5 Nonintrusive Landscape Lighting Ideas to Add to Your Front Yard Landscape Design in Summit, NJ Area
The right landscape lighting plan can transform your Summit, NJ, front yard at night, but only if it’s done right. The following nonintrusive landscape lighting ideas can add charm and interest to your front yard landscape design.
Related: How to Select Landscape Lighting That’s a Match for Your Landscape Design Plans in Madison, NJ
Why Landscape Lighting Is a Great Addition
Landscape lighting has many benefits, from increased safety to visual interest in your nighttime landscape. The effect can be a landscape design that is just as dazzling and noteworthy as its daytime appearance.
Landscape Lighting Ideas
Driveway lights: Every light performs a different function. For driveways, one of the best outdoor lighting options where you need to see clearly coming and going can be recessed lights. Sitting along the surface of your driveway, within curbing or the surface itself, the lighting would be nestled and rarely even noticed when the sun is out. Recessed lighting can cast a soft glow to illuminate the surface of the driveway, and from afar the effect can be truly gorgeous.
Walkway lights: As your guests traverse the walkway from the parking area to the front entry, proper illumination can protect them as they take each step. Walkway lights can be simply functional with recessed lighting like the driveway lighting, or they can be more decorative to serve as a complementary look to the walkway. Whatever design you and your landscape professional agree upon for the walkway, proper spacing of this outdoor lighting choice will be a top consideration.
Front entry lights: Unless your home is brand-new, the lighting at the front entry could likely use an upgrade in style and brightness. You might need additional lighting (such as recessed canned lights) that can be dimmed to your preference but are not immediately noticeable. Your landscape professional can recommend sconces, hanging fixtures, and wall lights to add more illumination to your front entry as this should be the brightest space in the front of your home. You will want your guests to clearly see the entry for easy access.
Landscape beds: Subtle illumination around the edges of the front yard landscape beds can let you enjoy your favorite plantings in a different way than in the daytime. The fixtures themselves can be barely noticeable, and the lighting can be soft, to gently emphasize the textures of your plantings and show their movement when there’s a breeze.
Trees: Adding spotlights to trees at the base can be an effective way to draw attention to the bark texture and the resulting shadows. By adjusting the angle and the distance from the tree base, your landscaper can create completely different looks for a tree. Another beautiful option is a moonlighting effect where lighting is affixed within a tree.
Landscape lighting can change the appearance of your home after dark in the best possible way. Done with care, it could be done in such a way where you would be distracted by the fixtures themselves or mechanical connections that would mar the look. From spotlights on the foundation of your home to lights that illuminate the textured stone of a front yard retaining wall, your landscapers can design a plan to include exactly what you need to make your house stand apart from the rest.