Why Landscape Lighting?

The term Landscape Lighting may be a little misleading. We’re not really lighting the landscape as much as we’re lighting the house. There are exceptions like trees and large bushes, of course.

Basically, we’re trying to highlight your home’s architectural features like columns and unique brick and stonework. To do that, we place spotlights behind plantings so the lights will shine up the height of the wall all the way to the top.

To highlight the landscape, especially if you have a raised stone border, we may want to place some path lights in the beds as well. And pathway lights if there are steps that someone might trip on in the dark.

The three main concentration areas for exterior lights are beauty, safety and security. All three are important.

Security particularly is a concern for everyone. Large investments are made for security systems with cameras and alarms and door open/closed announcements. I was at a house the other day where the system actually whistled at me like a real person when I got too close to the door, just to let me know I was on camera and being recorded. It was a bit startling, but I certainly got the point.

Lights are an important security feature as well. Anyone wanting to break into your home will think twice if the house is well lit in all the right places. They’ll just move down the street to a totally dark house and try that one instead.

I mentioned steps earlier. I’ve tripped over more entry steps than I care to remember and if I’m approaching a door at night, I’m always wary that there’s a step waiting for me. The potential for injury is great. If the step is well lit, the likelihood of someone missing that step and getting hurt is almost zero.

So why Landscape Lighting? Beauty, Safety, and Security!