Outdoor Lighting Tips for Fall and Winter

Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 6 this year. With darkness falling earlier, there is no better time to think about your exterior lighting needs so that visitors and families can be reassured of their safety.

Many outdoor lighting options are available that increase safety and security while creating an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere for your home or business. Here are some of the different types of outdoor lighting to choose from.

Pathway and Step Lighting

Light the way to your home or business with low-level pathway and step lights for increased safety and beauty. Walkways are critical areas to illuminate so guests can navigate safely within an entertaining space. A series of ground-mounted path lights show the way while complementing your home's architectural elements. Select fixtures that shine a gentle glow downward toward your feet, providing direction without distracting glare. When installing path lights, stagger them about 6 to 8 feet apart to offer just enough light to see while walking and avoid the "runway effect" that can occur when the lights are evenly distributed along the path.  

The LED Low Voltage Landscape Path Light is a stylish way to ensure dusk-to-dawn property enhancement and security. Its peaked shade and slender silhouette offer unobtrusive illumination while adding modern style to homes, beautifully enhancing curb appeal.

Stairs also require illumination. Install step lights in stairs to provide safety and create a visually beautiful element to the landscape design. Place them in the vertical part of the step (the riser), under the tread, or in the tread itself. Our LED Step/Wall Light seamlessly blends into many interior and exterior architectural styles. It includes a horizontal and a vertical exterior face plate to accommodate either a horizontally or vertically oriented installation in stairs or walls. The face plates direct the light downwards to minimize glare and clearly illuminate stairs, walls, and walkways. The light engine is enclosed in a gasketed lens, allowing it to meet the rigorous demands of wet location use. Its dimmable LED light source offers an optimized, energy-efficient light output of 3000K, 90CRI.

Landscape Lighting

Landscape lighting serves the dual purpose of providing security light and adding dramatic beauty to the outside area of a home or business. Try aiming spotlights to showcase a tree's foliage. Create dramatic focal points by cross-lighting statues, fountains, and architectural elements with two beams of light. When creating an outdoor landscape lighting plan, a good rule of thumb is to use warm (yellow/orange) light on objects and cool (white/blue) light on plants.

Always select outdoor lighting rated for damp locations (for semi-protected areas) or wet-rated for places where the lighting receives direct exposure to the elements. Use weatherproof or outdoor-rated electrical boxes that safely hold the electrical wires and prevent water from contacting the wires.

Check out our wide selection of outdoor lighting styles that meets most residential and commercial needs, including our trendsetting Design Series collection of exterior fixtures.