Designer Fountain Lighting
The use of lighting to highlight and illuminate the strengths of a room's interior decor can turn a room from ordinary to outstanding. Well done lighting, with subtle, tasteful lighting fixtures helps to set a mood and define the room's function. You wouldn't light a bathroom the same way you'd light a bedroom, and you wouldn't highlight a shelf in your china cabinet quite the same way you'd highlight the foliage of a tropical plant. The same applies to lighting in water fountains, which are usually purchased for their beauty as well as practicality.
Water fountains have many benefits, and provide a number of aesthetic improvements to any room. A well-placed water fountain creates a soothing oasis that helps people to get in a comfortable relaxed mood, so that they feel as though their stress is melting away. In addition to the design of a fountain itself, the flowing water is the key that provides these wonderful benefits - and lighting can help you maximize its potential. But, you don't have to be an interior designer to achieve designer's fountain lighting.
Fountain lighting is all about highlighting the beauty of the flowing water, as well as helping to achieve an overall sense of harmony in the room. The addition of a new variety of lighting can help transform a monotonous room into a room that is interesting, yet unified. One way of achieving this is having light fixtures at different heights. If most or all of the lighting in the room is recessed or track lighting, using submersible fountain lights that shine upward will help the illumination to flow in different directions. Submersible lighting is made specifically for use underwater in decorative water features; it provides ambient light that reflects off the water, creating a magical shimmering effect. A particularly stunning effect of using this lighting is that it lights the water as it drips into the catch basin, casting reflections of illuminated water onto the wall. This type of lighting typically works for any fountain - floor, tabletop, or wall.
An additional benefit of submersible lighting is the availability of colored lenses to use with them, which allow you to make the color of the light interchangeable. This is great for special occasions such as holidays or parties, and for instances in which you'd like to change the mood of the lighting. The types of submersible fountain lighting are shown below. The Pond, Fountain and Garden Light is made for use in or out of the water, and is perfect for fountains with large basins as well as ponds. It gives you the ability to light the fountain from any direction - the uses of this light are limitless. The 10-Watt Submersible Halogen light works for any wall, tabletop, or floor fountain and comes with five interchangeable colored bulb covers, including clear. The 50-Watt Halogen Pond Light dramatizes large indoor or outdoor fountains as well as ponds, and is fully adjustable so you can aim the light just where you want it.
Pond, Fountain & 10-Watt Submersible50-Watt
Many fountains are pre-equipped with lighting, which the designer has chosen specifically for its ability to highlight the beauty of that particular fountain. This type of lighting is usually mounted to the top of the fountain, near the area where the water comes out. This type of lighting comes in a few different forms, but there are two that are the most prevalent. The first is the type that involves bulbs installed under the top frame of the fountain, or the 'light hood'. This type of lighting is typically found on wall fountains, and is designed to shine down upon the flowing water to make it more visible and dramatic. It's subtle, understated, and very effective. The second type is an 'easel style' light which clamps onto the top of the fountain and shines down upon it. This type of light is often adjustable, so it offers the freedom of directing the light how you like it. It is, however, the spanest and least subtle type of fountain lighting. Most often, these lights are easily removable, so if you find you'd prefer a more understated look, you could use a submersible light instead. When you are purchasing a fountain online, the description should indicate whether a light is included or not, and the image will show which type of light it is.
A well-lit fountain is one in which the lighting is not distracting. The light fixtures should seem as though they are a part of the fountain. Your choice of light fixtures shouldn't call attention to themselves - they should only add an imperceptible feel of comfort, function, and mood.
