When you think about the outside of your home, you likely think about your home's exterior color and landscaping. However, another key factor that can influence the curb appeal of your home is outdoor lighting. We're going to discuss some of the best outdoor lighting options to boost your home's curb appeal while enhancing your outdoor safety below.

Layers of Outdoor Lighting

Before we dive into the specific lighting fixtures and features that can be a worthy investment for your home, we start with the layers of lighting. These are specific categories of lighting, each with a particular purpose for your home. They include ambient, task, and accent lighting.

Ambient lighting provides general illumination and comprises mainly wall and post lighting. This layer of lighting aims to provide comfortable illumination without any stark glare. Ambient lighting is best for maneuvering around your property safely at night.

Task lighting is strategically placed to help aid you in doing various tasks on your property. It brightens specific areas like pathways, your deck, and outdoor steps. Lastly, we have accent lighting that's responsible for adding depth and intrigue to your home's exterior. Accent lighting is commonly used to highlight trees, household architectural details, and even garden beds.

Determine Your Key Features

When you start thinking about outdoor lighting for your home, it's important to formulate a game plan. You don't just want to make hasty decisions about what items to purchase as they may not flow together into one desirable landscape. Rather, take the time to properly plan out the types of lighting that you need to ensure that you have one smooth concept for your entire property.

One of the best places to start is by identifying key areas for accent and task lighting. Make a list of these areas at your home. They can include special architectural details on your home, your garden bed, and the front walkway. If there are some key areas you want to add general or ambient lighting, make note of those. A great example of this could be around your perimeter fence.

Flood Lights

One of the most essential forms of outdoor lighting is floodlighting. This type of lighting helps provide adequate illumination around your property for a sense of safety and security. Floodlights can also work as a form of accent lighting when they're used with a wide-angle beam. They can effectively highlight sculptures, fountains, trees, and other accent features around your property.

Landscape Spotlights

Somewhat similar to floodlights in their ability to illuminate large spaces, landscape spotlights are an ideal option for providing uplighting and downlighting. This type of outdoor lighting uses a 45-degree light beam to provide more concentrated lighting. These are great for creating silhouettes and shadows to foster a unique and attractive outdoor lighting display.

Inground Lighting

One great attribute of any household landscape is inground lighting for areas like pathways and driveways. This type of lighting gets installed directly in the ground. The only thing you'll see is its beam of light pointing upward. Inground lighting creates extra texture and patterns that add depth to your property's landscape.

Wall Lighting

Wall lighting is a great option for fencing and walls on your property. These are a form of soft lighting that helps to provide illumination along a fence line or wall so that you can safely maneuver around the property. This type of lighting creates ambient illumination to enhance safety and security at your property.

Hanging Lights

Another form of lighting that's increasingly popular is hanging lighting. This type of string lighting is attached to the roofs of porches, gazebos, and similar structures. It provides an outline of the space, creating a general ambiance for the activities that take place in these areas of your property. This type of lighting is usually done with a softer tone.

Post and Pole Lighting

Post and pole lighting is essential for illuminating specific areas of your property. You'll want to choose a softer lighting tone. This type of lighting is a popular choice for providing property safety. You'll find it along various outdoor spaces like gardens, walkways, and even driveways.

Path Lights

Path lighting is specifically designed to illuminate the area where you're walking on your property. Path lighting is available in many forms like bollards, post lights, and in-ground lighting. This type of lighting is ideal for helping to create a visible edge where the pathway stops and your landscape takes over.

Top Things to Consider When Choosing Outdoor Lighting Fixtures

Now that you're familiar with the different types of outdoor lighting fixtures and the types of lighting that your property needs to have, it's time to dive into the key things to consider when choosing your outdoor lighting fixtures.

One of the most important is going to be the overall aesthetic style of the fixture. Outdoor lighting comes in many modern designs and colors. You can get silver, black, white, and even bronze housing. Choose a lighting fixture style that matches your home's architectural design and color scheme for the best results. 

Another key feature to consider is the type of lighting. Ideally, you'll want to go with LED lighting as it provides a far superior lifespan to traditional incandescent lighting and uses much less energy to provide the same amount of illumination. 

As with any fixture for your home, energy efficiency is key to keeping your utility bills in check. You may even want to invest in smart timing systems so you don't have to manually worry about turning your exterior lights on or off. One lighting feature that will either make or break your home's curb appeal is the color temperature of the lights that you purchase. This refers to the amount of illumination and its overall color. All lights have a Kelvin (K) measurement that helps to determine how much light they emit. Lights with a lower K have a yellow, warmer tone. Lights with a high K have a bluer, cooler tone to them.

Most experts recommend selecting outdoor lighting fixtures rated between 2700 and 3000K for areas like decks, patios, general ambient lighting, and architectural lighting. This provides a cozy ambient light that doesn't overwhelm your landscape or contribute to light pollution in your area. 3000 to 5000K lighting should be reserved for driveways and walkways where safety is paramount.

When it comes to safety, consider a whole-home surge protection system. This works to monitor the amount of power coming into your home and will automatically divert any excess energy to your home's grounding system. This necessary addition ensures that your home's outdoor and indoor lighting is protected from any power surges that could otherwise cause permanent damage.

Mister Sparky® offers reliable outdoor lighting service to the Ocean County, NJ community. Call our office today to book your next service consultation.