The front yard is key to your home’s curb appeal, which is a driving force for the property value and overall perception of your home. Even the prettiest front yard can feel unwelcoming at night without the right outdoor lighting. As you consider some new outdoor lighting strategies, know that your front yard landscape will pop with these outdoor lighting trends in Lake Forest and Glenview, IL.
Emphasizing Safe Passage
The most important thing you can do for your front yard is make the walking areas safe at night. If your front walkway is lit by a single floodlight - which ends up blinding anyone heading toward it - your guests won’t feel welcome. Likewise, stumbling around on a poorly lit walkway will leave any visitor with a sour feeling. Use low-lying pathway lights for all of your front yard walkways including the border of the sidewalk. Some elegant lighting at this level will focus the energy where it’s most important: on the ground, without creating a blinding glare and harsh shadows.
The same style of lighting can also be applied on the boundaries of your driveway, where it’s necessary for drivers to see where to put their vehicles and where it’s safe to walk as well.
If you’re considering using solar-powered pathway lights for your walkways and driveway, keep in mind that while they are easy to move and replace, they won’t work as well if the skies have been cloudy for some time or if the solar panel is covered by snow.
Front Door Highlighting
The front door is a focal point as well as an access point that should be illuminated using the brightest lights. One technique that highlights the door is using spotlights along each side of the front door to define it and enhance the textures of the home.
Feature Highlighting
If your front yard contains any features that deserve to be showcased, the right lighting strategies will give visitors something to look at as they approach your front door, and enhance how the front yard looks at night. Highlighting features such as statues, fountains, pieces of art, and certain trees can increase curb appeal. Spotlighting as well as subtle lighting that’s placed under shrubs to add a dimensional effect to the landscape. Moonlighting is a technique that you could use to create interesting shadows on the ground. This is a beautiful effect that could make use of a large tree in the front yard.
Filling in the Gaps
What’s important in landscape lighting is reducing contrast between well-lit areas and dark areas. The human eye can adjust to varying levels of brightness and darkness, but it’s hard to do both at the same time. Aim lights away from where visitors might make eye contact. Similarly, look for any dark spots in the front yard.
First, turn on all of the front yard lights. Any of the areas where there are some dark shadows should be incorporated into subtle lighting design. Place solar-powered lights in the center of these areas to both increase depth perception and make the whole front yard subtly visible at night, making the entire space feel welcoming. Remember, though, that less is more. You don’t want to light your landscape up to the point that the beauty of the night is destroyed.
Related: 5 Landscape Design Ideas For Sloped Backyards In The Northbrook And Winnetka, IL Areas
