Designing the perfect landscape lighting plan can be overwhelming. There are a variety of lights to choose from, and you want it to look good while also providing added protection for you and your family. When it comes to choosing the right kind of landscape lighting, your main focus should be security and what part of your landscape you’re trying to highlight. Deciding on these aspects will help narrow down your options and make it easier to select the perfect lights to create your nighttime masterpiece. Here is how to choose your landscape lighting.
Decide What You’re Trying to Highlight
Creating a beautiful lighting design for your home all centers around what features you want to highlight. Is there a fountain in your yard that captures people’s attention? Do you want to focus on the white bricks of your home? Do you want to show off a statue or plant in your garden? Once you have found the focus for your landscape lighting, you can then narrow down the options of which kind of lights will work best for you.
Lighting for Plants or Gardens
When it comes to lighting up gardens and using your plants as a focal point for your design, you will want to make sure that you do not use too many lights. Overlighting will result in your plants having a washed out unhealthy look to them. The best lights to use with plants are small uplights, which helps focus the lights on the main features of the plants, such as blooms or leaves.
For bigger plants such as trees or bushes, you can place path lights in the middle of the foliage. This allows the light to be filtered through the leaves, which creates the illusion that the plant is growing, and casts a green light over the surrounding ground. This is particularly useful near pathways through the garden, as it helps increase safety in addition to adding beauty to your yard.
Stonework
If you would like to focus on stonework, you can use outdoor lamps or lanterns to cast a beautiful soft glow. The light will create a beautiful starlight effect from the stone, allowing it to sparkle and giving it a fantastical look. This is especially helpful for water features, such as a fountain, that is surrounded by stonework. The water will help reflect the light, resulting in gorgeous light patterns across the stonework.
Statues
Spotlights are a great choice for highlighting statues. They create a silhouette effect by creating a halo of light around the subject matter while keeping the center dark. This play with light and darkness creates a beautiful aesthetic that draws in the eye.
Doors or Walls of your Home
To add more security and use your home as the focus of your landscape lighting, you will want to light up your doors and walls. For the main door, a wall mounted light will be the best choice. Floodlights mounted on the eaves of your home and directed at an angle at your walls will create a stunning wall-washing effect and show off the beauty of the wood, brick, or stonework on your home. The even, smooth glow of these lights will also help rid your home of any potential blind spots, which is essential for deterring burglars.
Pathways
In order to make your home safe, you will want to light up any pathways and your driveway with pathway lights. Path lighting helps keep walkers aware of any changes of the terrain underneath their feet, allowing them to avoid potential hazards and reducing the risk of an accident.
Color Temperature
The right color temperature is vital for landscape lighting. Each bulb that you purchase will have a Kelvin value on the packaging. The higher the Kelvin value, the closer the hue will be to natural sunlight. Here are three examples of the most popular color bulbs to help you determine which range to stay in to achieve your wanted color:
- Blue hue – 4200 K value
- Amber hue – 3500 K value
- White light – 3600 – 4100 K value
If you are still unsure of how to best light your landscape, contact Creative Nightscapes. Our landscape designers are the masters of transforming your landscape into a nighttime wonderland. We can help you design and install your new landscape lights, allowing you to enjoy the beauty of your home while also keeping it safer.
