How to Incorporate Landscape Lighting For Night Time Illumination

When they say, "let the sun shine in," during the day, what exactly do they say at night? "Let the Landscape Lighting illuminate?"

How many times have you arrived at a home at night only to discover that you could not find your way to the front door? Scary, unsafe, and so unappealing. Now there are companies that do nothing but handle Landscape Lighting design.

Landscape Lighting design is really not that difficult for the DIY homeowner - especially if your Landscape Lighting ideas focus on solar power. With no electrical writing concerns, you have an open playing field in which to build your nighttime world.
Your plan should center around two things: safety and enhancement.

First, where do you need Lighting for safety? Generally, all walkways, secondary paths, and anywhere else someone might be wandering. This becomes a visitor's compass to your home and around your yard. When you install Landscape Lighting for safety, the general rule of thumb is to place the light so (a) it does not shine in someone's eyes, and (b) that it illuminates at least 75% of the path from side to side. (Nothing like having someone blinded by the light or walking off the side of the path into a flower bed.)

Next, consider the spacing. This is best done at night when you can see what kind of coverage you need to have. This is the one area in which you do not want to skimp! If you are particular about the spacing between each light - i.e., that it has to be exact - then lean towards the "more is better" approach.

For enhancement, some great Landscape Lighting ideas include up Lighting trees, accenting a fountain, illuminating an architectural feature, outlining a fence, or brightening a darkened area. In this case, the installation of the Landscape Lighting is all about where you place the light versus how much lightening you need.

When it comes to how to install your Landscape Lighting, that is going to depend on the type of Lighting you will be using: solar or electrical. If you have an external outdoor receptacle, then doing walkway Lighting is fairly easy for the do-it-yourselfer. If you do not have an outdoor receptacle, you may want to hire an electrician to install one. When it comes to solar, go for it. Simply make sure that your lights are positioned where they will receive enough sun to charge the solar cells and that they will generate enough Lighting for the planned use.

Your Landscape Lighting design plan should be something you have to do only once with minor tweaks into the future. Do it right the first time, and you are on your way to having a home that is a beacon in a dark, nighttime world.

To learn more about Landscape Lighting design, visit http://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com/how-to-install-Landscape-Lighting.html.

Mary Morris is a self-proclaimed porch lover and grandma to 7 awesome grand kids. Mary is one of the co-founders of http://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com/, a site about everything related to front porches and more.
http://landscape-lightingonline.blogspot.com/