Making the right decisions when it comes to your outdoor lighting can offer a range of benefits, such as enhancing your home’s appearance and helping you save money.

The Right Amount

The goal of any landscape lighting system is to add better visibility to residents and visitors. Adding too much or too little lighting or improperly placed lighting can make it more difficult for people to see. It’s important to install the right type, amount and voltage of lighting, as well as placing lighting fixtures in the right locations to prevent light pollution, glare and other lighting issues. The amount of lighting you add must be adequate enough to serve its intended purpose. Lighting should be bright enough to keep the entire property visible and secure, without flooding it, or surrounding areas, in overpowering lights. 

Improper Positioning

When fixtures aren’t placed in a strategic way around your home’s exterior and across your landscaping, the effect can create a stark contrast between areas of brightness and shadow. To get the warm and appealing nighttime look that you’re hoping for, position your outdoor light fixtures in a way that provides even lighting around your home. Poorly positioned light fixtures can cause glare which can be uncomfortable to the eye and may also make it difficult for you to achieve a pleasing outdoor lighting format. To help avoid glare, fixtures should be placed so that the bulbs provide soft, indirect lighting.

Overlooking Variety

After finding one fixture that they love, some people make the mistake of using only one type of lighting throughout their entire landscape design. This can make outdoor lighting appear monotonous and one-dimensional and should be avoided by using a variety of light fixtures placed at different levels.

Using Non-LEDs

The bulbs that you choose for your landscape lighting play an important part in the energy-efficiency and the appearance of your lighting. Not choosing eco-friendly lighting in the form of LED bulbs for your outdoor fixtures can lead to higher than necessary energy bills, as well as a need for more frequent bulb replacement. Additionally, keep in mind that LED lighting is available in various color temperatures. To get an inviting look for your outdoor areas, be sure to choose LED lighting in tones that are warm, not cool. Warm light has a red to yellowish appearance, cold light has a white to bluish appearance. 

Creating Light Pollution

 

Outdoor lights should not obstruct vision or create glare that makes it difficult to see. Be courteous by checking your lighting and making sure it does not shine directly onto a neighboring property. Installing spotlights with glare guards is one way to prevent some of these issues.

Not Automating Your lights

If the task of turning the outdoor lights on and off each day is not automated, the odds are likely that it won’t get done very often. That defeats the whole point of having landscape lighting. If you want to make the most of your outdoor lighting, the first step is to put all of the lights on a timer or connect them to lighting sensors so that all the fixtures turn on at sunset.

Of course, you don’t have to stop there. You could set your lights to turn on for a limited time beginning at sunset, rather than sunset to sunrise. With home automation, you can personalize your outdoor lights to fit every occasion. If you’re having an evening party, for example, you could simply pull out your smartphone and select the “Party” option. Instantly, the outdoor lights would transform to something a little more festive, incorporating more color and vibrancy than the standard settings. Having smart control over your outdoor lights adds so much convenience; it would be a mistake not to include it.