Landscape Lighting Ideas

Some great landscape lighting ideas

Landscape lighting adds safety, ambience, and value to your home. Lights can turn a dark home into an illuminating fortress, or highlight the natural beauty of plants and gardens. If you are planning your own design and installing the lights yourself, here are some ideas that can help you get started.

Use different landscape lights for different areas of your home. Lampposts look nice lining a driveway, while flood lights can illuminate a tree. Vary lighting devices according to your needs.

Don't worry too much about fixtures unless they are going to be in plain sight. Unobtrusive fixtures work well for uplighting and downlighting. If you are placing landscape lights around a deck, pool or walkway (in plain view), you should focus more on the style of the fixture.

Try window well lights. If you have a window well, it doesn't just have to sit empty collecting dirt! Try placing lights inside the well and using the uplifting technique.

Think creatively! If you want to light up an area such as a deck, light strands come in many different shapes (think chile peppers). Look for rock lights, which look like stones, but have a light built into them.

Consider the durability of the lighting components (fixtures, wires and cables). If you live in an area with particularly harsh climates, you'll want to make sure that your landscape lights will hold up.

Lighting experts recommend low voltage systems. They are safer, more efficient, and work better than higher voltage systems.

Set landscape lights on a timer. This way, they won't have to be turned on and off everyday. It will also conserve energy.

If you plan on installing your own lights, follow the manufacturer's directions carefully. All that is needed is a transformer, a screw driver, a shovel, and wire cutters. If at any time you are uncertain as to what you are doing, check with a professional.

Consider using solar landscape lighting. They are maintenance free, easy to install, and free of cost, as they don't need electricity to run. The only drawback to solar lighting is that the lights must be placed in an area that gets full sunlight during the day.

Last, but not least, don't overdo it! Finding the number of lights that fit your yard size is important, as you don't want your home to look obnoxiously bright or bother neighbors.

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