Homeowners spend considerable time making sure the exterior of their home is something beautiful to behold, addressing such key elements as the architectural details on the home’s facade and attractive landscaping. But homeowners often overlook something that can make their home continue to stand out after the sun goes down. Quality outdoor landscape lighting can turn that dream house into a jewel that shines after dark. Begin by evaluating your yard and your needs. Start by creating a plan for the placement of your outdoor lighting. The following are some tips for outdoor lighting…
- Why do you want outdoor lighting? – Is it for beauty, for example lighting the front facade of the home will accentuate its beautiful architectural details after sunset. Or is to keep your garden well lit so the burglars stay away. Or maybe it is to improve the safety of your stairs.
- Do you have a Budget? – Talk to your landscaping professional or contractor to make sure you can complete the project at a reasonable price within that budget.
- Draw a sketch of your yard – Take a pencil and paper and go outside and sketch your property. Make sure you include any trees or walkways you want to light. Be sure to include your power source as well. You don’t have to be an artist; all you need is a rough sketch. It doesn’t have to be to scale and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just get the area on paper.
- Where should the lighting be placed? – You first have to decided where the lighting should be placed and then what type of lighting do you want in each area? There are so many choices, Led Lighting, bullet fixtures, canister fixtures, path lighting and accent lighting.
- Will you need an electrician? – To accommodate new lighting, you may need to upgrade your current electrical situation. If you need to run new wiring to your outside lighting features, contact a qualified electrician.
Landscape Lighting Techniques
Correct lighting techniques will highlight your important features and create the perfect amount of drama in a yard. Create techniques that work best for your home’s architectural features, garden accents, outdoor living spaces, or backyard oasis. Familiarize yourself with the following terms so that you are prepared to discuss your lighting needs with your professional designer.
- Highlighting – This is a common and quite useful technique in outdoor lighting. highlighting is created by placing a spotlight at the base of an outdoor feature such as a tree.
- Silhouetting – By placing a spotlight behind the feature, aimed towards an adjacent wall, you can create an illuminated backdrop. This dark outline of the object is useful for showcasing plants and other dense features. It looks especially striking in the sunset.
- Up-lighting – Offering a greater contrast effect than typical wall-washing, spotlight fixtures are placed closer to a building for a bolder effect.
- Moonlighting – Create moonlighting techniques by placing a large fixture with a full glare guard high up inside a tree, and angled downwards. This effect looks like moonlight shining down through the branches. It causes attractive shadow patterns on the ground to appear, plus it provides a very natural and beautiful lighting effect.
- Accenting – This technique uses carefully angled lights to highlight a certain statue , tree or landscaping feature
- Path Lighting – This refers to any type of lighting used to highlight or illuminate a walking path or pond.
- Down-lighting – The down-lighting technique is similar to the moonlighting technique, although brighter and less subtle. Place a fixture high up, inside a feature like a trellis, tree, or eave, and cast downwards over a large area. Place the light higher if you intend to illuminate a large portion of the yard, and lower if you wish to illuminate a path or garden.
Outdoor Lighting in your landscaping is definitely an increasingly popular home improvement that makes your home and outdoor living area stand out and truly “shine”.
Call the pros at Outer Image Outdoor Services to help you get your landscaping done right the first time! We help residential and commercial clients with their landscaping everyday all year ’round!
Contact us (859-689-0076) for a free consultation!
