Landscape Lighting Design & Installation in Winnetka, IL

Winnetka has some of the finest residential architecture on the North Shore — and most of it disappears at sunset. Good exterior lighting brings those facades, mature trees and landscaped grounds back after dark, adds real security, and extends how long you can actually use the outside of your home.

What we do in Winnetka

Smart Light Design provides lighting design, installation and control for Winnetka homes. Most of our work here falls into four areas:

Facade and architectural lighting. Grazing and uplighting that follows the lines of the house rather than flooding it. On the older Tudor and Colonial properties common in Winnetka, this is what separates a designed system from a hardware-store one.

Tree downlighting and moonlighting. Winnetka's mature oaks and elms are an asset most homeowners never light. Fixtures mounted high in the canopy cast soft, dappled light across lawns and driveways — the most natural-looking effect in landscape lighting.

Path, step and driveway lighting. Safety lighting that doesn't look like safety lighting. Low glare, shielded optics, and spacing that guides the eye instead of creating a runway.

Patio, pool and outdoor living areas. Layered lighting for decks, pergolas, kitchens and pool surrounds so the space stays usable well past dusk.

Built for the control system, not just the fixture

This is where we differ from most lighting contractors on the North Shore. We also build the control layer: Lutron dimming, astronomical timers that follow sunset through the year, scene programming, app and voice control, and colour-changing zones for holidays. If you already have a smart home system, we integrate the lighting into it rather than handing you a second app.

We also install audio, security cameras and networking — so a single contractor is accountable for the whole system instead of three trades pointing at each other.

Chicago winters are the real test

Any installer can make a system look good in September. The difference shows up after two North Shore winters — in wire gauge, transformer sizing, connection method and burial depth. Freeze-thaw cycles and salt destroy underspecified systems. We size for the load the system will carry in five years, not the load it carries on day one, and we use direct-burial rated connections throughout.

How it works

We start with a free on-site consultation, walking the property with you at dusk where the schedule allows. You then get a written lighting plan with a fixed, itemised price — no hourly guesswork. Most residential projects in Winnetka are installed in one to three days, wiring fully concealed, with the site left clean. We commission the controls, walk you through the app, and stay available for adjustments and seasonal changes.

Most Winnetka landscape and facade projects fall between $4,000 and $15,000 depending on property size, fixture count and control complexity.

Book a free consultation

Smart Light Design is locally owned in Chicago — not a franchise, and we don't use subcontractors. The person who designs your system is on site when it's installed. Lifetime warranty on most fixtures and transformers.

Call or text 312-927-3876, or email bob@smartlightdesign.com to arrange a no-obligation design consultation in Winnetka.