What You Need to Know About Landscape Lighting

Do you feel confident navigating your backyard once the sun goes down? Most people underestimate how important outdoor lighting is, but your backyard can be filled with potential dangers, tripping hazards, and accidents waiting to happen. Properly placed lighting can help turn your yard into an outdoor living space to be enjoyed day and night while keeping your home safer!

Here are some tips to help you plan your landscape lighting:

• Determine how you want to use your new space

Do you need to light up an outdoor kitchen area so you can see better while you’re preparing food? Will you be serving meals in your new outdoor dining room? Or will you use your new outdoor living space as more of a chill spot where you will relax by the fire? No matter what your goals are for your new custom outdoor living space, you’ll want your landscape lighting to set the right mood.

Once you know the purpose of your lighting, you can start to think about what type of feature lighting will best suit your needs. If you’re looking to enhance your new outdoor kitchen while creating a visual interest, you could consider installing lights underneath your countertops for additional appeal and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. While string lights can provide a more casual, warm, and inviting ambiance that can be enhanced by adding decorative touches like lanterns or candles.

What You NEED to Know About Building an Outdoor Kitchen →

• Select the right lights and know where to place them 

It’s important to consider the size of your new outdoor living space when determining the number of lights you will need. Often, it is assumed that a bigger space will need more lights. But that’s not always the case since ultimately it will depend on how you want to use each zone of your new space. So, it’s important to break your landscape lighting up and see exactly where each light will be placed.

There are three general types of outdoor lighting: overall lighting, task/utility lighting, and accent lighting. By blending these types of lighting, you can create a dynamic outdoor living space that is beautiful and functional. For example, the pool, spa, and steps are key areas to illuminate with task/utility lighting for safety purposes. While uplighting is an excellent way to highlight the architectural features of your home. Knowing where to place your landscape lighting is crucial to the vibe of your new outdoor living space.

• Know how much your landscape lighting will cost

Landscape lighting can be very expensive since it’s made to withstand temperature extremes, sun exposure rain, snow, and other elements. If you’re not careful, your landscape lighting could cause your budget to quickly spiral out of control. This is why it’s important to understand exactly how much your landscape lighting will cost before you commit to it.

One of the most important aspects of any project’s budget is ongoing maintenance costs. Some light fixtures and bulbs simply cost more to operate or repair down the road than others. But, oftentimes you can obtain warranties on fixtures and transformers that range from one to 10 years. This is why it’s important to work with a partner who can help you understand your short-term and long-term investment costs before you make important decisions about your landscape lighting.

How to determine the cost of your outdoor living project →

Designing and building a new outdoor living space should be an exciting experience, but we get that you don’t want to work with a contractor that will waste your money and you don’t want to get stuck wasting your valuable time managing multiple crews, contracts, permit applications, and other important details.  You are not alone!

At MasterPLAN, we have partnered with hundreds of homeowners – just like you – to eliminate the stress and hassle when transforming your backyard into an outdoor living space in the Lehigh Valley.  We make your unique journey stress-free by using our award-winning design/build process to handle all communication with your HOA and township, develop your plans, obtain your building permits, manage any and all engineering, schedule your inspections and so much more!

Here’s how to do it:

Call: Schedule your meeting!

Collaborate: Create your perfect plan!

Construction: With an approved design, construction starts!

Celebrate: Raise a toast to your transformed home and the new life that comes from it!

CALL TODAY TO SCHEDULE YOUR DESIGN MEETING!

(610) 628-2480

In the meantime, download your exclusive copy of the Top 5 Design Secrets your Contractor Doesn’t Know. So you can stop fearing that you will make the wrong decisions about your new outdoor living space and instead be confident when selecting the right firm to help transform your backyard into the outdoor living space you always dreamed of!