from our "home remodeling" project library

Showcase Your Home and Garden with Outdoor Lighting

Mood lighting has moved outside, thanks to solar, low-voltage, and wireless technologies that allow outside lights to be safely and easily placed throughout a yard and garden to create a more natural lighting scheme--and highlight your home's best landscaping and architectural features.

Outside lighting can give a moonlight effect, be placed to dapple light along footpaths or backlight water features.  "Landscape lighting is now being used as a means to extend living space so people can enjoy the best of both the inside and outside worlds. I see the focus… on techniques that bring light closer to the house, and make the space more aesthetically pleasing in an unobtrusive manner," says Joe Rey-Barreau, American Lighting Association education consultant.

Outdoor Lighting Tips and Trends

Floodlights are out. Pick refined fixtures that blend with your landscaping. Hide fixtures among foliage and keep lights spaced to spread light rather than concentrate it. Consider tapping the expertise of a lighting designer, who can help you get the most for your money.   

Four Hot Outdoor Lighting Techniques

• Downlighting: traditional safety lighting used to illuminate large areas and pathways
• Uplighting: lighting positioned upward to accent landscaping or architecture
• Moonlighting: lights mounted in trees or on the house to cast a natural moonlight effect using both uplighting and downlighting
• Shadowing: placement of a spotlight at ground level in front of an object to cast a dramatic shadow

Enjoy the Night

With outdoor lights, you can entertain and unwind in your yard and garden under the moonlight--even when it's cloudy.