Part of making a gorgeous landscape is ensuring that it’s properly lit at night. It’s a matter of fact that no matter what amazing features you add to your landscape, it can quickly turn into a dark and unwelcoming place if the lighting is all wrong. When you choose your lighting techniques, consider these seven fresh outdoor lighting ideas to accentuate your Yorktown, NY landscaping, for a safe, welcoming, and attractive landscape.
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1. When coming up with the best lighting techniques for your landscape, you want to shy away from contrast. The most well-lit landscapes take all of the features and little nuances to the landscape to heart, creating a layered and textured landscape that’s full of little details. This can be achieved by placing a variety of different fixtures throughout the landscape, seemingly at random. This is to reduce harsh transitions from well-lit areas to completely pitch-black areas. A harsh lighting contrast can do more harm than good in making a safe place to walk and enjoy the nighttime air.
The best way to light a walkway is by placing lights near the ground. This helps keep the light focused where it needs to be and away from eye contact that could be disorienting. There are many ways to light your walkways using existing landscape features such as:
2. Lighting within masonry features uses a retaining wall to house outdoor light fixtures. These lights should be placed in a series and aimed towards the ground to reduce glare. It’s a wonderful way to keep your landscape clutter-free.
3. Lighting within shrubs that line your walkways and other plants is a wonderful opportunity to hide light fixtures. It’s also a great way at producing an interesting visual texture since the light also will bounce off and filter through the leaves, helping to create a wonderful tapestry of light.
4. Solar-powered path lighting lets you save money by taking some of your landscape lighting off the grid. These individual lights will charge their batteries during the day and provide attractive and safe lighting in the evening.
5. Light reflects off flat landscape features incredibly well, creating a wonderful scene with ambient light. Use spotlights to point at otherwise neglected features such as walls and fences to bounce light into an area that is otherwise pitch black, to add ambient light to help make the whole area much more welcoming. A word of caution: less is more! The aim is to retain the magic of the nightscape, while providing enough light for safety. Experiment with adding just one small spotlight at a time until you achieve the level of light you feel is most pleasing.
6. Special features in your landscape that you’re most proud of should be in the spotlight. This could be either a fountain or statue or a treasured old tree. Placing several light fixtures on the ground and pointing them upwards will draw attention to the textures and beauty of the feature and make it a stunning part of your nighttime landscape.
7. One of the most effective ways to bring some attention to your landscape is by using string lighting to bring a festive atmosphere to your outdoor living areas. String lights can sit above your outdoor living area and follow your walkways and wash the whole patio area in soft and warm light.
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