Nightfall is a great occasion to reveal your landscape in a whole new light. With outdoor lighting, your backyard is enhanced so you can continue to admire the scenery, even in the dark of night! In this article, discover why it is important to plan your landscape lighting, which lighting techniques are best for you, and which types of outdoor lights will work best with your decor.
How Do Lights Enhance Your Outdoor Living Spaces?
During the day, sunlight does a great job revealing the most beautiful features of your landscape. After investing time and money, it’s logical to want to enjoy it after sunset! With a lighting system, you can accentuate your outdoor spaces and create a different atmosphere and perspective at night. Lights are also a great way to enhance the facade of your home and make it more inviting.
Speaking of perspective, outdoor lights can be strategically placed to make your yard seem bigger. By placing lights in dark corners or in more distant locations, you create an illusion and suddenly your yard looks wider and more spacious.
Lighting is a great way to enjoy the most of your outdoor living area. When done right, lighting can extend your days outside, so you can appreciate your evenings alone, with family or friends even more! It also gives you the possibility to walk along the lighted paths of your backyard. Finally, outdoor lights allow you to enjoy your pool more safely at night and be able to see the faces of your loved ones when you have them over (and all this, in an enchanting setting)!
Ambient Lighting Techniques
Several options are available to create breathtaking lighting atmospheres in your outdoor environment. Lighting techniques can be used to accentuate certain elements that add value to your property, such as a tree, a pathway, a sculpture, a fountain, etc.
Upward Lighting From the Ground
To begin with, you can install a light system and point it upwards to a specific element of your yard to highlight it. Depending on your preferences or the desired effect, you can always adjust the intensity and the distance of the light.
Moonlight Lights
Contrary to the previous technique, you can add a source of lighting at the top of an installation and point it downward. As the name suggests, the effect is similar to the lighting of the moon. A shadow is thus projected on the ground, giving a very natural look. These lights are often seen in trees.
Grazing Lighting
When your yard is composed of installations or elements with textures, the grazing technique is ideal to put them in value. This effect is achieved by placing a source of lighting on the ground, close to the desired feature. This technique gives a discreet and delicate result.
Background Lighting
The background lighting is a simple technique that creates a glow around a tree, a statue, a fountain or other objects of your yard. To obtain this effect, you need to install a lighting system behind the element in question. Afterwards, the light will outline perfectly the silhouette of the element.
Mood Lighting
Unlike the techniques listed above, mood lighting allows you to focus on several elements at once. For example, you can illuminate a gathering space or a focal point of your landscape. By using a broader spectrum of light, you can illuminate an area more evenly.
Types of Outdoor Lights
To achieve the previous lighting techniques, several types of lights are available to help you obtain the mood wanted. The choice of these fixtures should be considered to effectively reveal the beauty of your landscaping.
Garden Spotlights
Garden spotlights are used to accentuate certain landscape elements and to add charm after dark. Depending on the chosen types, spotlights are designed with intensity and dimming options to choose the optimal amount of light to give the desired effects.
Light Garlands
Beautiful and practical, garlands of lights can be used as decoration while bringing a festive and relaxed atmosphere. They can be placed in many places and give a different look. On trees, above your patio table, hanging from your balcony or hanging from a wooden fence, the possibilities are endless.
Outdoor Floor Lamps
Outdoor floor lamps and standing lamps can be placed in many locations around your deck, house or pool. They are most often seen near driveways or house entrances, but don’t overlook the warmth they can provide near other landscaping features in your yard.
Ground Lights
Ground lights look great along the driveway leading to your front door, in the pathways of your yard, and even scattered throughout your flower beds. Not only do these lights give a muted look that encourages calm and relaxation, but they also allow for safe movement around your property.
Whether it’s your backyard or the front of your home, outdoor lights are definitely the best way to enhance your landscape at night. Proper planning of your lighting needs will allow you to enjoy the splendor of the night right from your home.
You are looking for a team to do your prestigious landscaping? Think of Paysage Lambert! Our team of experts knows lighting techniques like the back of their hand to create the most enchanting settings, day and night.
