Feel Like You Aren't Getting Much Use Out of Your Lagrangeville, NY Backyard? Landscape Lighting May Be The Answer!

Your landscape could be the most amazing place during the day: a magical place that enchants friends and family. It might be the envy of the neighborhood. But how is it at night? If nobody wants to stay outside once the sun goes down, you’re missing out on the potential of outdoor living. Do you feel like you aren’t getting much use out of your Lagrangeville, NY backyard? Landscape lighting may be the answer!

Related: 2 Landscape Lighting Ideas to Include in Your New Backyard Design in Westchester County, NY

Before You Start

It’s always worth noting that not all landscape lighting techniques are useful in a backyard application. The single bright light source from overhead, also known as the floodlight style, won’t do much good for outdoor living ambience. It will waste a large amount of energy in trying to illuminate a space; it’s blinding to look at, and causes dark shadows when looking away from it. In short, the flood light can actually make an outdoor space feel and look worse - so get rid of it.

We believe that less is more in landscape lighting. A few well-placed light fixtures - even if they are low-intensity - can make a landscape feel welcoming. Too much lighting makes a backyard feel like a sports stadium.

First Steps

The foundations of making a landscape feel welcoming and comfortable means putting safety first. Illuminating your walkways, patio, pool deck, and driveway ensures they are safe places to walk.

Use hardwired pathway lights around the perimeter of your paved surfaces. These lights focus their light energy downward - where it matters. If you do nothing else to your backyard, the installation of low-lying pathway lighting around your patio and other paved surfaces will result in a dramatic change in the feel of your entire landscape.

A Few Focal Points

There are certain elements of a landscape that don’t deserve to be forgotten once the sun drops beneath the horizon. Key landscape elements, such as a treasured old tree, a beautiful masonry retaining wall, an outdoor fireplace, or a statue - should be celebrated just as brightly at night as during the day.

Placing spotlights at the base of your landscape features highlight their beauty. Just as importantly, this technique will help enable a sense of depth perception around the landscape. An increase in visibility of these vertical features will, in turn, make the entire space feel more comfortable and welcoming.

Creating Ambience

Once you have your walking areas illuminated and a few key aspects of the landscape are allowed to come out of the shadows, there are a few things you can do to increase the ambience depending on the mood you want to set.

Moonlighting shines a relatively bright, bluish-white light from high within a tree canopy to illuminate the ground below - mimicking the light of a full moon. It’s a dynamic lighting strategy that adds to the romance, especially on a breezy evening when the shadows of leafy branches dance on the ground.

Take advantage of the refractive qualities of water, for another moving light snow that adds ambience. Submersible or surface lighting around a water feature is an easy way to create interest in an otherwise gloomy corner.

Have Some Fun

Once you’ve achieved a safe and welcoming environment in your backyard through landscape lighting, you can start working on creating a vibrant one as well. Simple LED string lights make for a festive atmosphere. We recommend professional installation if your string lights will be hung from trees or the home.

Related: 4 Ways to Extend the Amount of Time You Spend on Your Pleasant Valley, NY Patio