Lighting your landscape is one of the most simple yet effective ways to add ambiance to your home and property. Not only does landscape lighting instantly boost your home’s curb appeal, but it also makes your property safer. While landscape lighting is a simple addition, deciding what to highlight and the products to use may get tricky for some homeowners.
Determining what type of landscape lighting and layout will complement your property and lifestyle can quickly become overwhelming as choices and design ideas seem to be endless. To help you devise a solid plan for your landscape lighting, we’ve compiled a few professional tips to keep in mind when adding lights to your home’s exterior spaces.
Consider Your Landscape Lighting Goals
Before picking out lighting products, consider your goals for eliminating your landscape and property. Landscape lighting is both beautiful and functional, and your intentions for your property will help you make a plan. Illuminating walkways, driveways, stairs, outdoor seating areas, and entryways increase the safety and security of your property while highlighting trees, foliage, and focal points in your landscape create ambiance. Outdoor lighting also increases your use of your exterior spaces by extending your activities in these areas well after the sun goes down.
Decide How To Reach Your Illumination Goals
Once you’ve determined your landscape lighting goals, you can narrow down your options for illumination. If you want landscape lighting for security and safety reasons, concentrating on installing essential lights along your pathways and motion sensor lights at entrances should be enough. However, if you want to add ambiance to your yard and enhance the use of your outdoor spaces, uplighting trees and concentrating on seating areas should be your plan.
Understand Costs Involved In Lighting Your Landscape
Common factors that contribute to the cost of landscape lighting should be considered when making decisions on what and how to illuminate your property. Factors such as the cost of the light fixture, the type of bulb it uses, method of illumination, and installation all come into play when lighting your landscape. Consider your options, such as solar and low-voltage products that can help reduce the overall cost of landscape lighting. LED lighting may be more expensive initially, but low energy use and long bulb life may be cheaper over time.
Seek Professional Landscape Lighting Assistance
While some landscape lighting can be managed successfully as a DIY project, others require professional planning and installation. Consider consulting with your local professional landscape company to determine how to reach your landscape lighting goals best.
