The backyard renovation of this rustic South Dakota home involved a new pool, outdoor kitchen, pool house, patio, fireplace, tree house, seating area with fire pit (left), and water feature. McKay Landscape Lighting was brought in to install path lights for safe walkways, up and downlighting, well lights, and specialty lighting around the outdoor kitchen and pool grotto. The lights are synced with a system called Crestron, which allows the homeowners to control the lighting levels with their smartphones.

 

The tree house is a wooden structure built around a burr oak tree. Two 20-watt downlights were placed in the oak tree to light the walk bridge up to the entrance. Two soffit lights were placed in the eaves of the playhouse to light up the structure.

Ten-watt seatwall lights from Phillips/Hadco were placed along the seatwall, near the mantle of the fireplace, and just below the countertop of the grill area. Two sagitta lights are on the spiral staircase, adjacent to the grill.

The natural stone fireplace, attached to the left side of the pool house, is lit by two 20-watt halogen well lights. To the left of the fireplace, a stone path leads to the driveway of the home.

When homeowners in South Dakota desired their new backyard to have the feel of a time gone by, landscape designer and contractor Chris Hood of Hoodscapes provided the tangible quality while McKay Landscape Lighting added ethereal ambience through illumination. Since 1987, McKay Landscape Lighting's professional designers, installers, and staff have served thousands of customers and have completed lighting assignments all over the country.

To create an old rustic feel, Hood used distressed wood, natural stone, colored and stained concrete, and burnt steel panels as he constructed the outdoor kitchen, pool house, patio, fireplace, seating area with fire pit, water feature and pool.

The new outdoor kitchen includes a refrigerator, sink, and Weber-Summit series grill. Nearby, a seating area with a new fire pit provides a place to stay warm and entertain by the pool. At one end of the pool, a wooden tree house rests in a burr oak tree. At the other end is the new pool house, which includes an outdoor shower and connected fireplace. To the left of this structure is a path with a bubbling boulder water feature. The backyard renovation took one year overall to complete.

McKay Landscape Lighting used 3,500' of wire in the installation of all of the landscape and low voltage lighting. Twenty-watt halogen downlights were placed on trees to light up the pool deck and the walk bridge up to the tree house, as well as the shower and grill areas. Thirty-five-watt spotlights were strategically placed to light up the trees as well as a set of steps that connects the yard to the driveway. A 20-watt microflood light also shines on the side of these steps. Two well lights, also 20-watt, shine up on the stone fireplace.

Seatwall lights are utilized on the seatwall around the fire pit, as well as on the stone wall underneath the outdoor kitchen counter and the counter top ledge by the fireplace. The sagitta lights shine on the spiral staircase that connects the upper deck to the lower patio. Ten-watt path lights highlight the walkway near the water feature as well as the stone steps that lead from the fire pit area to the pool deck. Two soffit lights are on the eaves of the playhouse, shining down on the walls.

McKay's two-man crew took about a month to install the lighting. All of the wire was hand trenched with a flat spade, and ladders were used to install the downlights. Weather, including heavy rains and snowfall, slowed the project down. The homeowners combined their rustic look with a new lighting technology system called Crestron, which syncs household electronics to a smartphone app. Using the app, the homeowners can control the light levels and other household electronic features from their smartphones. Four transformers independently control the system.

Overall, 3,500' of wire was installed to operate 16 downlights (Cooper Lighting), 12 spotlights and 14 path lights, (Auroralight), two well lights (Vista Professional), one microflood (KIM) and , 10 seatwall lights (Phillips/Hadco).