate and rectify all the above scenarios from the convenience of your smartphone or tablet. You can lock your doors, check the status of common kitchen appliances, and even check on your pets via surveillance camera to make sure everything is ok at home.

Now that we have a brief understanding of what home automation is lets point out some of the benefits.

Safety and Security

The safety and security of your home is probably one of the most important reasons to have home automation. Home automation can make a secure home even more secure. Doors can be locked, security systems armed, and camera monitored from you phone creating a safer and more secure environment for you and your family.

Savings

When you are able to use home systems and appliances only when needed, the savings will be apparent in your first utility bill.

Energy Efficiency

When used properly many home automation products, also known as “smart” products, help you manage your home’s energy consumption.

Convenience

Often, we leave for work early in the morning and forget to adjust our thermostat. As a result, we come home to a house that is severely to hot or too cold. This is inconvenient, as it usually takes a good amount of time for the household temperature to increase or decrease after being adjusted. However, with a home automation system, you can simply adjust the thermostat from the convenience of your office a few hours before heading home. This is both cost effective and saves on energy.

Peace of Mind 

One of the biggest hidden benefits that comes with the home automation is peace of mind. No more worrying if you turned off the lights, locked the doors or turned the air up. Home automation is reassuring and definitely worth it.

Whether it’s lighting, cleaning or temperature control there are a lot of ways to start automating your home. The reality of having a “smart home” is possible.

Here are our top smart devices that helped turn our home into a smarter home.

Smart Locks

We use the August Smart Lock. This lock has hands free entry and guest access and integrates with Apple HomeKit so Siri can do the unlocking for you.

Smart Doorbell

The Ring Video Doorbell lets us answer your door from our phone, seeing and speaking to whoever is at the door.

Video in the home

Canary’s smart home security camera lets us keep an eye on things while we are away and check on our dogs while at work.

Smart Lights

Adding connected lights to our home was one of the easiest ways we made our home smarter. Lutron’s Caseta Wireless Dimmers work with many types of bulbs, making them both dimmable and smarter.

Outdoor lighting control is not much more complicated than indoor lighting control and often uses exactly the same devices. Southern Outdoor Lighting specializes in Remote lighting designs and uses the Lutron’s Caseta

Smart thermostat

A smart thermostat helps save energy and money. We use the Nest.

There are so many more new and interesting products out there. Our next purchase will be the iRobot’s Braava Jet Mopping Robot. 

Our Spring does not last long here in Central Florida so homeowners hurry this time of year to spruce up their lawns and gardens.

One of the ways to add a dramatic touch to your home is to install Landscape Lighting. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when getting started.

What is your ideal design? Are you looking for aesthetics, security, or both?

There are a number of reasons to install lighting to your home.  While security is important to every homeowner, it’s also important to take aesthetics into consideration when choosing your garden or landscape lighting. Simply choosing a basic outdoor fixture might give you the light you need , but what about how it complements the color, style, and design of your home? At Southern Outdoor Lighting in Central Florida, we can help you strike the perfect balance between security and aesthetics with your outdoor lighting.

Winter Park

What features around your home and your property would you like to enhance or showcase?

Landscape Lighting can be used to create many impressive visual effects, from highlighting architectural elements to turning trees and plants into striking focal points.

Lake Maitland

Are there any dark areas that are in need of enhanced lighting (walkways, paths, stairs)?

The back and the side entrances of your home are probably the darkest, and therefore could be the most dangerous for family and friends walking around your outdoor space. It is important to place landscape lights in those areas, to insure your safety.

Lake Holden, Orlando

Are you planning to spend time entertaining or relaxing outside often?

Outdoor lighting allows you to expand your living space to the outdoors. One of the ways to do this is add light and make it a hospitable place to visit no matter the time of the day. One of our favorite ways to do this is through lighting up your pool area. Southern Outdoor Lighting specializes in pool designs.

Lake Mary, Florida

Contact Southern Outdoor Lighting to answer all these questions and more. Southern Outdoor Lighting has the experience to safely install you lighting fixtures. Southern Outdoor Lighting are also trained in specific design techniques that fit the style and needs of your home’s lighting system

A guide to understanding the most common terms used to achieve the different effects used in outdoor lighting designs.

The architecture, trees and plants around your home or business take command of the landscape during the day. Once night falls, they disappear into the darkness unless you use outdoor lighting. You can light up just about anything-paths, trees, buildings, sculptures, patios, and driveways. There are so many options. Where do you begin? A little goes a long way when it comes to lighting the outdoors. That’s because the light doesn’t have to be strong. In fact, it’s best for it to be subtle. You can use this characteristic to create some really interesting effects by highlighting particular elements in your landscape and exterior design. The term highlighting can mean different things when it comes to outdoor lighting. There are many terms for landscape lighting, and some of them overlap and can be confusing. Below is a brief explanation with some samples.

Uplighting- Uplighting is where you place a light a few feet away from the base of an object to show the form from below. Adjust the distance between the object and the light to create different looks.

Down Lighting- Down Lighting accents landscape planting beds or other features from above. Down lights can be attached to walls or put under eaves. Moon Lighting is a form of down lighting where you can attach multiple lights high up in a tree to create the effect of moonlight.

Wall washing– Wall washing is a technique where a light is placed in the ground and angled toward a building wall to create a soft, gentle glow.

Path lighting– of all the highlighting techniques used in outdoor lighting, path lighting is most common. Path lighting creates a sense of safety along a walkway. Alternate the lights on either side of the path and place them 6-8’ apart for the most effective visibility and ambiance.

As you can see there are many options and ideas for outdoor lighting. If you find this overwhelming, a professional landscape lighting team will spend time coming up with ways to enhance your space through particular lighting effects. As professionals in the field Southern Outdoor Lighting will be able to discuss your lighting options such as the type of fixture, the light temperature and the spacing required as well as develop unique looks for your home.

Day Light Savings Time will end this year on November 6th, our skies will get darker earlier and so will your yard. National Outdoor Lighting Month was created to educate homeowners about the difference professionally installed outdoor lighting can make to a home. Installing residential outdoor lighting will not only bathe your home in patterns of light from dusk to dawn but will also provide other benefits.

A well-lit outdoor lighting space enhances architectural detail and accents landscape features, casting your home in the best possible light adding an abundance of curb appeal.

Whether you use your outdoor living space for entertaining, relaxation or both, you don’t want the fun to end when the sun goes down. As you and your lighting professional explore all the different outdoor lighting options you can be assured that your outdoor living can be a ’round-the-clock destination.

Everyone should be able to feel safe and secure in and around their home. An outdoor area that is dark and full of shadows can make many homeowners uncomfortable. Fortunately, there is no need to rely on big garage flood lights for security. You can get the same sense of security from installing LED landscape lighting. Having a well-lit yard will help keep uninvited visitors away, so you feel more safe in your yard and home.

Regardless of whether you are planning to sell your home in the near future or not, increasing its value is desirable for both you and your community. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) states that outdoor lighting consistently tops their list of most wanted outdoor features in its annual “What Home Buyers Really Want” survey: 41% rate it “essential; 49% say it’s desirable.

Call the lighting professionals at Southern Outdoor Lighting to get your home ready for those beautiful evenings outside.

According to the Home Safety Council, falls are the foremost cause of home injury. Well-lit stairs and pathways will help eliminate such injury hazards. Outdoor lighting works to provide both safety and security at once.    Southern Outdoor Lighting can help clients combine style and function by adding lighting along pathways. This adds an element of aesthetic beauty while preventing falls and injury. We encourage all homeowners to make sure and not focus on just the front walk ways, the back door and side entrances are important to light up as well. A well lit yard presents a feeling of security, this can discourage trespassing and theft. Orlando outdoor lighting provides the safety and security which is key to protecting your family and home against both intruders and injuries.

Due to recent improvements in Technology and falling costs, LED’s are quickly becoming the go-to lighting choice for outdoor lighting. The U.S Department of Energy says LEDs last 25 times longer and use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs.

As an Orlando homeowner, you may not be aware that incandescent light bulbs are being phased out: An almost complete ban on their sale started in 2014 and will take full effect in 2020. Homeowners will need to switch to more energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. After examining the two most popular light bulb options, CFLs and LEDs, it is hard to beat the value offered by LEDs. Not only are their prices getting more affordable every day, they also lasts up to a decade longer. LED’s are simply a better option around for outdoor lighting.

From the chart above you can see that the cost of LED and CFL are about the same. The big draw back in using CFLs is they contain a small amount of mercury, which is very harmful to both your health and the environment. That means it’s bad news to break one and they should not be disposed of in your regular household trash.

Sometime in the near future you will not be able to buy any more incandescent light bulbs.  Our prices for outdoor lighting LEDs are lower than they have ever been. It is hard to argue against a product that more than pays for itself in energy savings and might last the rest of your life. Call Southern Outdoor Lighting today to have LED landscape lighting installed around your home.

SOL uses only quality Orlando Contractors to ensure our lighting projects work in conjunction with any plumbing or other electrical issues.