Landscape lighting is not only a practical and functional way to illuminate dim areas of your outdoor space, but it can add beauty, uniqueness and value to your home. If you've decided to take the plunge and transform your outdoor space with landscape lighting, you'll quickly find a plethora of options that may overwhelm you. Here are three tips to get you off to a good start.
Identify Outdoor Features
Before choosing landscape lighting, it's a good idea to identify the outdoor features that you'd like to highlight. Perhaps you have a large backyard and patio and you want landscape lighting to brighten up the walkways and the patio area. Or, maybe you have a gazebo and you're looking to add a wow factor along with functional lighting to illuminate your social gatherings. The features of your landscape will play a crucial role in the type of lighting that will work best. It may help to take down notes on paper to discuss with your landscape service provider.
Start with the Basics
If you're just getting started, the best place to start is with the basics. For example, you'll certainly want your walkways and entryways lit so that you, your family, or your guests aren't stumbling around in the dark to enter or leave your home, or throw the trash out. If you have fountains in your yard, you'll also want to highlight those. Paths leading through the driveway should certainly have some lighting for safety and security, as well as any other areas that incur a lot of foot traffic. Survey your property and take note of areas that you and guests who visit will walk through and any other areas that you may want to highlight. For example, some homeowners transform their outdoor space by adding landscape lighting to the base of any trees in their yard.
Weigh Your Light Options
There are various types of lights for you to choose from and advantages and drawbacks that come along with each option. However, a good all-around option when it comes to value is LED lighting. LED lights are versatile, durable and have a long lifespan compared to other types of landscape lighting, such as halogen. You can expect LED landscape bulbs to last about 10 years. Halogen bulbs cost less initially, however, they only last about 2 and 1/2 years, so you'll save on initial costs, but you'll end up spending much more to replace the bulbs more often.
For more information, contact a business like Anderson Landscaping.
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