Outdoor lighting … it serves so many purposes!
From a safety perspective, outdoor lighting should be one of the most considered parts of your home lighting scheme. Driveways, paths, steps, they all present as safety hazards when you are fumbling around in the dark.
Outdoor lighting, if done right, can also create spaces that are warm and inviting. Spaces you, and your guests, will want to spend more time in. The right outdoor lighting plan can also boost the “curb appeal” of your home, which can actually add value to your home!
So, how do you ensure you have the right outdoor lighting for your home? Check out some of our top tips for getting your outdoor lighting right!
outdoor lighting for your home’s entryLight your Home’s Entrance
Light your Home’s Entry
The right outdoor lighting scheme is more than just showing off your home to its best effect, it ensures visitors to your home can enter easily and safely.
When lighting the entry to your home, it is important to consider the path you or your guests will take to enter your home. A good tip is to walk the path to your front door, asking yourself these questions. What light did you already have available? Were there any hazards that will require highlighting, such as steps, pathways or gardens? Do you require specific lighting to navigate entry through your front door?
Light your Driveway
Driving into a well-lit driveway after a long day can give you a feeling of truly being at home. Great driveway lighting can also make your home easier to find for new visitors and enhance your beautiful landscape and gardens.
More importantly, however, the right driveway lighting can provide the necessary illumination to make it safer, not only reducing the chances of trips and falls, but also to highlight the line of your driveway and avoid costly damage to things like your lawn or gardens.
Bollard lights are an ideal for of driveway lighting. Usually surface mounted, they can line the length of your driveway and provide a clear line of sight to navigate at night.
Light your Garden
This one applies whether you are lighting your entry or your backyard entertaining area. Up lighting is perfect for this. Garden spike lights, for instance, are designed for garden use, and shine a light upward on features of your garden you would like to highlight. Tucked away beneath shrubbery, your garden will come alive at night!
It is also a good idea to consider garden lighting, such as garden spikes, around the perimeters of your garden. This provides another safety feature, highlighting where your garden ends and your pathways begin.
Light the Dark Spots
It is important to consider those spaces that won’t be lit by other types of lighting. Spaces like side gate entrances, the entrance to your garage, or maybe the area you keep your bins. From a safety and security perspective, lighting these areas will help avoid mishaps, but will also help you to feel a little more secure when venturing to these spaces at night.
Flood lights and spotlights are great examples of security lighting, particularly if your spotlights are adjustable, allowing you to shine light where you need it the most at any given time. And, for extra safety, sensor lights that turn on when movement is detected can provide a sense of security, whether outside, or inside your home.
Don’t Forget the “Wow” Factor
A good outdoor lighting plan should work toward a layered lighting scheme. A scheme that combines accent, ambient and task lighting. If you feel you have covered the basics, but are still lacking a little wow factor, consider lighting that will serve multiple purposes in your outdoor space. Adding things like up and down pillar lights, which illuminate both upwards and downwards creating columns of light, can add a dramatic effect, as well as help illuminate your entrance.
If that fails, remember, your outdoor space is one area where you can afford to go a little over the top with your lighting ideas and designs to create something spectacular. Add a little more to the layers!
outdoor lighting for your backyard spaces
Light your Entertainment Area
Like any good lighting scheme, the goal is always to create an ambience and a statement that will both welcome and impact your guests. Unlike indoor spaces, where sometimes less is more, outdoor spaces provide much more opportunity to go overboard on lighting. The key, however, is to combine and layer lighting for style, impact and functionality.
In much the same way you considered the needs of your home’s entry, you can apply this to your backyard entertaining spaces. Always consider safety first with things like pathway, step lighting or deck lighting. Functionality in making sure spaces like your outdoor kitchen or BBQ or eating areas have adequate light to perform tasks is also important. After that, get creative, and when it’s all done, add another simple layer of string lights, there’s nothing quite like the simple twinkle of string lights to create something special in your entertainment area!
Consider Adding Cooling Options
If you have a roof over your back area then bringing in a device that can eliminate those hot summer days is a must! A fan with a light is the perfect solution. There are a huge range of ceiling fans that are IP rated for indoor and outdoor undercover use.
final tip for lighting any outdoor space
Consider the Climate
Taking into account the climate into which your outdoor lights are being installed applies to both your front and back outdoor spaces.
The construction material, for instance, is important. If you live near the ocean, you might consider fittings constructed of stainless steel. The IP rating, a rating given dependent on the water and dust resistance of a light fitting is also important. Install outdoor light fittings that are going to stand the test of time!
The right outdoor lighting scheme is more than just showing off your home to its best effect, it ensures visitors to your home can enter easily, safely and be greeted with a warmth that only lighting can provide. Talk to the expert staff at Rovert Lighting & Electrical about your outdoor lighting needs, and get your outdoor lighting right!