As Will Rogers once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” What first impression do people have when they come up your driveway? The right landscape lighting in the front of your home can go a long way toward creating the lasting impression of warmth, welcome, and beauty that you want to give your visitors.
Landscape lighting can be about so much more than just the standard, builder-grade lights by your front door and some lights spread haphazardly in your bushes and around your yard. With some thought and care, and maybe the help of a professional lighting expert, you can reimagine how you experience your property at night. Outdoor lights can enhance and celebrate the natural beauty of your home and property while also improving safety and security for your family and visitors and increasing your home’s value.
If you’re not sure where to start, the following are some landscape lighting ideas to consider for the front of your home.
Highlight What You Love
Home is where the heart is. What better way to showcase what you love most about your home than by bathing it in the warm glow of well-placed lights? Spotlights placed at the base of a towering tree, a statue, a beautiful fountain, or next to a textured wall or column or unique architectural feature provide focused light that casts interesting shadows and automatically draws the eye of the viewer. Known as uplighting, this technique can add depth and interest to the front of your home, significantly amping up the ambiance and curb appeal.
Just aim for visual balance. It might help to walk your property at night or even leave and drive back up the driveway to get a sense of what others see from a distance. Note any dark areas or hot spots where there might be too much light.
Think About Safety First
Of course, no one wants to drive up to a dark property and stumble toward the front door, just hoping you don’t trip and fall. Installing pathway lighting and garden lights, such as well or in-ground lights, is the perfect way to help everyone navigate your property at night safely. Lights are especially important along walkways, your driveway, outlining your flower beds, and near steps or changes in elevation.
Given the low-profile of these types of lights, you don’t have to worry that they will be too bright or overwhelm the space. Most path or garden lights are built to shine light downward toward your feet, or in the case of in-ground or well lights are usually low voltage to cast a more diffuse light.
Focus on Your Front Door
You want your front entrance to be a beacon that welcomes you home at the end of a long day. There are a wide variety of wall-mounted lights or hanging pendant lights to choose from, which can fit any style from rustic to elegant to modern. Be sure to mount lights above eye level so that they will not shine directly into visitors’ eyes.
Add the Magic of Moonlight
Few things are as beautiful as moonlight shining down through trees. You can capture this natural phenomenon by adding a type of downlighting known as moonlighting to your property. Downlighting is a great option for spreading light over a broad area like your front yard. With moonlighting, specifically, cool lights are placed high up in trees or on upper levels of your home to shine down softly through tree branches, mimicking the light of the moon and adding an element of romance to your home’s appearance.
Design Your Welcome Home with Dayloom
For over 25 years, Dayloom has been helping clients in Northern Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland unlock the potential of their homes by designing and installing personalized lighting systems that integrate seamlessly into the architectural and landscaping features that make each property unique. We work with you to highlight what makes your house a home and create outdoor spaces worth celebrating with your friends and family.
Designing welcome homes and come on overs is what we do best. Set up your free, no-obligation consultation to get started today. We can’t wait to show you what we can do!