Landscape Lighting Design Technique

Sketch each facade of the house. Plan lighting near the front and back entryways first. Install ground-level lights along a sidewalk or around a back porch. Create lighting at ground level for safe walking toward any exterior door areas, which will include sliding doors near a kitchen or a basement door at one end of the house .

Plan small lights for visual appeal around the entire house perimeter. Use conduit to run electrical wiring if the house is under construction. Use solar lights on stakes, which simply push into the ground, if landscaping is well established and you don't wish to dig trenches for electrical wiring. Design lights to be installed every 5 or 6 feet. Draw the house in detail to see what spacing works.

Use electrical spotlights to accent blank walls. Direct spotlights toward a brick or stucco wall that highlights detailed landscaping located in front of that house facade. Direct spotlights from two separate directions toward a rose garden placed in front of a stone exterior wall, for example. Install the spotlights at ground level about 8 feet from the house. Place the spotlights in a bed of mulch or small pebbles incorporated into the defined rose garden, not further out in yard space where someone may trip over them. Install colored spotlights, such as green or blue, directed up to palm trees or other dramatic foliage to accent the beauty of your landscaping.

Install post lighting to accent curb areas. Place a post lantern on each side of a front walkway gate or front driveway entrance, for example. Use light fixtures that complement the architectural style of the house. Landscape an area at the base of each lantern post. Add climbing vines, flowering plants or concrete containers of greenery.

Line special yard areas with solar lights. Use tiny solar lights on 2-foot stakes to accent the top of a garden retaining wall. Place these lights around a circular driveway or a swimming pool. Install solar lights that are only 2 inches across in diameter roughly 2 feet back from the street curb all the way across the front of the house. Place one of these solar lights, which will each be mounted on a stake when you purchase them, approximately every 6 to 8 feet.