If your summer goals always involve spending more time in the evening enjoying your yard, you’ve surely given serious thought to outdoor lighting placement. Your outside lights set the mood, enhance the beauty of your outdoor oasis and can even keep you safe. Take your summertime fun to the next level with an outdoor lighting placement plan that will work for just about any home configuration. There are seemingly millions of lighting products available in today’s marketplace, but understanding how they work together in your unique home can be a challenge. These easy tips will illuminate the enjoyment of your home’s exterior.

Easy-to-follow Outdoor Lighting Placement Tips From The Pros:

1 – How to choose the perfect type of lights for your landscaping lighting

When you begin your search for the perfectly-lit outdoor landscape, you will see a multitude of choices for landscaping lighting which can be overwhelming at first, but not after you know what to look for and understand how it will work in your backyard lighting schematic. Let’s drill down on two popular types of landscape lighting products:

Solar Lighting – Solar lighting has grown in its popularity as opposed to conventional electric lights because it is affordable, simple to install and extremely safe with no use of electricity. Homeowners also love this type of outdoor lighting because it saves on energy consumption and it can be moved without much effort. Solar lights absorb the sun’s light and use photovoltaic cells that transform that light into energy even when the sunlight is not available, such as on a cloudy day or at night. Operating times may vary based on the solar lighting product but are in the range of up to 15 hours. Cloudiness and short winter days can have an impact on the operating time of your solar lights.

LED Lighting – Another extremely popular outdoor lighting option is the LED light. LED, which stands for light emitting diode, has become a favorite light source because its bulbs require low voltages of electricity to operate and last up to ten times longer than incandescent bulbs.

Solar and LED combine to create a power-punch in your outdoor lighting placement plan. Both solar garden lights and LED yard lights are affordable, easy to install and move as needed, and require little or no maintenance. Solar yard lights powered by LEDs can be amazing for driveways, decks, pools, and walkways.

2 – Gain peace of mind with outdoor security lights

One of the best things you can do to make your home more secure is to add more outdoor landscape lighting. Utilizing light to make your home more secure is a proven deterrent to burglars. That doesn’t mean the more light, the better, though! The placement of your outdoor security lights should find the balance between not lighting up your home so much that it becomes a target and carefully shedding light on dark areas that could be attractive to bad actors

looking for a way in. In addition to security from burglars, your home also provides safety to you, your family and your guests. Make sure you all are kept safe by lighting up pathways, steps, deck areas and any area where a slip or fall could take place due to lack of visibility.

3 – Reduce your carbon footprint and conserve energy

A top goal of many eco-friendly homeowners, and the kind that also like to save on their electric bills, is energy-efficient lighting. Technological strides have been made in recent years that may render your existing outside lights, not only outdated but much more costly than they need to be. An investment in solar and LED lighting can dramatically improve your own energy consumption – saving you money and at the same time reducing your personal carbon footprint.

4 – Add flair and colors to enhance your outdoor landscaping

Add a summertime vibe to your home’s exterior with outdoor lighting that sets the mood. Using solar and LED yard lights that are easy to install and rearrange, you can add fun color and flair to your outdoor living space. Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• • If you want to accent your greenery, green and blue lighting will do the trick.

• • If you have plants with yellow-tinged leaves or flowers, choose yellow lights to add intensity.

• • Accent pathways with colored solar yard lights placed at the top of patios, retaining walls and fencing.

• Hang lanterns in your trees or inside your gazebo to provide a fairytale feel all summer long.

5 – Placing garden lights in the yard to highlight your home’s best features

Your home’s exterior has many fantastic focal points, and those don’t have to lose their appeal when the sun goes down. With the right mix of outdoor lighting shining on those features, you can illuminate your home’s beauty in a whole new way. Call just the right amount of attention to your home’s architectural features, beautiful trees, and prized plantings. Accent lighting can be aimed at your favorite parts of your landscape, and certain fixtures can even be submerged in a pond or used to light up your water features.

Time to plan your outdoor lighting placement.

Now that you’ve gotten a grasp of your options, it’s time to plan your outdoor lighting placement. You’ll need to be sure to include solar and LED fixtures, of course, and take into consideration your security needs. Be open to adding in some fixtures that provide color and flair. Use these tips to get started with your landscape lighting planning:

• • Draw a rough (yes, it can be very rough) sketch of your outdoor space and pencil in places where you can add light.

• • Make a note of what your goals are for each area – i.e., add more security lighting near the garage door, showcase my favorite tree or light up the steps near the back patio.

• • Be sure to stand inside of your home to take in the view from that angle as well, as your home’s outdoor lighting impacts the interior ambiance. Visualize what you and your guests will see when they are on the inside looking out.

• Be sure not go overboard. Too much lighting can be, well, too much! Make notes of areas where you may add more light in phase two if needed.

Now, that you have the overview and planning tips, you can take it from here. Your outdoor lighting placement and planning project is sure to provide hours of enjoyment, and even the planning is fun. When you ready to shop for your lighting fixtures, Capitol Lighting has everything you need to light up your home’s beautiful exterior.

For a quick visual summary, see our landscape lighting pro tips video.

– The Capitol Lighting Team

Browse our complete collection of outdoor lighting here.