March 10, 2025

Outdoor lighting can take a beautiful and well-landscaped property to the next level. With an outdoor lighting design, you can protect your family by making your property more secure, as well as highlighting the architectural features of your home and the focal points of your landscape. While every homeowner knows a good lighting design when they see it installed somewhere, choosing the right outdoor lighting to create a design for your own home can be a bit of a challenge. This is where landscape lighting design professionals can take your home to the next level.Illuminated home garden with patio plants, trees and a fountain

How Can Outdoor Lighting Be Used?

There are several different techniques for outdoor lighting. A few of the most popular that produce a beautiful aesthetic are:

  • Floodlighting

Floodlighting provides substantial coverage of your property. Rather than highlighting one feature, floodlighting casts light on a large area of your property.

  • Uplighting

With uplighting, lights are placed at the base of a point of interest and angled upward to cast light on the feature. Uplighting can be narrow or wide depending on the feature and it is highly versatile.

  • Moonlighting

The goal of moonlighting is to create a downward glow that looks natural. Lighting fixtures are mounted high and allowed to filter through trees and other features.

  • Accent Lighting

Accent lighting is used when you want to draw attention to a particular element, like a water feature, tree, or other fixture.

  • String Lighting

String lights are a charming way to add a whimsical touch to any space. They can be draped over trees, along fences, or wrapped around columns, creating a cozy, inviting atmosphere perfect for outdoor gatherings or evening relaxation.

What are the Benefits of Outdoor Lighting?

There are many benefits to incorporating outdoor lighting into your landscape design. The primary reason many homeowners install lighting is for safety and security. Even in a safe area, you still want to make sure your home is secure. Strategically placed exterior lighting can act as a deterrent for any criminal activity. If your home will highlight their behavior, they are likely to skip it in favor of a home with more concealment. But even beyond the low risk of criminal behavior, exterior lighting can keep your family safe by making the property easier to navigate at night. With well-lit paths and driveways, your family and guests will be secure.

Beyond practical reasons, outdoor lighting offers aesthetic benefits as well. It’s no secret that a beautifully lit home is highlighted at night. Outdoor lighting allows you to showcase some of the exterior elements you are most proud of. Uplighting can highlight the architectural features of your home, moonlighting can feature different trees and shrubs, ambient lighting can cast a soft glow on your gardens, and feature lighting can show off a gazebo, pergola, water installation, or pool. A lighting plan will elevate your home’s style and design.

Considerations When Looking at Lighting Design

There are several considerations when planning outdoor lighting design, which can quickly become overwhelming. You need to decide several things:

  • The Purpose of Your Lighting Design

There are several different purposes for outdoor lighting. You may want to highlight a path or driveway to guide visitors around your property at night. You may want to install lighting that brightens your property and allows nighttime entertaining on your deck or patio. You may want ambient lighting that showcases the beauty of your landscapes, hardscapes, and home exterior with a soft glow. You may want security lighting with motion activation that will alert you if anyone comes onto your property at night. Or, like most homeowners, you want a combination of different lighting options. When choosing the lighting design, it’s a good idea to start with a sketch of your property and mark different areas with your needs for each.

  • Is Energy Efficiency a Concern?

LED or solar-powered lights can give you the design you want without compromising energy efficiency. Many of the newest lighting designs focus on using the best options to ensure that energy efficiency is prioritized. Solar-powered lights do not require wiring but may not provide the reliability you need. An exterior lighting designer can help you find the right options.

  • Can the Exterior Lights Handle the Conditions?

Outdoor lighting needs to withstand outdoor weather. Extreme temperatures, wind, rain, and snow are all concerns when planning your outdoor lighting design. Most exterior lighting options are developed to work in many different weather conditions, but before you go through with executing your design, it’s important to know that the lights are durable and will work when you need them to.

Hire the Right Professional to Handle Your Outdoor Lighting Needs

While there are certain areas of your landscape that you can handle on your own, outdoor lighting is nearly always better handled by the professionals. A quality exterior lighting professional can handle every project stage, from the initial design to installation and maintenance. Any outdoor lighting staff you work with should have a strong portfolio and proven track record of working with designs like yours and have a plan for execution. Twin Oaks Landscape has the industry knowledge, experience, tools, and best practices to take your home to the next level.

Exterior lighting uses light and shadow to create visual interest, taking a dark landscape and transforming it to be beautiful day and night. Choosing the proper exterior lighting can be challenging, but the professionals at Twin Oaks Landscape are ready to work with you and your property to make it a space you can be proud of. Contact us today to get started.