Landscape lighting can make a significant impact on your home and property. It can illuminate areas for safety purposes or enhance your home’s curb appeal.
Make sure the fixture and bulbs are rated for outdoor use. Fixtures not rated for outdoors may rust or corrode over time. Also, consider using LED bulbs that are energy efficient and last longer. Contact Elegant Custom Images Inc for professional help.
If you want your house to stand out in the neighborhood or impress guests that stop by, you have a lot to gain from investing in landscape lighting. This type of exterior home lighting is not only a beautiful way to make your property glow, but it also improves safety and security while making it easier to navigate around your yard at night.
Curb appeal is often considered the first impression your home makes. This is because it is what attracts potential buyers and gives guests an idea of the overall style of your home. With this in mind, it is important to consider the impact your home’s curb appeal can have on your property value. Landscape lighting is a great way to enhance your property’s curb appeal and can increase its value.
The best way to achieve curb appeal with your landscape lighting is to showcase special features in your yard, like fountains, ponds, flower gardens and more. You can do this by creating a spotlight effect, which will highlight these areas and make them stand out from the rest of your yard. You can also use lights to highlight certain aspects of your home, like pillars, rockwork, dormers or anything else that you would like to showcase.
Another great aspect of curb appeal with landscape lighting is to illuminate pathways and stairs. This will help to keep guests and family members safe by preventing them from tripping or falling over objects in the dark. In addition, it will deter intruders by illuminating the perimeter of your property and eliminating hiding spots.
The last aspect of curb appeal with landscape lighting is to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. This is a very important aspect of curb appeal because it will encourage guests to spend more time at your home and will create a relaxing atmosphere. You can do this by lighting up the area around your patio or deck, which will allow you to enjoy these spaces well after the sun goes down. Additionally, you can use lighting to add a pop of color to your landscaping. This can be done by using colored bulbs or highlighting unique aspects of your landscaping, such as the fluffy fronds of a Foxtail Palm.
Safety
When a homeowner installs landscape lighting it doesn’t just add beauty, it increases safety. A well-lit yard can prevent accidents for family and guests who may misjudge a step or trip at night. A dark home can also make it harder for neighbors or passersby to see the property. Landscape lighting discourages burglars who would prefer to steal from a well-lit house and yard.
A well-lit property is also easier to navigate at night for first responders and party guests. The lights make it easy to see the address so they can easily find your house in an emergency.
Lighting the area around water features can help keep people and pets safe from slips and falls. The right light fixture can also highlight tripping hazards and make it easier to spot any problems that might require maintenance.
It’s also important to have a light to illuminate stairs or other obstacles. The last thing you want is for someone to hurt themselves trying to enter or exit your home.
Outdoor lighting is also good for businesses with parking lots and walkways. It makes it easier for drivers to see their way out of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk, especially when there’s ice or snow.
The type of landscape lighting you choose can affect how long it will last and how well it performs during the winter. Plastic fixtures don’t do well in the cold, but solid brass and copper fixtures can hold up to freezing temperatures without rusting or cracking.
There are two main types of landscape lighting: line voltage and low voltage. The former requires a licensed electrician to install and runs on 120 volts, just like your household outlets. The latter uses 12V wires that can be directly buried in shallow trenches, making it an ideal choice for the average homeowner who wants to do their own landscaping lighting installation. The only drawback with low-voltage is that the wattage of each fixture must be carefully calculated on a single line to avoid overloading it. This is why it’s often a better option to hire a professional to handle the installation and regular maintenance of your landscape lighting.
Security
Security is an important part of any home landscape design, and landscape lighting can help. Well-lit outdoor spaces make it easier for guests and family members to navigate a property after dark, and they deter criminal activity by making the property less appealing to thieves and vandals. Landscape lighting can also highlight doors, windows, and other potential entry points to the home, removing hiding spots and improving visibility.
Landscape lighting is one of the most effective ways to improve your home’s security, but you must be careful not to overdo it. Overly bright lights can create blind spots and highlight areas that shouldn’t be visible, which can compromise your safety and the security of your family and guests.
The best way to balance beauty and safety is to work with a professional lighting designer who can assess your property, consider the unique characteristics of your home, and design a lighting layout that highlights features while providing adequate illumination. The type of light you choose is also crucial. For example, motion-sensor lights are great for enhancing security, as they activate only when movement is detected and save energy while surprising intruders. Wash lights and other fixtures with a wide beam spread are also good choices for security.
Another thing to keep in mind is that security is especially important in the winter, when it’s more difficult to see your property boundaries and when trespassing can be a more serious concern. Well-lit landscaping can help to mitigate these issues by keeping walkways and driveways illuminated, reducing the risk of people slipping and falling after dark.
Landscape lighting can also help to enhance your property in the winter, by highlighting unique architectural or natural features and illuminating snow-covered areas. This can show that you take pride in your property and enjoy the natural beauty of your landscape year-round, making it more attractive to potential buyers when you’re ready to sell.
Ambiance
When homeowners make a big investment in the look of their home and landscape, they want to be able to enjoy these features well into the night. With a little planning and expert help, you can turn your yard into a captivating nocturnal escape with the flick of a switch. Landscape lighting showcases your home’s architecture, drawing attention to a stunning entryway, a majestic tree or an architecturally significant structure in the yard. It also illuminates walkways, ensuring that guests can safely navigate your property at night without running into the back of your house or tripping over shrubbery.
Adding lighting around the exterior of your home can also make it feel bigger at night. This is because it eliminates the “black hole effect,” which is caused by dark windows and shadows on the exterior of the home, making it feel smaller. Similarly, if your outdoor entertainment area is not well lit, it can make the space feel cramped and uninviting.
Lighting techniques like up-lighting and down-lighting can be used to accentuate hardscapes and softscape features of your yard. For instance, up-lighting can create a dramatic silhouette effect on a tall structure, while down-lighting can give an ethereal, moonlit glow to the yard. Cross-lighting is a great way to show off non-uniform-shaped features of your landscaping, as it highlights the different sides of these structures.
Functionality is another important aspect of landscape lighting. Pathways and entrances should be adequately lit to ensure safe navigation throughout your property at night, without blinding guests or overly lighting up the neighborhood. In addition to this, ambient lighting, such as string lights or lanterns, can cultivate a warm and cozy atmosphere for entertaining and relaxing in your yard.
Lastly, it’s important to avoid light pollution. Excessive and poorly directed lighting can be a nuisance for neighbors and cause discomfort or even health issues for those in the vicinity. Thankfully, newer LED fixtures offer lower lumen output than traditional bulbs, meaning that you can light up your yard while still respecting the surrounding environment. This is particularly important when choosing bulbs for your landscape, as different plants require varying amounts of light to thrive.