Landscape Lighting: Design Trends & Considerations

Landscape lighting is often an overlooked part of the landscape-planning process. After all, why spend all the time and money to maintain your lawn if you can only see it for half the day? There are tons of benefits to incorporating more landscape lighting on your property, including minimizing security concerns. If you need some inspiration, here are some design ideas and things to consider when planning your perfect lighting. Creative Lighting Ideas Get creative! Not all homes are built the same, and your lighting shouldn’t be the same either. You want to highlight the parts of your home that make it special. There are lots of creative ways to incorporate creative lighting on your property. Innovative Lighting & Placements First, you should assess your yard and look at the areas you’d like to highlight. Perhaps you have a large farmer's porch with beautiful hanging plants that you can only see during the day. Or maybe you recently installed a stone pathway that could use some path lighting to help you get from your car to your front door. You may even do lots of entertaining in your backyard and are looking to add lighting to your water features or garden beds. After all, no one likes to swim or stumble around in the dark. Whether your patio needs string lights, your front door needs lanterns, or your back deck needs step lights, the options for lighting things up are nearly endless. Spotlights, flood lights, and moon lighting are the most common types of landscape lighting, but if you work with a professional, they’ll have lots of customizable ideas that will help you highlight the parts of your home that are so often overlooked. Eco-Friendly Landscape Lighting Solutions Of course, LED light bulbs are the most energy-efficient type of lighting you can use. However, there are also other options for sustainable lighting, such as solar-powered string lights and path lights. Other tips are to make sure your fixtures and bulbs are clean and to consider the colors of your house. Naturally, light wall paint and light-colored landscape features are easier to light up than dark features, which use less energy. Seasonal Lighting Tips When it comes to seasonal lighting, there are a few things you can do to update your lighting for the changing of the weather. First off, it’s beneficial to invest in weather-resistant lighting options, like lights with anti-corrosion components. Additionally, changing your bulbs to a warmer tone can help enhance the seasonal coziness, as can adjusting the angle of your lights. The Future of Landscape Lighting is Bright With the aftermath of COVID-19, outdoor entertaining is booming in popularity–which means landscape lighting is also booming in popularity. As you look toward the future of landscape lighting, here are three trends that will not be going away any time soon: bronze fixtures, colored lights, and smart lighting. On the whole, neutral colors and blending with the natural elements of your landscape are big trends for homeowners, as are modern aesthetics with classic design elements. For this reason, the bronze family colors are very popular when it comes to landscape fixtures. It’s kind of ironic, though, because brightly colored lighting is also a current trend on the other end of the spectrum. Because of the neutral colors of the rest of their house, modern homeowners are able to add whatever colors they’d like into their landscape–that being said, it’s not always some obnoxious color, but can also just be a slight tinge to bring out the natural colors of their landscape. While it’s commonly used to show sports team support or seasonal enthusiasm, it’s also increasingly popular to light up water elements like pools and fountains with bright colors. Smart lighting is the epitome of the future of landscape lighting. While homeowners have long been able to turn their lighting off and on on a timer, that is no longer enough. There are now apps you can use via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi that allow you to dim your lights, control specific groups of fixtures, and even make seasonal adjustments. In the same way, you can control your inside lighting and other systems through an app, and homeowners are now beginning to be able to do the same with the outside. Conclusion Planning your landscape lighting is no easy task, especially when you don’t have a background in electrical work. But it’s easier than you think to bring your visions to light–and there are so many possibilities for getting it done.