Overview
Getting it right on, landscaping of a new home is vital as it will reflect on the artistic beauty of the house in general and comes with many more benefits. Lighting is an essential part of landscaping and will ensure that you enhance the beauty of your home, curb appeal and safety to your home and surrounding areas.
To capture the beauty of a new home, a landscaper will use an artistic technique to bring your home alive with an elaborate lighting system creatively. Sufficient lighting adds the verve and natural beauty to a home, highlighting everything to the tiniest of detail. New homeowners should ensure that they invest in the very best of lighting when it comes to landscaping.
There are landscaping lighting basics to guide new homeowners when they are setting up their house surrounding. The basics act as strategies in helping new homeowners settle on the best landscaping lighting strategies, suited to their particular environment at the fairest cost. There are creative outdoor landscaping concepts that are easy, cost-effective, and fast to implement. This feature highlights the landscaping lighting basics suited explicitly for new homeowners.
Tips on effective landscaping lighting
Before settling on any particular type of outdoor lighting for your new home, there are several factors to keep in check. All the elements focus on ensuring that you get the value for your money and get the best landscaping lighting concepts suitable for your home.
Tips on ensuring you get the most effective outdoor lighting include the following features;
- Ensure you have a reliable and sufficient power supply that is cost-effective to cut down on extra power costs
- Have a budget to cater for all the lighting installation costs
- Due diligence on the available outdoor lighting concepts in your local market and settle on the most effective, suitable and affordable depending on your budget
- Ensure the lighting concepts chosen blend in perfectly with your landscape for the preferred picturesque results
- If possible, consult a reliable landscaper for ideas, advice, and if potential, to guide you through the installation process.
- Have a clear, laid out a plan on the lighting techniques before setting to install the outdoor lighting system.
- Decide on the exterior objects or area you want to light
The ultimate goal of landscaping lighting is enhancing the beauty of your home with the best concepts at the fairest cost available.
Landscaping lighting techniques
There are several techniques that you can try out, either as a combination or singly, to serve as exterior lighting concepts around your home. Some of the outdoor lighting techniques include the following;
- Shadowing- this technique involves lighting an object from the front and below, projecting intriguing and unique shadows on the adjacent walls or vertical surfaces
- Accent or spot- this lovely lighting technique features focusing an intense, controlled beam of light, bringing out the best in your garden space. This fantastic feature creates a cascading sparkling highlight on your outdoor areas of interest
- Pool and fountain lighting- if you are lucky enough to have a pool or fountain within your compound, then this feature is the ultimate choice. Pool and fountain lighting create beautiful dramatic features to your outdoor water bodies. Water is an ideal component, and you can creatively use it as a mirror by lighting the area behind the reflecting surface.
- Grazing- this technique involves positioning the light source next to the area of focus, highlighting the texture of surrounding features including walls, wood shingles, or tree bark.
- Silhouetting- this feature involves concealing lights behind and below structures like bushes or trees, achieving a fantastic view resembling a ridge silhouette against the sky at dusk.
- Area/ down lighting- this technique involves mounting the lighting units on high standpoints like trees or top of the house. The intent is to cast a broad illumination over a wide range of area. This feature will ensure that wide varieties of your landscape are well lit, especially after dark, doubling up as a security and safety feature.
- Uplighting- this feature is focusing the lighting upwards, aimed at creating a dramatic effect resembling the theatre. Uplighting comes live when used adjacent to trees, statues, or textured walls. The goal is to ensure you focus the light to plants or objects within your surroundings to achieve the intended results.
- Cross lighting-, this creative technique involves illuminating objects like trees or statues from two or more sides, revealing a three-dimensional form from a fantastic perspective.
- Moonlighting- this technique uses the same features as used in downlighting, but focuses on using soft light sources on high vantage positions. This fantastic technique simulates the gorgeous effect of moonlight filtering through tree branches, with its shadowy patterns casting down on the surface.
Outdoor lighting areas
There are several areas around your new home that you should consider setting up the landscaping lighting system. Some of the best areas to set up your outdoor lighting system include the following;
- Driveway lighting- the driveway offers the perfect spacing and space to set up an outdoor lighting system. Highlighting your driveway with sufficient light improves on safety and security and adds beauty to your home
- Rear yard lighting- installing floodlights atop your house or on trees adds verve of life to your landscape nightlife, serving to discourage vandals and intruders. To ensure effectiveness, set up automatic timers, motion sensors, or photocells.
- Close-by-house lighting- lighting up the side or rear of your house, including walls and access windows, will ensure that your home is well illuminated, adding beauty, ensuring security and safety around your home.
- Steps and paths lighting- this ensures that you avoid accidents while stepping out into the dark, while also adding a touch of class and art around your home
Conclusion
Set up your landscape for greatness by ensuring that you select the best outdoor lighting techniques to bring a touch of class, beauty, and art around your home. A landscaping lighting system will also promote safety and security for you and your family.