Illuminate your garden with these stylish landscape lighting ideas

Lighting your landscape properly can elevate it from simply being lit to being illuminating. The atmosphere of your landscape yard or garden is heavily influenced by the lighting. Lighting the essential parts of your garden makes it a pleasure to be in at night and this all depends on how your garden is illuminated, whether it’s a place of relaxation and zen, or an exciting place to entertain guests. We have compiled a list of modern landscape lighting ideas, sure to brighten up your nights.

 A delicate and methodical process

Lighting your outdoor landscape is a more delicate and methodical process than you may realise. So, before we get into the design ideas, there are a few things to note. When designing your landscape lighting ideas, take into account the light pollution it may cause. Here are some key points:

• Try low-wattage bulbs: Typically outdoor light bulbs will need a low voltage and wattage compared to indoor lights, otherwise, it can look harsh at night and be blinding if angled incorrectly. Some light sources only need to draw attention to a feature, such as plants or a fountain and don’t need to be too bright anyway.
• Use automated controllable lights: It’s a good idea to have motion detection lights, not only does it make it safer walking at night, it will reduce light pollution and turn off automatically.
• Think about light positioning: When you’ve worked out where you want your lights, try out different angles, and be prepared to reposition them if their position isn’t working. You want outdoor lights to generally point away from people but angled enough to provide some light.

 Moonlighting

This is a technique that’s useful if you want your courtyard or garden to be subtly lit. As the name may suggest, it’s about positioning an ambient light, mimicking the moon. A light is either placed high up in tall trees to give a soft lighting glow on the ground whilst giving an interesting texture on the ground from the light catching the swaying tree branches and leaves.

 Accent lighting

Do you have some architecture or wall feature that you want to emphasise at night? Accent lighting is a technique that involves installing up lights beneath the point of interest and lighting it from below. Shadows will be cast upwards from the focal point piece of architecture, creating a striking yet pleasing effect that is sure to draw the eye.

 Silhouette Lighting

Using the Silhouette lighting technique is perfect if you want the atmosphere to feel dramatic and even feel a little romantic. Statues, water features, and trees that have an interesting shape to them work the best for this effect. By placing an up light between a wall and a feature in your garden, such as a plant, tree or statue, it can illuminate and envelop the garden piece.

Graze lighting

If you have a feature wall that has texture to it, such as brick walls or a panelled wall, graze lighting is a good way to draw attention to the texture work and provide useful lighting. To get this effect, a downlight needs to be positioned close to the wall from the ceiling, so it can catch all those rough edges. This technique is effective in drawing the eye, complementing the architecture it’s connected to.

Hardscape Lighting

At night it’s easy to forget the ground you need to walk on, so it’s essential that the pathways, steps and any hazards are well lit. By using a hardscape lighting technique, not only does it make it safer for those walking by, much like graze lighting, it can be used to emphasise the texture of the material you have used on walkways and paths. This is a safe and stylish path lighting technique that anyone with paths, stairs and walkways should take advantage of.

 Mirrorlighting

Mirrorlighting is done by lighting trees or any objects on the opposite end of a pool or body of water from where people will be standing creating a modern and sleek mirror effect. At night water has an inky black look, so any trees or outdoor features that have been lit up will stand out and look striking. Adopting this into your landscaping project is sure to make any evenings and nights spent nearby the body of water serene and elegant.

 Ready to take your landscape to the next level?

We’re sure some of these landscape lighting ideas will give you some inspiration for your home garden or yard, from just being a garden to something truly special and a joy to be in, no matter the hour. Our expert designers and architects work closely together to ensure that any landscaping services they do complement any architecture that may already be standing. If you’re interested in taking your landscape to the next level, get in touch with our friendly staff for a no-obligation quote for your landscaping construction needs.