Schumacher Companies lights up a lucky homeowner’s landscape for the holidays

Pioneering Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier defined architecture as “the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light.” Never is that more evident than during the holidays, as we adorn our homes in festive bright lights to mark the season.

At the Lower Cape home affectionately known as “Fool’s Paradise”—the creation of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders (PSD)—owners Tim and Judi have turned to the creativity and expertise of the design team at the Schumacher Companies year after year to transform their property into a sophisticated winter wonderland. Here, the holiday lighting design has never been typical—no lights are strung on the house itself. Instead, designer Marcelo Lauar’s vision has hinged on highlighting the landscape. Last year, over 1,500 linear feet of ground lighting was used, encompassing the driveway and the perimeter of the front yard and its garden beds, and approximately 200 strings of lights were used to decorate the trees and shrubs.

“The lights don’t take away from the architecture of the home—they enhance it,” says Schumacher’s Adrienne Mitchell, account manager for Fool’s Paradise. “And it’s not overdone. What Marcelo chose to accent with the lights is more complementary.” A great example of this is seen in how only the lower halves of the trees are lit. “If you keep going up too high to the top, from the street you’re going to see the height of the tree and you’re not going to pay as much attention to anything else and the rest of the landscape,” Lauar explains. “That’s why I want to keep everything low and at eye level.”

To John DaSilva, design principal at PSD, decorating our homes with holiday illumination not only allows for the appreciation of their architecture—it also serves to epitomize the holiday spirit. “To string lights on and around buildings,” he says, “connects us to tradition, helps celebrate good times, and is an affirmation of the joy of living.”