Update Your Outdoor Light Fixtures for Fall
Where to Add Outdoor Light Fixtures?
There are several different areas outside that you may want to illuminate, and each serves a different purpose.
Porch
There are several different areas outside that you may want to illuminate, and each serves a different purpose.
You want to make sure the best features of your yard are highlighted with the appropriate atmospheric light, especially once you start putting up Halloween decorations. And what about those trick-or-treaters? You definitely don’t want anyone stumbling on your walkway because they can’t see where they’re going!
Fortunately, we have tips on lighting your outdoor space and landscape for both form and function.
How to Update Your Outdoor Light Fixtures
Porch lights are not only decorative statement pieces for your entryway, but key fixtures in any home that will see a lot of use over the years. These are the lights you will turn on to welcome guests, signal to trick-or-treaters that your house has candy, or let a family member who is returning home late know that you are thinking of them. They’re one of the first outdoor light fixtures anyone visiting your home will encounter, and it’s important that they fall in line with both the style of your home’s exterior and your own personal style! There are tons of options when it comes to any outdoor light fixtures, and porch lights are no exception. In the photo to the left, you can see the application of transitional hanging lanterns.
Many outdoor lighting collections feature both hanging lanterns and wall lanterns, so you will have to decide which best suits your home based on your mounting options, lighting requirements, and personal taste. Hanging lanterns often draw the eye and provide a visual focal point, while wall lanterns—generally hung in pairs—create a sense of symmetry (as exemplified in this photo from our affiliate @homeonfernhill).
Adding lighting to your pathway can not only add an extra visual appeal to your landscaping, but a much-needed safety measure to help make sure people do not trip and fall. The last thing you want is for someone to injure themselves while visiting your home and adding landscape lights to your pathways can help prevent this from happening.
Consider the example to the left. By installing step lights under the stairs, not only do these homeowners create a warm and welcoming environment that ties the stairs together with the porch light, but also provide much-needed visibility for anyone walking up the stairs after dark. It is all too easy to trip on stairs, and even more so with limited visibility. These step lights serve both form and function needs for this outdoor space.
Path lighting can also accentuate the borders of your walkway in order to prevent guests from straying into your landscaping. In the photo to the right, it’s easy to see where the stone path ends and the shrubbery and ivy covering begin, but in the dark, it may not be so clear. The path lights add a touch of whimsy to the pathway while also providing clear markers for where the path.
You may want to add atmospheric lighting to your outdoor space by illuminating certain features of the landscape, or your home address.
Many houses still have numbers that are painted on or made of metal pieces that are attached to the side of the house. While there is nothing wrong with this from an aesthetic standpoint, this could reduce visibility on your house number and make your home hard to find in the dark. Nowadays, you can update these old markers with illuminated address fixtures that are customizable to your house number and can make your home easier to identify after nightfall.
Landscape lighting is generally used to highlight trees and other features in your yard, and there are many different ways to use lighting to accentuate your landscaping. In the image to the right, the spotlights are used to mark the trellis poles in a way that both makes them clear to anyone walking by at night and accentuates the garden feature.
Along with guiding guests away from outdoor hazards, lighting like this can also serve another safety function—giving unwanted visitors fewer places to hide.
As you can see, there are a lot of different options to think about when installing lighting into your porch space and landscaping. Not only are there dozens of different styles to choose from, but you should also to think about how much lighting you want and where. Therefore, we recommend creating a layout and giving our sales agents a call to help us determine your overall lighting needs and find the right fixtures for your home. There’s a lot to do before fall turns to winter, and we’re ready to assist you in any way we can!
