Homes are unique, just like their owners. Let us inspire you to extend your living space to your front yard with landscape lighting.
Most people do not know where to begin when it comes to landscape lighting, let alone how they should lay out their lights to complement their unique home. This article covers everything you need to know for installing landscape lighting in your front yard. We will explore different driveway and walkway lighting options. Additionally, lighting methods highlight the yard décor and the architectural features of your unique home.
Another benefit of adding landscape lighting to your front yard is that it boosts your home’s curb appeal by simply expanding light and style outdoors. Not only will your home look more beautiful, but front yard landscape lighting also provides security by making your entry points illuminated. Furthermore, everyone knows a well-lit home and yard are less likely to be vandalized.
Landscape lighting fixtures that will enhance your front yard:
Path lights are excellent light sources around the perimeter of a yard or to mark a driveway/pathway entrances and illuminate the walkway area. This classic method of outdoor lighting adds to the overall ambiance of your exterior space.
Spotlights emphasize your yard and call attention to specific architectural or landscape features. Unlike floodlights that shed light across a wide area, spotlights have narrower beams so they can focus on one thing at a time.
Hanging lights are perfect for above a front door or porch area. They help with general illumination and add sophisticated detail to the exterior of your home.
Wall-mounted outdoor lighting can be mounted on either side of a front, back, or garage door, as well as around the exterior walls of the home. Wall lighting helps increase curb appeal and visibility from the street and allows a home to stand out amongst neighbors.
Security lighting is ideal for directing bright light in an open space. Directional flood lights are perfect to light up a driveway. Many security lights have motion sensors that turn on with movement in the area. As a result motion sensor lights help repel wild animals and keep intruders out.
Create a stylish welcome, enhance functionality and improve your home’s safety by adding landscape lighting to your front yard. No matter what outdoor landscape lighting fixture you may be looking for, we’ve got you covered!
Front yard landscape lighting placements will vary depending on the look you are trying to achieve.
Placement Terms:
- Highlighting – at the base of an outdoor feature
- Silhouetting – behind the feature, towards a close wall
- Shadowing – at the base of feature towards a wall
- Washing – a few feet away at an indirect angle to a wall or shrubs
- Up-lighting – low at the base light like washing, but more direct
- Down-lighting – bright and fixed in an eave, trellis, or hardscape
- Moonlighting – soft-large fixture(s) high in tree angled down
- Accenting – angled up or down with a narrow beam from a hidden position
- Path-lighting – often staggered, illuminate the entire path, especially steps and obstacles
- In-grade – installed in surface, often at the base of a stone wall or hardscape for shadow
Inspiration for Driveways & Walkway Placements
This gallery provides various mockups of different front yard layouts. We have indicated with yellow icons where the ideal spotlight and path light placements are per layout. It’s important to remember that illuminating walkways and highlighting your yard or home’s key features when it comes to good landscape lighting.
While outdoor light placement is virtually anywhere, some spots make it an absolute must. Significant landscape lighting areas include pathways, entry points, driveways, steps/stairs, and architectural features.
Pathways
A well-lit path is both welcoming and ideal, providing illumination that extends hospitality to visitors and making it more secure.
Entry Points
Place lights either to each side of a door or overhead at the front, back, and side entry doors.
Driveways
Low-voltage landscape lighting is easy to install and uses less energy than other systems, making it a good option along a driveway.
Steps and Stairways
Steps should be lighted for safety; either the risers or the treads can be lit.
Architectural Features
Outdoor landscape lighting can be used to highlight a wall, for example, by washing it or grazing it. Wall wash is when a wide beam of light is aimed at a wall only from a few feet away. A light used to graze a wall creates interesting highlights and shadows. Both can help accent nearby plants too.
