Use landscape lighting to turn your yard into a nighttime wonderland

Landscape lighting allows you to stay outside and enjoy the outdoors longer instead of heading indoors when the sun goes down. Decorative outdoor lighting can show off your home’s beauty and make your home more inviting. Many people are using low voltage systems as they are easy to install for the do-it-yourselfer. Landscape lighting allows you to give your property a more dramatic look than it has during the daylight hours. Just like indoors a well designed outdoor lighting plan combines ambient, task, and accent lighting. Task lighting is not as prevalent outdoors except for places like around a patio table.

Decorative outdoor lighting not only enhances the beauty of your property but also the security and safety of it. Guests can easily see your house number and when you arrive home at night you will be able to easily get your key in the door or punch your security code in. Landscape lighting is also an effective deterrent to potential thieves as they will end up choosing an easier poorly lit target that gives them the cover of darkness. You do not want to overlight as this interferes with night vision and gives intruders shadows to hide in. Low contrast light improves night vision and provides a more relaxing atmosphere. Low voltage outdoor lighting is perfect for lighting a pathway so you or a guest can safely navigate it at night.

When planning your decorative outdoor lighting you need to decide what you want to light. There may be a part of your yard that you want to showcase such as a pond, sculpture or tree. You need to choose a focal point and remember you do not want to light too brightly. Depending on what you are wanting to light you can go with low voltage outdoor lighting or line voltage lighting or a combination of the two. Low voltage systems use a transformer that converts 120- volt to 12 and are great for small areas. Since the risk of electrical shock is minimal with low voltage systems the lines do not need to be buried. This makes for easy installation and as the landscape grows and changes the fixtures can be easily adjusted.

Line voltage systems (120v) are best for areas greater than 25 feet and 30 feet from the light source. The cable for these systems must be buried or protected in conduit according to your local electrical codes. Installation is more complicated so use a qualified electrician. A combination of both line voltage and low voltage outdoor lighting may be best for your lighting needs. Another way to make the most of your decorative outdoor lighting is with the use of controls. Security and convenience are increased with the use of timers, dimmers, motion and photo sensors. You get total control of your lighting and create the atmosphere that you desire while saving on your electricity bill.Check out all the great fixtures available online for your landscape lighting and create your dramatic nighttime wonderland.