Services · Pool and water lighting

Pool and water lighting. The one surface that gives the light back.

Surround, feature and reflection lighting for pools, fountains and water walls. Low voltage everywhere it can be, in solid brass that stands up to pool chemistry.

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Surround · Feature · Reflection

What it actually is

The light in the pool is the least of it.

Most pools come with a single light in the wall. It turns the water into a glowing rectangle and does nothing for the trees, the stone and the seating around it, which is why so many expensive backyards look flat at night.

Water reflects, moves and doubles whatever is lit beside it. A tree on the far side of a pool appears twice. A stone wall grazed from below reads as a band of light across the surface. So the surround is designed first, and the water picks it up.

The pool area is then zoned on its own, so a bright scene for swimming and a low one for dinner are a tap apart.

Backyard pool at night seen through an iron fence, with lit trees and planting around it

The technique

Four layers around a body of water.

i.
Light what the water reflects.
The most valuable fixtures in a poolscape are often not near the pool. A specimen tree, a feature wall or a pergola on the far edge doubles in the surface, so reflections are planned from where you sit, not from the plan.
Reflections, designed
ii.
Make the edges readable.
Coping, steps and the change from deck to water need to be easy to read at night without anyone looking into a fixture. Low, shielded light along the perimeter does it quietly.
Low · Shielded · Wide
iii.
Feature the water itself.
Fountains, water walls and spillways are lit from close in so the moving water catches the light. A little goes a long way; over-lit water looks pale and loses its depth.
Close in, kept low
iv.
Give it its own zone.
The pool and its surround run as their own zone, separate from the rest of the garden. One scene for swimming, one for a quiet evening, set on the commissioning visit with you there.
Zoned and scened

New pool or existing

The cheapest time is before the coping goes on.

On a new pool, sleeves and conduit cost very little while the deck is open. Once the coping and hardscape are finished, the same runs mean cutting and patching. If your pool is being built, bring us in during excavation, not at handover. Around an existing pool, most of the work happens in the planting and structures, and rarely touches the deck.

Pool lighting questions

Answered plainly.

Can you add lighting around an existing pool?

Yes. Surround, feature and reflection lighting all happen outside the pool itself, in the planting, the coping edge and the structures around it, so most of the work does not touch the deck. We look at the light already in the pool at the consultation and design around it.

How much does pool lighting cost?

As part of a full property design, pool decks, hardscape and zoned scenes usually put a project in our Reserve tier, $11,000 to $21,000 for 35 to 60 fixtures. A smaller surround on an existing pool can cost less, and every proposal is itemized. See pricing.

Why does brass matter around a pool?

Pool chloride attacks aluminum housings, which pit and start letting water in within a few years. Solid brass patinas to a dark bronze and then stops changing, so the fixture by the pool lasts as long as the one in the front bed.

Goes with