Tips To Ensure Your Custom Home Accent Lighting Looks Great

One of the great things about building a custom home is the yard spaces are a blank slate. Working with a landscape designer, you can create yards that look amazing - both day and night.

As you prepare for your first meeting with a designer, it is important to think about how you want your home to be lit at night. Home structure lighting done well will show off your home's best architecture and provide light for safety. 

To ensure your custom home accent lighting looks great, here are some tips:

Tip: Set a Reasonable Budget

Before meeting with your landscape designer it's a good idea to set a budget for your custom home's landscaping.

It's important to note that while part of the budget will cover trees and plants, a reasonable percentage should be dedicated to exterior lighting.

Home accent lighting isn't simply an add-on when it comes to landscaping, it is one of its major aspects! Setting aside a reasonable percentage of your overall landscaping budget for lighting ensures your house looks good at night and provides an added level of safety for your family.

Tip: Electricity is Required

Small solar lights are great for flowerbeds or seldom-used walkways, but they are too dim to provide a reasonable amount of light elsewhere.

For this reason, your landscaping lights will require electrical power. While you will probably need some electrical lines installed for the exterior lights, it is important to consider power before deciding you want a light a long distance from the nearest outlet. 

Tip: Understand Home Accent Lighting is the Main Focus of Landscape Lighting

While your final design plans will include smaller lights in gardens and along pathways, home accent lighting should be the main focus. The light shining on your home anchors the entire lighting scheme and connects your home to the landscaping. 

It's important to highlight unique aspects of your home. For example, popular areas to highlight include:

• stone chimneys
• architectural columns
• the front door

In addition, you have the option of lighting the house in such a way it looks very dramatic or softer so it blends into its surroundings.

This is accomplished by the location and colors of the lights used. For example, yellow lights give off a more mellow look, while bright white or colored lights are much more dramatic. 

Tip: More Lighting is Not Always Better

Lastly, it is vital you don't overdo the lighting in your yard. Too much light is annoying for close-by neighbors, wastes electricity, and contributes to light pollution in the nighttime sky. Work with your landscaping designer to find the delicate balance between tasteful lighting and excessive lighting.

For more information, contact a company like Landscape Lighting Guys.