Exterior lighting can really enhance your Toronto home, your land and your lifestyle. A good lighting design will take into consideration how you use your space and whether you like to entertain. If your family is very active and use the yard after dark to play sports you will require very different lighting needs than if you simply want to relax and enjoy the view.
The first thing to do is look at your layout and plan your lighting design accordingly. You will need lights to help you navigate pathways, you will need them to highlight interesting features in your yard and to accent your overall landscaping.
A few things to keep in mind are:
What the view from inside the house is like. While it might not sound relevant, you definitely want to look outside from any window and see a pleasing scene.
Determine what your focal points are going to be – things that you want to highlight such as a water feature or mature trees.
Creating atmosphere – this is one of the biggest considerations as you will want to create the kind of ambiance that will draw people outside and make them want to spend time in the yard.
There are three main ways of lighting something outside – downlighting, uplighting and crosslighting. Downlighting is great for spaces where you want people to mingle and converse – such as patios, under trees, etc… Uplighting is used to create drama and bring attention to something while crosslighting eliminates all shadows and is good for outdoor kitchen areas and for focal points in a landscape.
Not sure what to light? Well, there are some areas that are typically good to light-up. They include: pathways, patios, trees, water features, architectural elements and driveways.
Lighting is great for creating a wonderful mood for your landscaping, but it also offers security and keeps pathways safe in the dark.
The first thing to do is look at your layout and plan your lighting design accordingly. You will need lights to help you navigate pathways, you will need them to highlight interesting features in your yard and to accent your overall landscaping.
A few things to keep in mind are:
What the view from inside the house is like. While it might not sound relevant, you definitely want to look outside from any window and see a pleasing scene.
Determine what your focal points are going to be – things that you want to highlight such as a water feature or mature trees.
Creating atmosphere – this is one of the biggest considerations as you will want to create the kind of ambiance that will draw people outside and make them want to spend time in the yard.
There are three main ways of lighting something outside – downlighting, uplighting and crosslighting. Downlighting is great for spaces where you want people to mingle and converse – such as patios, under trees, etc… Uplighting is used to create drama and bring attention to something while crosslighting eliminates all shadows and is good for outdoor kitchen areas and for focal points in a landscape.
Not sure what to light? Well, there are some areas that are typically good to light-up. They include: pathways, patios, trees, water features, architectural elements and driveways.
Lighting is great for creating a wonderful mood for your landscaping, but it also offers security and keeps pathways safe in the dark.
