A modern outdoor landscape includes a variety of elements. Highlighting critical features with landscape lighting makes your property feel welcoming day and night.
For example, lighted walkways and patios outline a path for visitors, while illuminated water features create a captivating ambiance. Talk to a lighting design expert to understand your options.
Focal Points
In addition to emphasizing your stonework and drawing attention to focus points like trees and walkways, landscape lighting design St. Louis, MO also provides a compelling atmosphere that varies with the changing light of day and night. It’s a characteristic that attracts purchasers and raises the value of your house.
Different landscape spaces call for different lighting styles. Pathways, for example, work best when lit with fixtures that shine downward so people can easily walk in the dark without tripping or falling over obstacles. But a garden focal point such as a statue, specimen tree, or gazebo demands another style. Downlighting or moonlighting would illuminate them with a soft glow that simulates the appearance of moonlight.
Floodlights are helpful for larger areas such as driveways and patios. They’re essential for visibility and help deter crime in your neighborhood by showing that your home is well-maintained and welcoming to guests after dark. For a more intimate feel, try accent lights that change color with the changing seasons or to suit your mood.
Pathways
Whether you want to illuminate your favorite garden features or add a little ambiance around the pool, well-placed path lights can create the perfect mood for any occasion. This type of landscape lighting is also essential for ensuring you and your guests can safely navigate your property after dark, reducing the risk of trips or falls.
In addition to providing safety, a properly executed landscape lighting plan can help deter burglaries and other criminal activity. According to research, there is a burglary in the United States every thirty seconds, and most of these instances happen at night. Illuminating the nooks and crannies of your property with floodlights helps to highlight potential crime hotspots, making them more difficult for opportunistic wrongdoers to target.
Aside from enhancing the beauty of your property, the proper landscape lighting can boost its value. According to a study, home buyers are inherently drawn to properties with well-lit outdoor spaces, making landscape lighting a worthwhile investment for any homeowner.
Social Areas
If your landscape includes an outdoor living area like a patio or fire pit seating space, then you’ll want those spaces to be well-lit for safety and enjoyment. Prioritize walkway lighting and the front yard entrance to prevent tripping, but also use techniques that build a sense of ambiance.
For instance, moonlighting is a simple yet effective technique that mimics the soft glow of the full moon. Another great way to build a soothing mood is through refractive lighting. It uses the refractory properties of water features such as pools, fountains, and waterfalls to create a stunning visual effect.
While halogen bulbs are still commonly used in some applications, many landscape designers prefer LEDs. These are highly efficient at transforming electricity into light, and they’re available in a wide range of intensity and color temperatures. When creating a welcome atmosphere, you have many options, ranging from warm yellows to dazzling whites.
Outdoor Kitchens
Many homeowners enjoy spending time outdoors to cook and entertain guests in their outdoor kitchens. A well-lit outdoor kitchen must illuminate the cooking area and create a comfortable dining ambiance. A couple of tiki torches or a single pendant light will not do this space justice.
For a more functional lighting display, sconces mounted on the wall are perfect for this area to provide ample light for grilling and food prep. Lighting that is dimmer also allows you to reduce the intensity of this fixture to match the level of activity in the kitchen.
Pathway lights are another great way to illuminate the area around the kitchen so you and your guests can safely navigate this area. These lights are also ideal for accentuating well-tended flowering beds or specimen plants on your property. They can also help prevent tripping hazards on stairs or unlit pathways by clearly marking where you should walk.
