Options for Outdoor Lighting to Improve Safety and Beauty Along Your Wheaton, IL, Driveway

Keeping your landscape illuminated is one of the many ways of keeping your home safe. Driveway lighting is one of the best ways to create a safe and welcoming atmosphere. However, this doesn’t mean that you need glaring floodlights. Your driveway can also be illuminated at night to showcase the beauty of the home, the front yard, as well as the driveway itself. Here are some options for outdoor lighting to improve safety and beauty along your Wheaton, IL driveway.

Abandon the Floodlight

One of the most common styles of landscape lighting actually does more harm than good. Floodlighting using a single bright light source will do a poor job of covering an area while using a high amount of energy to do it. It will produce a harsh glare - the last thing you want to be looking at when navigating an unfamiliar driveway. Flood lights also produce contrasting shadows that can obscure obstacles in the driveway. Here are some great alternatives.

Solar-Powered LED Path Lights

Placing solar-powered LED path lights along the driveway provides safety as well as a clear delineation of the driveway. Low-lying lights won’t produce glare since their light is aimed at the ground. The downside to path lights is that very low lights could be obscured by snow; so knee-high lights will be more practical in all but the deepest snows.

When choosing the right path lights, you can go off the grid. Choose light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as your main light source in standalone light fixtures that are powered by the sun during the day, and activate as night falls. This will eliminate energy costs for keeping your driveway illuminated while also adding an elegant touch.

Masonry-embedded Lights

If you have any existing structures such as a retaining wall along the driveway edge, this will provide a wonderful housing for your solar-powered LED light fixtures. You can place a series of lights just under the lip of the cap stone on an existing wall - or if you’re thinking about a new wall, you could build them anywhere into the wall itself during construction.

Another option is to install lights embedded into masonry pillars that run the length of the driveway; the pillars could also serve as posts for a decorative fence.

Spotlighting Landscape Features

Part of creating a sense of depth perception for safe driving up and down your driveway at night is by illuminating various landscape features. You can achieve this with the technique of spotlighting, which uses bright lights near the ground that are angled upwards to show something in its full glory. This may be a gorgeous tree that dominates your front yard, a series of shrubs, a beautiful rock outcropping, or maybe even a statue or a retaining wall. Giving these features proper illumination at night will help create a much safer and interesting experience for visitors.

Leading With String Lights

String lights are typically used to create a festive atmosphere for backyard gatherings, but they may find another excellent use for your driveway. String lights can be placed above the driveway along the edge, both giving excellent, soft ambient light for the surrounding features as well as helping a driver or pedestrians find their way. It’s an excellent welcoming tactic that’s simple to install though you’ll want professionals to install string lights from your home or in tree canopies. Best of all, there is a wide variety of string light designs and styles to use in your landscape that conform with all parts of your aesthetic. Once your guests arrive at night, they’ll already be in awe by the time they reach your doorstep.