Outdoor Lighting Mistakes to Avoid

When done right, adding lighting to your outdoor living spaces and landscaping is an easy way to increase the beauty and functionality of your home. This guide gives you information on some of the most common outdoor lighting mistakes that people make so you can avoid them and get the best out of your own lighting design.

Too Many Lights

More is not always better. Although you might be tempted to shine a light on every tree, flower, and shrub around your home to show them off at night it’s important not to overwhelm the space. Choose a handful of architectural and landscape features you love and place lights at the ground level to shine up and bathe those elements in a warm glow. Try to balance out all sides of your property. It might be helpful to stand across the street from your house at night to see how everything looks from farther away.

Too Few Lights 

Not having enough lighting can also be a problem, leaving parts of your property in the dark. Again, aim for balance across your entire property but also pay special attention to areas that need light for safety. Any walkways, pathways, stairs, steps, or places where the elevation changes should be well-lit, usually with path lighting, to prevent trips and falls in the dark. Areas around your pool, entrances and exits, your driveway and garage, and the outer perimeter of your property should also have appropriate lighting for security purposes.

Improper Placement

It’s important to never place lights directly at eye-level. This common mistake usually occurs when lighting your front door, but it can be true of landscape lighting as well. Lights at eye level not only cause discomfort for your visitors but also make it difficult for them to see where they are going on your property, which is the opposite of your intent.

Instead, place lights above eye level near your front door to shine down softly. In other areas of your yard, you can use glare shields on any flood lights or spotlights you might use to accentuate your home or yard features to avoid that unwanted blinding effect.

Another common mistake with lighting placement is putting all of your pathway lighting in a straight row, lining both sides of your path or driveway. At night, this ends up looking like an airport runway. Alternating lights at even intervals on either side of the path or driveway in a zigzag pattern will give you the light you want without drawing attention to the lights themselves. 

Wrong Temperature Color

Although cool, bright lights have their place, they’re usually best in areas where you want to increase security. For instance, motion sensing flood lights on your garage are great in a cool temperature, providing crisp, clean lighting to illuminate the area for needed visibility. 

Overly bright lights throughout the rest of your property, however, can end up creating hot spots and a harsh environment that is uncomfortable to the eye. Generally speaking, warm lights are best in landscape lighting since it’s closer to natural light.

Starting Without a Plan

It’s always best to plan out what you want to achieve with your outdoor lighting. The lighting experts at Houston Lightscapes can help you avoid all the lighting mistakes discussed here and more. When you schedule a free consultation, they will work with you to create a stunning, custom lighting design that will completely transform your home.