Light Up Your Life: Landscape and Home Lighting

One of the most transformative and cost effective accessories you can give your home is the proper exterior lighting.  When done correctly, exterior lighting plays up your home’s positive features, takes attention away from its “challenges” and improves your home’s safety and security.

Statistically, a house that is well lit at night is less likely to be burglarized or vandalized, and proper lighting on walkways and at doors not only allows you to better see whom is approaching your door, but also minimizes the risk of falls or other injuries.

Exterior lighting, of course, does not need to be purely utilitarian, and can create varying levels of both drama and subtlety, and enhance the mood of your surroundings, thereby increasing the attractiveness of your home.

Proper exterior lighting is an art, and many people turn to a professional to gain the maximum results.  Some of the most effective exterior lighting techniques include:

1. “Fairy” Lighting:  Strings of small white lights wrapped through small trees, around large potted plants, or around the bases of palms, give an outdoor seating area a romantic and cozy feeling.
2. Low key accent lighting: Low key accent lighting can subtly illuminate a complete landscape and beautify the surrounding environment.
3. “Moonlighting”: A very popular way to light a home, moonlighting refers to the practice of placing a light up high, such as in a tree or on a roof and shining it down on an area in a gentle wash of light.  This is particularly effective if the light is filtering through tree branches.
4. Shadowing:  Placing a light behind an object, such as a tree, sculpture or statue can create dramatic shadows and emphasize the form of the object.
5. Up-lighting: Shining a light up from a lower area is a great way to accent large objects such as trees.

The most attractive lighting schemes use a combination of techniques and sources.  Keep in mind how your home looks in daylight and try to replicate that to some degree for a natural, but enticing impression.