Why Adequate Outdoor Lighting for Your Naperville, IL Driveway and Front Yard Is So Important
You’ve already spent so much time making your home look beautiful like the way you imagined it. Yet there exists an entirely different perspective at night that you might not have considered as much as daytime. Lighting your home and front yard at night is absolutely essential to keeping your family safe and secure. There are also many different nighttime lighting strategies that make a home and landscape take on a completely new character once night falls. Here’s why adequate outdoor lighting for your Naperville, IL driveway and front yard is so important.
Safety: Always a Priority
First and foremost, a properly lit driveway and front yard will ensure that whoever is coming and going after dark is walking or driving safely. The surfaces on which we walk need to always have an adequate brightness to avoid tripping or slipping. Likewise, there should never be any surprises on a driveway and no matter its length, there should always be full lighting at night.
Keeping Secure
Regardless of other security measures already in place, proper lighting must be present at all entrances to a house and any driveway or walkway entrances so that unwanted visitors will be deterred. Motion sensor lights can be useful in this area as well as in the backyard or side yards.
Going Greener
Using eco-conscious lighting design choices will not only cut down on your energy costs, but it will also create a more pleasing nighttime experience. Traditional light bulbs use far more energy than LED lights and old-school lighting usually meant a single high-watt bulb mounted on the house, driveway, or post - which created overly bright areas and simultaneously, harsh shadows. Lighting systems using LEDs get the same job done with much smaller light sources that use far less energy. They also allow for more creative expression in a landscape. LED lights are perfect for illuminating walkways when mounted low to the ground so that the illumination is concentrated on the path instead of in your eyes.
Spotlighting Features
Some of the landscape features of your front yard deserve attention at night. Whether it’s a beautiful statue, a single magnificent tree, or a series of boxwood shrubs that line a walkway, spotlighting is a way to amplify drama, create a sense of grandeur and add to the home’s sense of welcome. A few simple spotlights might be advantageous additions to a functional yet beautiful entry.
Moonlighting in Trees
Moonlighting is similar to spotlighting though it changes the location of the light source. In this case, a light is placed high in a tree canopy, so that it sends light cascading through the tree’s branches and scattering light on the ground that dances beautifully during a breezy night. It’s an excellent lighting technique for helping to illuminate a driveway by adding indirect light and texture.
Defining Spaces is Everything
Navigating a house you’ve never been to can be difficult, especially if there’s some rugged terrain. Using lighting techniques to guide a visitor’s eye towards the front door by defining spaces is a fantastic way to welcome your guests. Overhead floodlights already do a poor job of illuminating large spaces and cast harsh shadows that can confuse people who don’t see very well at night. Lighting should increase in brightness and frequency as your guests approach the front door, with the intent of minimizing shadows and highlighting any hazards. Using lights to illuminate certain areas more than others provides an important visual texture that not only feels welcome but promotes safety and security throughout your front yard and driveway.
