Landscape lighting can add beauty to your home as well as provide increased safety on your property.  Lighting design can be used to light pathways, highlight your homes architecture, and deter intruders.  When considering adding lighting to your landscaping, it is important to find the right balance of lighting.  Focus on adding lighting to main activity areas like driveways, entrances, pathways, dark areas around windows, and stairs and main focal points such as fountains, trees, or statues.  The following landscape lighting basics can help make the most of your lighting.

Up-lighting: Up-lighting is placing a light facing upward toward an object to illuminate it.  This works well for highlighting the focal points of your landscape or home.  Use it sparingly to highlight objects around your yard like statues, trees, flag poles, and fountains.

Down-lighting: Down-lighting is used to illuminate large areas.  It works well for illuminating entertainment areas such as a patio or a deck.  It also helps to deter intruders.

Accent Lighting: Accent lighting is an excellent choice for lighting paths and stairs by placing lights along both edges of a path or a staircase.  This looks beautiful and has the added safety feature of helping prevent people from tripping and falling.  Accent lighting can also add focus to low-lying flowers, shrubs, and ponds.

With the arrival of spring and the inviting weather it brings, you may want to spend more time outside, especially after having been cooped up all winter long. While it’s not yet warm enough to jump in the pool, there are numerous other ways to enjoy a pleasant evening with friends and family in your back or front yard. Without the proper outdoor lighting, though, come nightfall all the fun will have to stop. Because of your limited sight, you run the risk of hurting yourself and others. Whether you’re barbecuing, roasting marshmallows, watching your kids jump on the trampoline, or gazing up at a meteor shower, make sure you have the right lighting to maximize your experience! Check out these __ reasons to install adequate outdoor lighting.

Before you install lighting, consider how you use your outdoor space. For example, if you have a patio, deck or pool area, consider installing zoned lighting, which highlights a designated area. You’ll also want to illuminate areas such as your driveway, garage, sidewalk and entry way. All of these areas are important to light to ensure safe navigation and prevent a trip to the emergency room. Without proper lighting, one could trip over a hidden step, fall off the deck or worse – overcook the meat!

The more light the better. By installing the right fixtures in the right locations, you’ll eliminate all the scary spaces, increasing safety and peace of mind, not to mention guests will be able to find your house with ease. Illuminating your outdoor spaces will allow you to get the most of your day, and since the weather is only going to get warmer from here on out, we have a feeling you’ll want to be outside as much as you can!

When you add flood lights to your back patio, deck or front lawn, you’ll be able take full advantage of these spaces. Instead of having to go inside when dusk comes, you’ll be able to relax with your friends and family outside for as long as you like.  You could even enjoy a nice dinner around the patio table.

A well-lit yard and landscape deters unwanted guests from coming onto your property.  There are numerous types of lights you can install to increase home security:

Many homeowners make the mistake of adding security lights to the front of the home while ignoring the back. The back of your home can be one of the most vulnerable places because of fencing, so make sure you install lighting in this area as well. When deciding where to install your outdoor lighting, determine the darkest areas of your home as well as any places where an intruder could enter.

Your home is one of your most prized possessions. When you’ve spent countless hours perfecting the exterior of your home as well as your lawn and garden, why allow it to go unseen when nighttime comes? You can highlight the best features of your home by installing uplights, garden lighting and low voltage exterior lighting around your trees and shrubs. Not only will the perfect lights add appeal to your home, it will add an undeniable sense of warmth too. Friends, neighbors and passersby won’t be able to stop themselves from glancing at your home each time they walk or drive by it.

According to The Electrical Safety Foundation International, electrical incidents cause 43,900 home fires, 438 deaths, 1,430 injuries and result in $1.47 billion in property damage each year. May is National Electrical Safety Month and helps promote safety education and awareness to reduce the number of electrical related accidents. In honor of Electrical Safety Month, Mr. Electric® has complied a list of simple tips for a safer home.