Top 7 Reasons To Install Exterior Lighting For Your Garden
Gardens can be a place to relax after a long day or a hangout spot for your family and friends. It can be a place to make lasting memories or watch your kids play. That’s why it would be a shame to end its functionality when night comes. Installing garden lights can open up your garden to many possibilities. Apart from increasing night activities, exterior lighting for your garden should also make the outdoors comfortable, secure, safe, and beautiful.
Garden lights come in a wide range of designs, colors, sizes, and shapes that your imagination can only limit. They produce an array of colors, the most popular being shades of white. Most are energy efficient and easy to install.
Types of Garden Lights
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Wall Lights
Wall lights are the most versatile type of garden lights as they come in countless forms and styles to match your garden. You can get sconces, lamps, lanterns, and more to illuminate your outdoor space. One of the options is the up/downlight that shines both downwards and upwards. This kind of light provides safety and lights up beautifully as its beams spread across the garden wall.
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Path Lights
Path lights don’t just light up your pathway; they can elevate your home’s exterior and create a contemporary atmosphere with their strategic placement. Bollard path lights are best suited in places with shrubs and green hedges. The ones with geometric profiles pour out the light from all angles. Most path lights are energy-efficient, helping you save on your power bills.
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Inground Lights
These lights are installed directly into the ground. They are usually lined up on the pathway or installed next to short shrubbery. They are easy to install and take up less space, yet they give adequate illumination. Since their light illuminates from the ground upwards, inground lights amplify the visibility and sophistication of a garden’s features.
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Globes
Gazing globes were once used to ward off evil or attract good luck, but they are now used as decorative pieces to add a bit of flair to the garden. Modern globes come in various designs and colors and have become popular yard decorations that represent a contemporary lifestyle. The ones with monotone colors are installed on pathways, garden beds, or grass. Their iridescent counterparts are usually perched on a pedestal or put between plants so that their glow peeks through the leaves.
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Spotlights And Floodlights
Spotlights and floodlights function the same, but their difference is in their beam spread. Spotlights are used to show off specific architectural or landscape features in the garden floodlights, on the other hand, cast light over general areas like pathways and driveways. They are mainly used for visibility and security.
Your exterior garden lights should offer safety, beauty, and security at the same time. That’s why you should get them installed by people who are experienced in outdoor lighting, like Oregon Outdoor Lighting or others. They’ll know the right lights to put in the right places, therefore designing a lighting plan that shows off your garden and its features. They will also ensure that your outdoor lighting serves practical functions like offering security, thus increasing your home’s security level.
Benefits of Installing Garden Lights
Apart from lighting your walkway, here are other reasons why you should install garden lighting:
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To Increase Your Home’s Value
While a beautiful garden will improve your home’s exterior appeal, adding lighting will boost its value. Lighting up your garden means lighting up your home’s exterior. Outdoor lighting can accentuate the architectural beauty of your house and bring out its magnificence.
Installing garden lights in strategic places will light up the garden at night and flaunt your home’s exterior beauty. The better your home and garden look, the higher the price your home will fetch if you put it on the market. Installing garden lights may sound like a huge investment initially, but its benefits are significant and, therefore, a smart investment.
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To Increase Your Home’s Appeal
Home buyers are getting choosier by the day. When you put your home on the market, you’ll want to fine-tune its best features before listing it to attract potential buyers. One of the easiest ways to do this is by creating a beautiful garden and illuminating it. Some experienced home buyers will check out houses they are interested in at night after the day’s visit just to be sure it’s appealing both times.
You wouldn’t want a prospective buyer to think they are looking at a different house at night. Installing garden lights will illuminate your garden and home’s appearance and add to its curb appeal. Potential buyers will be assured that they are getting a good deal after all.
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To Show Off Your Property
You have spent countless hours trying to make your home’s exterior appealing. You’ve worked the garden and ensured the lawn is manicured and the plants are appealing and healthy. Why hide your hard work when night comes? Lighting has the potential to make your garden look even better than it does during the day, especially if you concentrate on the focal points.
For instance, you can make the water that flows from the fountain in your garden appear surreal by projecting lighting of different colors towards it. Show off an outstanding statue or swing in your garden by pointing light at them. You can also lighten up the plants and create light shadows to silhouette the shrubs in your garden to attract attention. Mood lights can be added to create the ambiance you desire.
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Essential For Lighting Pathways
No one wants to grope in the dark, especially in their compound. Even if you’re familiar with the terrain, you’re bound to miss a step when walking along a dark pathway. And you never know what’s lurking in the dark, especially in corners and hidden places around the garden. That’s why garden lights are essential to light pathways at night. A lit pathway will put you at ease. Moreover, a dark garden is not attractive and sends the wrong message.
Walkway lights can also be an easy way to boost the outdoor evening environment. They can add a warm, soft glow to the atmosphere. The commonly used are inground lights, globes, and lanterns.
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Deter Burglars
Criminals like moving in the dark where they can’t attract attention. Without garden lights, the probability of a break-in will be high, and you’ll be unsettled whenever you hear movement outside. You’ll also feel insecure when accessing your house at night. Such incidents can only be deterred by installing exterior garden lighting.
Adequate lighting and motion-sensing lights placed strategically in your garden will scare off people with bad intentions and give you peace of mind. You can also install lights that are on timers, and set them up to turn on when nobody’s home.
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To Extend Your Space
Your garden is where most of the action will happen, especially in warm weather. It’s the perfect place to entertain guests during summer away from the house or hang out with your family.
There’s this moment when the day is fading and inviting the night. When the light transforms everything outside, they become a sight to behold. When the sun’s rays penetrate the dancing leaves of the plants around the garden, the water points form a rainbow of colors. This sense of goodness and tranquility does not have to end when darkness takes over. It can be extended by manipulating the garden lights’ perspective placed strategically around the garden.
And what’s more, if you have guests who’ve spent most of the day confined in the house, the garden can be an excellent place to unwind in the evening. The night air combined with beautiful lights is magical. Lighting your garden will extend your living space and make it functional day or night.
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Prevent Injuries
There’s no mood spoiler like someone getting injured, especially when people are having a lovely time. Exterior garden lighting will help prevent injuries around pools, in hidden places, around corners, or in those with high traffic. It’ll prevent slips and falls on your property. Stairs and outside sitting areas are particular spots that need ample lighting. Install lights near these accident-prone areas.
Conclusion
Outdoor lighting should be given the same consideration as indoor lighting. You should be guided by two principles: functionality and ambiance. That’s why it’s important to balance aesthetics, safety, and security when installing exterior garden lights. Give as much thought to areas that can be lit for beauty as you take note of areas that need light for safety.
Mix up lighting styles to make it exciting and interesting to get the best garden lighting effect. Create a moonlight effect by placing lights within the tree branches out of sight. String light orbs around your fence to bring radiance, and don’t forget to illuminate focal points and decorative objects. Walkway lights installed tactically can make the garden look expansive, while the soft glow of porch lights will welcome you home.
When choosing garden lights, ensure they’ll withstand different kinds of weather throughout the year.
Read More: Different Types of Landscape Lighting
