We spend so much time thinking about how to make our backyard more livable, including at night, that we often forget how impactful a good lighting scheme can be for our home’s front landscaping.  Front yard lights can be welcoming, can provide added security and safety, and can be just plain pretty.  Below are some ideas of enhancing your home’s evening look:

• Consider the architecture. Use wall lights, uplighting, or sconces to show off decorative columns, play with wall textures, or illuminate focal points.
• String it up. If your house has a covered front porch or patio, add patio string lights to give soft, ambient light that will make this outdoor space usable at twilight time.
• Show your numbers. Illuminate your house numbers to make it easier for guests to find at night, particularly when the days are shorter during the winter holiday months.
• Present your landscape. Your plants don’t have to go to sleep when the sun goes down.  Use uplights at the base of trees or put a spotlight on that interesting succulent to add drama to your garden beds at night.
• Make it glow. Lighting in the landscape doesn’t have to be reserved for just the most interesting plants in the bed; use smaller uplights to enhance repetition and rhythm in the design, or to create a soft glow in the understory that shows off plants’ foliage.
• Light a path. Pathway lighting and low, outside lamps not only light the way for guests approaching your home on foot, it adds to the compositions beyond by creating a line in the landscape that captures the eye and draws it back toward the house.

LANDSCAPE COMPANY NEAR ME

There are 2 reasons most clients contact us: to bring drive-up appeal to their home or to replace their current gardener. We take these two reasons to heart. We understand how important your landscape is to you. We are experts on drive-up appeal, water conservation landscaping, seasonal and climate planting, irrigation, and much more.

• Watch your step. Illuminating your steps either from above or with small packs mounted to the risers helps guests traverse your trickier terrain.
• Leave a light on. As guests approach your home, nothing is more welcoming than a carriage or coach light.  An outside lamp for your house left on at night signals warmly that you are anticipating their arrival.  Use decorative entryway lights to further enhance the style of your home and landscape, as well.
• Make it secure. Be sure to provide ample lighting anywhere people will be walking.  Dark spots might create the feeling of being vulnerable or unsafe, particularly at fence gates and garage man doors.  To save electricity and keep from having unsightly spot lights on all the time, install a system that has a motion detector sensor and energy-efficient bulbs.
• Be green. The best outdoor lights for your house are the ones that are efficient and compliant with dark sky guidelines.  Opt for LED and solar fixtures and use cutoffs and downlighting to ensure the best front yard lights for your home.

Your home’s appearance at night is just as important to curb appeal as its look during the day.  With proper front yard lights and the help of a landscape professional, your house can truly shine twenty four hours a day.