Yard Lighting Where To Start

Probably one of the biggest questions I've received over the years relating to outdoor yard lighting is where to begin.  The first thing I would suggest to step out to the curb at night or just after dusk and take a good long look at your yard and home.  You'll need to take a couple differnent looks at under different lighting conditions to get a full understanding of what you want your yard lighting to look like.  Turn on any exterior yard, patio, deck or garden lights you might already have installed and observer the overall appearance of how it makes your yard appear.  You might want to take a few snapshots if your like me and have a small memory.  One thing many people notice is that the current placement of the lights in their yard are not flattering to overall landscape or home.  Do your light just shine on the trash cans sitting out along side of the house?  Are they too bright in one area or shinning directly into your neighbors back window.  There are many things to consider but I think you get the picture.  Once you have a good idea of what attmosphere your existing yard and outdoor patio lights are creating you can then view everything in the dark and begine to get a mental picture of how you could improve upon their placement to accent landscape features, the deck, patio and entrance to your home.

Always keep in mind that yard lights serve a couple differnt purposed.  First and foremost you should always keep security and safety in mind when planning your outdoor landscape lighting.  Are walkways well lit to prevent accidental tripping at night.  Is the driveway well lit to keep prowlers from snooping around the cars? One thing people often forget to highlight with their wall mounted porch lights is their street address.  Having your house number clearly visible to emergency services such as fire, police and ambulances can mean the difference between life and death.  Always keep adequate yard lights pointing on your street number or put it on the post light near the front of the property.  This is also quite helpful when the pizza delivery guy comes a calling. :)

Besides safety and security you can add a great deal of value to your home by accenting the hard work you've spent over the years designing the perfect landscape for your home.  Make sure to point out a few of the more spectacular features of your landscape or home exterior to add nice curb appeal and warmth to your house.  This is the part that can get a bit tricky.  You need to have the right balance of yard lights across your entire property without making it look like a Christmas display or landing strip.  Too much light will actually create the opposite affect were looking for.  I'll try to find some of the photo's I've taken over the years to give you some good and bad examples of proper outdoor lighting.