Garden Lighting

Have you ever driven by a fantastic looking home at night? One where you look at it, and can't help but envision that you are looking at something straight out of the movies. We've all seen them, and usually we can't help but feel a slight twinge of envy at the least. Well, believe it or not, one of the biggest tools in getting your home to look like that is through the use of garden lighting.

Surprisingly, garden lights are one of the most over looked means for enhancing any home garden or landscape design. Instead of sitting there and looking wistfully at those other homes, why don't you get out there and do it yourself? Creating fantastic garden lighting is surprisingly easy, if you just follow these simple guidelines.

• Purpose. When you first begin to think about the type of lighting that you will be using in your garden or landscape, you need to define a purpose. While it may not seem necessary, a purpose will help you decide on a plan, and every other step in being able to create the perfect lighting scheme. Do you want to simply increase overall visibility, and therefore security, at night? Are you looking to enhance the natural beauty of your home, garden, or landscape? Or, are you perhaps looking to hide some perceived flaw?
• Plan. After you have decided on the overall purpose behind your garden lighting, you need to begin planning. This will entail that you do a little bit of homework. First you will need to draw a diagram of your garden, lawn, or other area that you will be lighting up. Include in this drawing some representations for your terrain features (such as trees, large rocks, bushes, etc.), and where your home is in relation to the rest. Mark on the map where you propose the lighting to go, and what type of lighting it will be. Some examples of types of lighting would include things like flood lights, accent lights, string lights, and so on.
• Use light to decorate. No matter what the overall purpose behind your garden lights, keep in mind that you can use light to decorate. Experiment a little, talk to professionals, and simply try a few different lighting schemes to create the perfect look that you want. One way that you can use light to decorate, would be to install a soft accent light inside a bush, so it looks as if the bush is glowing at night. Another method you could use would be to have different colored, soft diffused lights, pointed up towards the branches of a tree. This would create contrasting colors, which seem to draw the eye up, and help create an elegant feeling for your garden.