Are you heading inside after the sun sets? Are you worried about your home when you’re not in town? Is your home a welcoming illuminated vision as you drive up the driveway? Adding lighting to your landscape can change the whole look of your home with even just a few fixtures. Lighting can transform your whole outdoor experience. Not only does it extend the time to enjoy our outdoor living spaces, but it also adds beauty, security and safety to our home. It can highlight great features on the home and in the landscape to enjoy into the evening hours. Some have a misconception that lights are costly to run and use a lot of electricity. LED lights are becoming more popular and are very low maintenance and cost next to nothing to use. Take a look at some great examples below of the benefits of outdoor lighting.
Outdoor lighting expands our nighttime living spaces. Instead of heading inside when the sun goes down, it allows you to softly light the entertaining spaces and pathways just like you would inside your home. It can highlight outdoor living elements, such as fireplaces and outdoor kitchens.
A fountain or flower planter can take on a whole new life after dark. Lighting can offer a soft glow around a patio space to visit with friends. It extends the time you can enjoy when the weather is perfect for firepits, grilling and more. Lighting can help you enjoy your outdoor spaces on late summer nights or spring and fall evenings when the sun is setting much earlier. No more need for a bright light on the house that attracts bugs and doesn’t light up the whole entertaining space.
You can also highlight areas in your yard to extend your view while outside or inside your home. By adding lighting to distant beds with uplights and downlights, it automatically makes the space seem larger and pushes the boundary of the home back.
When taking into consideration what your views will be from inside the home, you can highlight features to enjoy when the weather or season is not ideal for spending time outside. For example, a carefully placed uplight on a statue or large tree will highlight it’s structure to enjoy during chilly winter nights. The more you expand your lighting around you yard, the more depth your landscape will have at night. Dark houses do not have any depth, but property placed light fixtures can make the landscape pop.
Adding lighting to your landscape can also bring added security to your home. Well-lit entrances and perimeters of properties are not very inviting to unwanted visitors. Lights can be programmed on a timer, so lights will go on even when you’re not around. No more leaving the porch light on all weekend. Adding lighting to your landscape, gives your home the boost of security as well as making it beautiful during the evening hours.
Well-placed light figures can illuminate steps and pathways, keeping your family and guests safe while walking around your yard and prevent tripping hazards. A long staircase or change in elevation will be easily highlighted to prevent tripping. Path lighting can take your guests on a journey from the front yard to the back with ease and safety. Under step (lip lights) are great lights to use under the caps of steps that illuminate the riser of the steps. They can be used on columns to softly light up the walk.
Are you ready to take the next step and light up your night?
(photo credits – fx luminaire and freedigitalphotos.net)
