Seven Reasons To Invest In Landscape Lighting

If you’ve considered installing outdoor lighting but just haven’t gotten around to it, you’re really limiting your yard’s potential and cheating yourself out of an exciting decorating opportunity.  Besides serving all kinds of practical purposes, landscape lighting can be fun, stylish, and tasteful.  If you need a little additional convincing, here are some of the top reasons that people install landscape lighting.

1.  Your entertaining space will expand.

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Few people will turn down ways to make their homes seem larger when they are throwing a party or hosting any kind of event.  Even if you already have a spacious home with plenty of room for entertaining, giving guests the run of the outdoors gives them a more varied and interesting experience.  Besides, during the summer especially, many people prefer spending time outdoors breathing in the fresh air, gazing at the sky, and just taking in the natural environment.  The soft but welcoming glow of landscape lighting makes your yard more inviting and accessible, without ruining the ambiance.

2.  You can show off your beautiful yard.

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Many homeowners spend hours laboring to create an attractive yard, or they pay an appreciable amount for someone else’s help and expertise.  Either way, you’ve invested in your yard, and leaving it invisible and forgotten half the time is simply a waste.  Gentle ground lights can reveal paths and bushes, while focused spotlights or the dispersed light of hanging lanterns can focus attention on prominent features like trees or sculptures.  Your overall lighting arrangement will let your guests see all the time and thought you’ve put into decorating, organizing, and maintenance.

3.  Creating a mood is easy.

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Lighting goes much farther than any other type of decoration in establishing a mood or environment.  Hanging lights or myriad small lights allow exploration and can evoke a whimsical or carefree atmosphere.  Larger or concentrated lights, or a stronger source of lighting like a fireplace, can create a more inviting, comforting space where people can relax and linger.  Focused lighting to highlight facades and decorations within your yard will give rise to a more classy and reserved feeling.  The right outdoor lighting can enhance literally any type of occasion.

4.   You and your guests will be safer.

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Providing outdoor illumination also has practical benefits.  First, it can deter intruders from entering your yard – even softer lighting can ruin a hiding place or reveal someone’s approach.  Second, landscape lighting makes it easier for you and your guests to move around safely.  Whether you have terracing, a fountain, or low-lying decorations that are easy to stumble over, providing your guests with enough lighting to navigate your yard is essential.

5.  You have plenty of creative freedom.

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No two yards are alike, so even if you don’t think of yourself as a creative person, you can be confident that your outdoor lighting will be unique and impress your guests.  For more artistic and inventive people, there are a multitude of possibilities for using lighting to transform a yard by night.  Even in more restrictive and uniform neighborhoods, most yard lighting options are fair game, as long as you avoid bold and garish lighting that irritates the neighbors.  You can use any combination of ground lights, rope lights, hanging lights, lanterns, torches, and spotlights to put together a completely novel arrangement.

6.  It looks stunning regardless of season.

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Many people think that outdoor lighting is primarily useful for summer gatherings or parties.  However, there is truly no season that outdoor lighting doesn’t flatter.  It can reveal vibrant autumn colors, enhance the twinkling light of snow, and highlight new growth and blooms.  On a related note, outdoor lighting – if it is chosen tastefully – never really goes out of style.  If you put some time and thought into selecting and arranging your lights, you’ll get years of enjoyment from them.

7.  A lighting scheme can revitalize a tired yard. 

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When you’ve lived in a home for years, even if you adore your yard, you might also feel bored with it.  In this case, landscape lighting is the perfect solution – it’s versatile, easy to install, and it will literally show your yard in a new and exciting light.  Gentle lighting can also do wonders for making a more minimalistic yard look carefully designed and meticulously maintained.

These are just a few of the many reasons that landscape lighting has become so popular among homeowners.  Outdoor lighting makes a huge difference in your home’s appearance and ambiance, and with so many options available, it isn’t hard at all to find or create the perfect fit for your home.