What To Know About Adding Outdoor Lighting

What To Know About Adding Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting can make a home’s exterior spaces inviting and intriguing after the sun goes down. It can also make pathways and stairways safer, as well as improve the home’s security. To get the right outdoor lighting for your home, it is important to have a mix of lights, depending on the areas you want to illuminate. Lighting for safety and security should be the top priority, with overhead fixtures and sconces that cast a broad light at entry areas, pathways and steps, gates and driveways, and around any pools or ponds. Motion-sensor lights can alert you to movement in different parts of your yard without their constantly being on.

A landscape architect or landscape designer can provide ideas and plans that will incorporate the look and feel as well as the activities you want. The most important details in this text are the design considerations for outdoor lighting. This includes more than just a porch light and a single light in the backyard to give the landscape a welcoming feel, but also consider how you want to use the landscape after dark and features you want to highlight. A sample plan might include more lighting in gathering spots on patios and decks, a light focused on the grill, overhead lights and sconces at entry points, clear lighting for paths and stairs and around pools, and fixed lights to highlight one or two garden elements, such as a tree, bush, statue or a water feature.