If you want to enhance your front yard at your home in the Northville or Livonia, MI, areas, having outdoor lighting installed is an excellent strategy. Outdoor lighting is essential for clear visibility in the dark hours of the day and night but also increases the aesthetics of your home and front yard. Here are four ways that outdoor lighting can be a great improvement to your landscape.
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Spotlighting Features
Spotlighting allows features to be seen even when it is dark outside. For example, you may have a gorgeous ornamental tree or a plant with colorful flowers that wouldn't be seen in the darkness, but with the use of spotlighting they will be on full display.
You could also have spotlights added to highlight decorative elements such as statues or architectural features. If you have a water feature such as a water fountain in your front yard, spotlighting will draw attention to it.
Brightening Walkways
It is important that you have well-lit walkways that lead to your home. You want your guests and family to feel comfortable and confident when walking throughout your front yard when it is late in the evening and dark outside. This lighting can help prevent trips and falls.
Outdoor lighting doesn’t have to be extremely bright, but it can be more subtle. Even subtle lighting brightens up the walkway so that guests can see where the walkways are in the first place. This type of lighting also adds character to the overall look of your front yard.
When you have light fixtures lining your walkways, they can add to the style of your front yard. For example, the light fixtures could complement the style of your home. They could be stainless steel, bronze, brass, or any other finish that will look beautiful throughout your landscape.
An Illuminated Entrance
Having a brightly lit front entrance is important to many homeowners. When you have a knock on your door in the middle of the night, you want to be able to clearly see who is on the other side. You and your family will feel much more at ease when your front entrance is illuminated.
Having lighting around the garage doors and even along your driveway is also beneficial. This type of lighting can ensure that your house number is clearly visible so that both your guests and emergency personnel can clearly and quickly locate your home.
Improved Aesthetics
Outdoor lighting makes a home appear more warm and welcoming. There is a dramatic difference between arriving at a home that is pitch dark and arriving at a home that is well-lit. Everyone will feel more comfortable arriving at a home with ample lighting on the exterior.
In addition, outdoor lighting can be strategically placed to highlight the architecture of your home. There are various lighting methods that can be utilized to achieve the desired effect. For example, the uplighting method could be used to shine upward to bring attention to trees in your front yard, or downlighting could be placed beneath the overhang on your home and shine downward onto the walls of the home. This not only brightens up the space but also creates shadows that result in a dramatic effect.