St. Cloud Florida:
A Tropical Paradise

By Steven S. Riggs, president, Illuminations USA, Inc.

Over the past nine years in the low-voltage landscape lighting business, I have met challenges of all magnitudes, and customers with extraordinary ideas for their own lighting; some good, some not so good. These experiences have taught me to apply innovative ways to get effects that can make the most meticulous consumer thrilled with the night time effects.

I was contacted by Joel Slaven in early June and asked to give an estimate on a lighting project.

We met at the project sight, where I was shown an open area approximately 50 feet by 90 feet with the partially built koi pond swimming pool and turtle pond. I asked to see prints, he said there were none. Then he proceeded to etch in the dirt with a stick an outline of the landscaping: a flower bed here; a waterfall there, another two over here; a tiki hut here and another there; a bar here, and over there a grass awning, and so on. He knew what he wanted and how it was to look when it was finished. Not surprisingly, I couldn?EUR??,,????'???t quite envision it. I need more reality.

The landscaping was to be lush tropical foliage, a kind of Caribbean motif. My job was to set the nighttime mood.

Now I had my challenge, so I guessed at approximately how many fixtures it would take and gave him an idea what 50 fixtures would cost installed.

I then met with the electrician to specify my power needs, the amperages my equipment would use and the necessity for plenty of room for increased capabilities.

 

Most of the design changes, including those seen in the southeast corner, were made prior to installation. It took Illuminations a few days to implement all the changes and light the tiki huts and decking to the owner?EUR??,,????'???s criteria. The landscaping is a lush, tropical Caribbean motif. The lighting challenge included using Kichler 15087-AZT downlights for waterfalls and tiki huts and setting the nighttime mood without overlighting the property.

After several months of construction, I went to see the project and supplied the pool people with fixtures to install behind the waterfall (Kichler K15194AZ) with rock guards. Now I had a better idea of what to expect. I visited the project three more times. Then we started to put chases under all areas of the deck and into the flower beds and after some considerations decided to put a chase to each of the tiki huts even though line voltage would be installed in each one of the huts. We then installed several home runs with different wire gages to compensate for voltage drop.

When August came, I was notified that the plants and trees were in and the pool enclosure was up and fully screened. I then notified Mr. Slaven that I?EUR??,,????'???d be in South Dakota for three weeks, and would send ?EUR??,,????'??my designer?EUR??,,????'?? to put together the lighting design. Since my real designer (me) was now on his way to South Dakota, I sent Roger Smallwood my top installer to put together a design. I knew he could do the job, as he has seen my designs hundreds of times and knows how to read my designs and how I think. Roger drew up the plan, neater than mine and just as concise, and when I got back to work I put a cost on the job and was told by Slaven, ?EUR??,,????'??Get it done.?EUR??,,????'?? We could hardly wait to get started!

Illuminations supplied The Pool People with Kichler fixtures to install behind the waterfall, with 15194-AZ lights in the southeast corner with rock guards. A rock guard 15694 grate was placed behind the waterfall to hide the light source.

Roger did an excellent design. I realized he really pays attention to how and why I light things the way I do, plus he had some great ideas how to use fixtures that I normally would not have thought of. He did a great job with nine different styles of Kichler fixtures, including the Lizard on a Leaf path lights (K15325PZ). We were now up to 63 fixtures.

The trees and plants went in and had the appearance of having been there for years; no space was left unfilled. There were plants hanging from the pool enclosure over the center of the pool, and plant baskets hanging from the tiki huts and around the porch area: many more plants and things to light. I decided to use the hanging basket lighted fixture (K15008MST) in a few more places and a number of lights to give effects deep in the center of the plant beds.

As we continued installing the lights that first week, I visited the job site the fourth night. I realized that lighting the waterfalls from the top of the tiki huts wasn?EUR??,,????'???t going to get it. They were too visible now. We would have to get a piece of equipment to raise us to new heights, 34 feet to be exact. We were now lighting the falls and a couple of other areas from the top of the pool enclosure.

Moonlighting on the roof, uplighting on the palm trees with mini-accent lights 15384-KZT, Kichler hanging plant accent lights 15008-MST (right) and lighting deep in the center of the plant beds with wall wash 15361-AZT highlight the scene.

I visited the site again at night to check the lighting with Joel Slaven. It was beautiful, but Joel is asking me to light everything. I explain that the idea of lighting is to accent different areas to draw attention and to get shadowing effects, back lighting, up lighting, down lighting, and as many effects that we can get without over lighting. He agreed. We added 30 more fixtures to the system for a total of 93.

We used many different wattage bulbs and beam spreads to get desired effects, along with a few linear lenses, filters, colored bulbs and lenses.

We had succeeded in creating a magical Caribbean atmosphere. I would not have believed we would use that many fixtures, but it looked great and soon we will do the gardens around the outside perimeter of the pool and out to the dock. The challenge was met and our ?EUR??,,????'??fussy?EUR??,,????'?? customer was well satisfied. The great variety of fixtures that Kichler Lighting offers really was helpful in attaining the right effects in the right places.

The Owner?EUR??,,????'???s Perspective

The home owner, Joel Slaven, has made his fortune as a world-renowned animal trainer. So after trekking over the globe, he wanted a home. The house overlooks a lake; Slaven loves the beautiful scenery. His job is stressful, so he wanted a retreat from it all. He had a vision of a tropical paradise and the area between his pool and house seemed ideal.

Although Slaven bought the house six years ago, it took more than two years to complete the landscape design and installation of the plant material, rocks, waterfalls, irrigation and landscape lighting.

We explained to the client how our lighting would accent different areas to draw attention and incorporate shadowing, backlighting uplighting and downlighting effects. Although the owner wanted to light literally everything, Riggs recommended accenting and not flooding sections with lights; this avoided creating a flat look.

?EUR??,,????'??I had talked with some landscape lighting companies in the beginning and decided to go with people with experience who would take on challenges,?EUR??,,????'?? Slaven told LASN. ?EUR??,,????'??I opted to go with Steve because he seemed like a nice guy and he had some good ideas. I had some pretty crazy ideas. There?EUR??,,????'???s a 30-foot high screen in the backyard and I wanted a bright spotlight to shine on certain areas from up high. When some lighting designers found out about the screen they lost interest in the project, but Steve told me that whatever I wanted done, he?EUR??,,????'???d do it. Whatever I had in mind, he make it.?EUR??,,????'??

Riggs showed Slaven the blueprints for the lighting design, so he?EUR??,,????'???d have a good idea of how the finished project would look. Most of the design changes were made prior to installation. It took Illuminations a few weeks to implement all the changes and light the tiki huts and decking to Slaven?EUR??,,????'???s criteria.

?EUR??,,????'??As far as landscape lighting goes, anything is possible as long as you have the funds to get it done,?EUR??,,????'?? said Slaven. ?EUR??,,????'??Money was always a consideration with me. The backyard was a big area. With more than 100 lighting fixtures it got to be pretty expensive.?EUR??,,????'??

Many different wattage bulbs were used with various beam spreads to get desired effects along with a few linear lenses (to throw light in a specific direction), filters, colored bulbs in the huts and lenses, as seen in the southeast corner. Most of the MR-16 halogen bulbs were 20 or 35 watts, with none over 50 watts.

Riggs highlighted the areas Slaven selected, using touch lights with diffusers. Amber lenses or bright lights gave the tropical spot the look Slaven desired. That included illuminating a rainscape with elephant grass. Slaven wanted the option to light different portions of his 7,000-square foot back yard, with a flick of the switch.

?EUR??,,????'??It wasn?EUR??,,????'???t hard at all to communicate my ideas to Steve,?EUR??,,????'?? said Slaven. ?EUR??,,????'??I?EUR??,,????'???d tell him I like to do this or that. Once the job was done it didn?EUR??,,????'???t look quite like I had envisioned it. So, the crew would come out at night and make adjustments on the brightness that I wanted.?EUR??,,????'??

Among his favorite lighting effects, Slaven said he enjoyed the spot lighting of staghorn ferns at the base of the trees. Amber lenses created a soft, subdued light. Potted plants lit from above looked cool.