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Walkway lighting is a landscape safety essential, but the right lighting design also enhances your nighttime landscape via ambiance and the displaying of some of your favorite trees, shrubs, and other features.
In addition to this post, which focuses on the best ways to light up your walkways, we also recommend visiting, Benefits of Outdoor Lighting Design as Part of Your Landscape. There, you’ll find a more big picture analysis on how to design a well-rounded lighting plan for your outdoor spaces.
Your walkways lighting plan accomplishes multiple tasks:
The following five tips and ideas will help you design and select walkway lighting that makes your home safe, welcoming, and pleasing to the eye, even after the sun goes down.
Think of your lighting as a tour guide, especially for guests who are less familiar with the contours of your landscape design. Use a combination of brighter, more focused lights to keep their feet securely on the pathways, as well as softer, more diffused light to highlight hardscape features that they might bump up against otherwise.
If you entertain often, make sure you’ve provided lighting to highlight other sweet spots in the landscape, such as private seating areas, your outdoor pond or water features, and the fire pit.
Pet Safety Tip: If you have dogs, especially breeds prone to digging, we recommend prioritizing solar-powered lighting options. This prevents you from the mess and expense of repairing dug up or chewed lighting and keeps your pets safe from potential electric shock injuries.
Obviously, aesthetics are a key component of any landscape design. However, safety should be a very close second, especially if you live in a more remote area that is devoid of streetlights or other nearby lighting that helps to illuminate your yards. Consider using motion-sensitive lighting in case you or your guests access the outdoors outside of the normal, timed lighting program hours.
Light up your walkway with lights that run alongside paved and softscape pathways are relatively easy to layout. However, it’s essential to install high-quality, reliable and weatherproof lighting on any stairs or slopes, where nighttime falls are more dangerous. This typically requires support from a professional landscape designer who works with masons and electrical contractors to ensure it’s installed correctly and will work reliably throughout the year.
We typically think of human safety when speaking of exterior lighting plans, but don’t forget about the plants’ safety. Your outdoor lighting plan should also consider the needs of your plants and shrubs. Any feet that stray off the path are likely to crush, break, or maim delicate plants and shrubs.
We recently posted an article on how to add texture to your landscape design. But all the texture in the world will be washed flat once the sun sets, and without the right lighting design.
Your landscape designer will work with you to “see” your gardens and patios through nighttime eyes, placing and selecting lighting fixtures that highlight different plant heights and widths, textures, and hardscape features to preserve your landscapes three-dimensional appeal.
The right illumination elevates the look of your walkways and paths. From natural stone and pavers with greenery in between them to walkways comprised of bark, gravel or wood chips – all of the walkways will get an elevated, classy upgrade when you carefully select their lights accordingly.
Are you ready to upgrade your home's landscape nighttime lighting plan by artfully lighting walkways, stairs, and paths? Schedule a consultation with the professional designers at Bay Area Landscapes.