Now that the winter months are upon us and Daylight Saving Time is over, the sun goes down quickly. Clouds often cover the sky, and days can be gloomy due to winter weather. That means it’s harder to see the special landscaping features and architectural elements that make your home pop from the curb. And those areas of dark shadows can make it difficult for you and your guests to navigate your driveway and front entrance safely.
The solution, of course, is landscape lighting. This often overlooked tool is an effective, attractive way to enhance your home’s curb appeal, while also enhancing your home’s safety. And since landscaping can significantly boost both your home’s appearance and its value, adding features like outdoor lighting is a great way to get more out of your home and love its look and feel.
Outdoor Lighting Comes in Many Styles
Hardscape and landscape lighting are available in many styles for many uses — which is great because you can truly choose a personalized design that highlights your home’s unique appearance. Among the variety of choices to consider are:
- Path lights – Homeowners enjoy using path lights to line walkways, driveways, flower beds, and other areas in the yard that are normally hidden in shadows. They add both safety and attractiveness to your home.
- Spotlights and floodlights – These lights are excellent for highlighting unique and beautiful visual elements of your landscaping, such as decorative trees and shrubs.
- Deck lights – These illuminate areas of your deck, including the railing and stairs, adding ambiance and ensuring safety as you and guests navigate your yard at night.
- Well lights – These are another form of lighting suitable for showcasing flowerbeds and trees.
- Post cap lights – These are placed atop deck posts to add another element of safety as well as beauty to your backyard.
Be aware that landscape lights come in a variety of designs and styles — such as low-voltage, LED, and solar. This means you can choose from a variety of prices, levels of energy efficiency and ease of maintenance, depending on your preferences and budget.
Add to Your Curb Appeal with Creative Outdoor Lighting Techniques
A well-planned approach to your hardscape and landscape lighting can go a long way toward adding beauty and extra oomph to your home’s exterior. Techniques like these can really help your home pop from the curb and stand out in your neighborhood:
- Install LED lighting — LED lights last longer than older forms of bulbs. It’s easy to adjust their brightness to your preferences. They burn cool, preventing fires from heat generation. And they resist storms.
- Set Timers — You can install timing elements to highlight parts of your home as soon as twilight hits, or even illuminate different areas of your home at different times of night to add creative flair.
- Highlight architectural and natural features — Consider your home and landscaping, and choose 2–3 elements that really add verve to its character — like stained glass or water fountains. Then install outdoor lighting that draws the eye specifically to those features, so guests will always notice them.
- Illuminate pathways — Curb appeal is about appearance, but it’s also about smooth functionality. A home with pathways clearly lit up looks gorgeous, accessible and inviting.
- Use both task and accent lighting — Task lights perform functions, such as lighting your porch. Accent lights create decorative effects, such as lighting up trees or water features. Both add value and curb appeal.
Invest in Hardscape and Landscape Lighting for a Home That Looks Stunning
Why not take that one added step to landscape that many homeowners overlook, and install gorgeous outdoor lighting that adds life to your home’s appearance. When you see the results, you’ll understand just how much the right outdoor lighting enhances your home’s curb appeal and its safety too.
The team at ProActive Landscaping can assist you with the addition of new landscaping features, tend to existing landscaping, and install new features such as attractive, practical hardscape and landscape lighting. To set up a free consultation that will help you discover how many lighting and landscaping options await your Tulsa home, contact us at 918-808-8418.
