How Do You Choose The Right Landscape Lighting Ideas?
There are serious advantages to landscape lighting. You can see your way across the yard or sidewalk when coming and going and the sun isn’t up. People know you’re home, and you can see what’s going on in your yard in the middle of the night.
What Is The Purpose
If you’re looking for the right landscape lighting ideas, then there’s a step you need to take before spending any money on shopping. That step is deciding what purpose your landscape illumination is going to have. Are you looking for security and safety in the front yard? Solar-powered lamps that shine all night are good choices. Or, are you looking to set a soft and even romantic tone in the evening back yard?
You might not even need to light up the whole yard, based on street lights and illumination from the home or other homes. You might just have a garden corner bench in the shadows that needs landscape lighting along the path.
Another case for individual-use lighting might be highlighting a water feature, such as a pond or fountain.
Sketch Out Your Yard
A great second step is to just grab pen and paper (or even doodle on your tablet) and sketch out your yard. You don’t need exact measurements here, as you’re just looking for a general idea of any existing trees, shrubs, benches, buildings, and lights.
Also remember decorations and vegetation in your garden, if you have one. All these things either absorb light or reflect it, so estimating the heights of all objects is helpful, especially if there’s foliage.
You want to keep the final light in your yard balanced across, without too many bright spots or dim spots.
One exception might be inside your swimming pool though if you have one. The lighting inside of it isn’t really landscape lighting, but for the sake of safety, it’s good to see to the bottom of the pool even at night.
Make Your Choices
Once you know the purposes for your landscape lighting and the specific positions in which they will go, you can then start choosing between ground lamps, mounted lights, and possibly even light poles.
One lamp on top of a pole can make for a wonderful centerpoint to your garden, especially if by a bench where you can read at night. Outdoor string lights make a wonderful addition to a trellis or gazebo, especially if used as a cold-season visual replacement for vines.
