The exterior of your St. Louis-area home is the first place where guests can get a real feel for your home’s overall style. Unfortunately, without exterior lighting, your home may come off as cold and dark. To help enhance the look and feel of your home during the darker hours of the day, it only makes sense to have a good outside lighting display.
Know Your Focus
Before you start looking at lights and colors, it’s important to first define what your goals are going to be for your outdoor lighting display. The first one you should have is to enhance the overall aesthetic appeal of your home. The second focus should be enhancing the safety of you and your guests at night.
Driveway Lighting
One of the first areas of concern when it comes to lighting up your home’s exterior is your driveway. Because this area is going to get a lot of use, it only makes sense to ensure that it receives an adequate amount of light. There are many different styles of driveway lighting depending on your particular driveway setup and your budget.
You could go with something as simple as pathway lighting along the sides of your driveway or opt for going with something more upscale like lighting that’s built into the brick of your driveway. Realize that the latter would require extensive renovations, which will increase the overall project price.
Front Yard Lighting
Another area that you’ll want to focus on is your front yard. This needs to provide an adequate amount of light to illuminate the front portion of your home as well as its many landscaping features. Spotlights can be a great idea when it comes to illuminating trees and shrubbery. Well-placed spotlights can also do wonders for helping to vertically illuminate the front of your home. You may even want to consider throwing in a pop of color to make your home’s exterior even more appealing.
Eave Lighting
One very popular technique for helping to outline the overall silhouette of your home is eave lighting. Usually in the form of recessed light that sets up in the eave area of your home, this type of lighting helps to provide adequate illumination for maneuvering around your property as well as enhancing your home’s overall security. While traditional white lighting is one of the most popular designs, you can opt to go with multicolored lighting or even choose a single color that accents your home’s exterior paint scheme or even your landscape.
Garage Lights
Another must-have for any good exterior home lighting design is garage lights. If you’re just looking for a simple and budget-friendly option, you can always go with motion lights that will turn on whenever you come in the driveway. If you want to take it up a notch, there is a vast array of different lighting options that you can use to help not only illuminate your garage but turn it into a nighttime wonderland. Some popular options include wall scones, directional uplighting at pillar beams, and directional downlighting from architecturally accurate lighting fixtures.
Pathway Lighting
The walkway into your home and any pathways that you have in the back should also receive some sort of lighting. This helps to not only enhance your home’s aesthetic appeal but also provides a necessary amount of light for your overall safety after it gets dark. Traditional pathway lighting is the most common with smaller fixtures that stick up between 6 and 12 inches from the ground.
These come in a variety of different shapes and lighting colors to meet your specific needs. If you want to take it a step further, you can opt for post lights that stand typically 3 to 4 feet up off the ground to create a more visible pathway. Other potential options include edge lighting and even paver lighting if you don’t have any budget constraints.
Pool Lighting
If you have a pool on your property, then you definitely will want to add lighting to that area. This will help to enhance everybody’s safety while they’re walking around and using the pool during the evening. This lighting can also help create a great ambiance when spending time outdoors during the summertime. Underwater lighting tends to be one of the most prominent among homeowners as it uses the natural reflectiveness of water to help create a massive illumination effect. Consider looking at different colors and designs to determine which will make your home seem most inviting.
Outdoor Kitchens
Outdoor kitchens are becoming a very popular investment for homeowners who are looking to spend more time in nature. Since your dinner party may go on into the evening and nighttime, it only makes sense to have outdoor lighting installed to help ensure that everyone stays cozy and comfortable. There are many different styles of kitchen lighting that you can use depending on the specific design and setup of your outdoor kitchen. A simple and easy option is to use undercounter lighting to help define your kitchen space. If your kitchen area has a roof or similar structure over it, consider illuminating the beams to help provide downlight to your dining space.
Garden Lighting
There’s no reason that you should only be able to take in the beauty of your well-manicured garden during the daylight hours. By strategically installing different types of lighting outside, you can help bring your garden to life at night. In fact, it can be your own little retreat during the evenings or a great place to show off to your friends. Some key favorites of garden lighting include edge lighting around garden beds and feature lighting for larger trees and shrubs. Pathway lighting can create more of a feeling of enchantment as you’re walking through the garden while helping to increase your overall safety.
Fence Lighting
If you have a fence that helps to define your property line, then fence lighting can be a great choice for your outdoor lighting display. The particular style of your fence, its material, and its location will determine the best type of lighting to use to fit your landscape’s architectural style. If your fencing is very long because you have a large property, then you may want to consider accent lighting. However, if your fence is very close to your backyard entertainment area, you may want to consider downlighting to help provide adequate task lighting when you’re outdoors. If you have a shorter fence, then topping it with post lights can be a great fashionable choice.
Reliable Exterior Lighting Service
Spark Daddy offers reliable exterior lighting service to the Ballwin, MO area. Our helpful crew can also assist with all your electrical services needs including electrical panels, backup generators, EV charging stations, surge protections, and other more. Contact our friendly office staff today to book your next service consultation with one of our skillful electricians.
