Night Lighting

The right landscape lighting is an accessory as decorative as it is functional, improving curb appeal, expanding living space and increasing the safety and security of your home. These bright ideas will light up your landscaping, creating a hospitable path to your door, putting the focus on foliage and shedding light on outdoor entertaining.
 

• Use lights to make your home warm and inviting. Gatepost lights make your house easy to find from the street. Low voltage path lights lead guests straight to your door. A pretty porch light makes it easy to unlock the door and makes visitors feel welcome.
   
• Stagger lights to create multi-level focal points. Lighting everything at the same height and intensity makes your yard look like a parking lot. Strive for an artful combination of uplighting, downlighting, task lighting and soft lighting.
   
• Highlight features that are attractive to divert focus from those less desirable, presenting your home in the best possible light. Shadow lighting a shrub magnifies its lacy silhouette on a wall, artistically showcasing the shrub, not the ugly shed behind it.
   
• Use mood lighting to add impact or intimacy. Uplighting a tree dramatically defines its canopy; moonlighting, or downlighting, casts romantic pools of light below. Spotlighting a fountain gives it the red carpet treatment; underwater lights in the basin emanate a soft glow from within.
   
• Give special events special lighting. Fairy lights strung around decks and porches mean the holidays — or party — is here. Tiki torches, candle lanterns and hurricanes cast a festive flicker across evening events. Luminaries define pathways between garden spots. When the party’s over, portable lighting can be packed up and stored till next time.
   
• Be safety conscious. Motion detectors, sensors and timers offer instant security, automatically turning lights on at dusk and off at dawn or at any times you set. Pre-wired motion detectors trigger the lights whenever motion is sensed, alerting you to intruders.
   
• Make sure outdoor lighting is aesthetically pleasing from indoors and out. Nightscaping is an art, a pleasing combination of lighting that draws the eye out, making your home seem more spacious.