Landscaping Lighting Tips Every Homeowner Needs
The right outdoor lighting not only allows you to enjoy your landscaping after the sun sets but also provides much needed safety and security. Use lighting to highlight favorite plants, trees, and shrubs along with lighting your home’s facade. Here’s a few other tips:
Add drama and ambiance to your front porch and home by directing your lights skyward.
If you don’t want to figure out wiring, use solar landscape lighting. Solar lights are ideal for lighting paths and flower gardens. They turn on automatically as the sun sets and turn off as daylight arrives.
Be sure you have a timer to automatically turn the lights on and off. Place timers in an accessible area. When daylight hours change you need to adjust the timer – which is a minor drawback.
Motion lights are important for your safety and security. You may want to have motion lights on the sides and back of your home or other dark areas.
Light bulbs should be shielded in some way to prevent glare; do not allow the bulbs to be visible.
Landscape light wattage should not exceed 20 watts (preferably in the 7 -13 watt range is best).
Live near saltwater? Select brass or copper light fixtures.
Use extra lights to illuminate steps and walkways. Our eyes need time to adjust from a well lit room indoors to a darker environment outdoors.
Place lights at both the top and bottom and along the sides if your staircase if it is long. Two or three steps may be lit by using only one light if its beam is sufficient to light all stair treads.
Another great option is to hang sconces on your columns at the top of the stairs.
Try to avoid spotlights near your porch. They will provide sufficient light but tend to create glare making it difficult to differentiate between steps.
Landscape lighting has become the norm of the average homeowner thanks to the convenience of do-it-yourself landscape lighting kits. With a huge range of lighting designs and information available on line, it is a project almost any homeowner can do.
