If you haven’t been using your outdoor living space because it’s just not a welcoming place at night, it could be due to something as straightforward to fix as replacing old-school lighting with modern landscape lighting. Here are 4 signs your landscape design could use updated outdoor lighting in Allentown, PA.
Related: 4 Low-Maintenance Landscape Design Ideas for Allentown, PA Homes
1. Too Bright!
Old-school landscape lighting often consisted of one or two extremely bright floodlights mounted on the home. These would light up the backyard very brightly, often giving it an unattractive convenience store or sports stadium feel that also attracted every insect in the neighborhood. Walking toward the light is an unpleasantly blinding experience. This type of light destroys the appeal of nighttime patio living, and it’s not appreciated by neighbors.
2. Too Dark!
While parts of the backyard are overly illuminated by a bright fixture, other areas become even darker by contrast. This makes them unsafe and unappealing. Many homes still feature a single light on a post where the driveway meets the walkway, but this doesn’t offer any sense of welcome or security because the rest of the landscape remains much too dark for comfort. Having just one light means that an outdoor kitchen, which requires more light, and a seating area, which needs less light, are both illuminated in the worst possible way.
3. Too Amber (or Too Blue)!
Once landscape lighting started to evolve beyond that single floodlight, we were still limited to using incandescent or halogen bulbs, or fluorescent bulbs. Incandescent and halogen fixtures emit a very warm light that’s almost too amber to be pleasing. By contrast, fluorescent lights emit a harsh, bluish light that’s equally appealing.
4. Too Ugly!
Old-school light fixtures were tacked onto something: either the home, a post or pillar, a pergola, or a garage. They certainly didn’t do anything for the home’s appeal during the day.
Fortunately, today’s lighting technology allows for the perfect marriage of beauty and functionality. Here’s how:
Modern Lighting: Just the Right Intensity of Light for Each Zone
Today’s lighting design centers on creating livable zones within a landscape without destroying the romantic appeal of nighttime entertaining or relaxing. In the home, a kitchen is more brightly lit than a living room or bedroom; and the same applies to outdoor living.
When you create zones, light intensity is targeted for a pleasant experience whether you’re cooking (plenty of task lighting), dining (enough lighting so you can see your food, but with a romantic ambiance), walking to another area (ground-level or knee-level path lighting), or relaxing (soft lighting that lets you move about safely while letting you enjoy the night).
Modern lighting uses light-emitting diode (LED) technology which uses significantly less electricity. The light bulbs also last much longer so over time, it’s a money-saver. LEDs can be very bright or very soft, and the fixtures can be smaller which means they are less noticeable during the day.
LED fixtures can also be integrated into masonry such as in a retaining wall, fire pit, or even in the backsplash of an outdoor kitchen. LED light fixtures are ideal for landscape lighting techniques including silhouetting, uplighting, downlighting, washing, moonlighting, grazing, and spotlighting. LED light fixtures are also used in submersible lighting for pools and water features for an amazing nighttime experience.
A choice of light temperatures also gives you the exact look you want, from brighter white lighting at your outdoor kitchen, to warmer and softer light around seating areas and walkways.
Related: Landscape Design Tips for Bohemian Backyards in Allentown PA
