What You Need to Know About Landscape Lighting for Large Homes
Landscape lighting for large homes offers a wide range of benefits, many of which may not be immediately apparent as you are trying to decide whether this is a good investment for you. Here's what you need to know about why choosing landscape lighting may be a good idea if you own a large home.
Why Light Up a Large Home?
Landscape lighting for large homes may be more important than lighting for smaller homes for a number of reasons. Although the cost of lighting a large home may be higher, the payoffs can be much greater as well. Here are a few key reasons why lighting up a large home is a good idea:
Landscape Lighting for Large Homes Can Deter Criminals
Unfortunately, one of the downsides of having a large home is that it may be more attractive to criminals. After all, thieves want to target the most affluent victims that they can. A large house is a dead giveaway to criminals that this is a home worth robbing.
Since large houses are often on large lots with extensive vegetation, they may be not only more attractive to thieves but also easier to approach. Landscape lighting design that utilizes perimeter lighting and/or motion-activated lights can be highly effective for deterring criminals.
Thieves are much more likely to keep looking for an easier target instead of choosing a house that makes it difficult for them to approach. Lighting can be very effective for reducing crime rates in general. As a rule, criminals want to operate in places where they won't be easily seen, so plenty of lighting can make a big difference.
Prevent Undesirable Animal Visitors
You probably enjoy having some wildlife on your property. Songbirds or even the occasional deer can be lovely visitors to your property. However, other types of wildlife are less desirable. Possums or raccoons can destroy landscaping and get into garbage. Larger predators like coyotes, bobcats, or even cougars can be dangerous for pets and children.
Many of the animals that you want on your property least tend to come around at night. Since large homes typically have lots of plants and trees that can shelter wildlife, unwanted animal visitors can be a bigger problem for large homes than for smaller ones. If your home is near a forested area, body of water, park,or golf course, it is even more likely that animals that you'd rather not have around will find their way onto your property.
Landscape lighting can do a great job of keeping undesirable wildlife away without doing the animals any harm. Lighting also won't deter any of the wildlife you want, such as birds. In fact, landscape lighting at night can keep away predators like raccoons and cats that may otherwise prey on songbirds.
Lighting that stays on all the time is quite effective for most nocturnal animals. Motion-activated lighting can typically frighten away even wildlife that is undeterred by consistent lighting.
Improve Curb Appeal and Property Value
If you have a large home, you are probably always in a little bit of a competition with your neighbors about whose home looks the best. Not only do you want to keep up with the Joneses, but also having one of the more attractive homes on the block makes a big difference if you decide to sell your home.
Landscape lighting can be incredibly effective at improving curb appeal and property value. Many people who are looking for homes or coming to view your house may schedule the visit after work when the light is fading. This is the perfect time for landscape lighting to shine.
Landscape lighting can emphasize what is most attractive about your home and cause a potential buyer to fall in love. Furthermore, landscape lighting is the kind of finishing touch that shows potential homebuyers how committed you are to your property and makes your home seem more valuable.
Enjoy Your Home More
When you chose a large home, you probably had visions of strolling through the property, enjoying the landscaping and the beautiful architecture. However, you likely find that you actually don't have that much time at home during the day to spend enjoying it.
Between work and activities, you are likely gone much of the day, leaving you little time to enjoy walking the grounds of your property. Landscape lighting can give you the opportunity to enjoy your landscaping at night, when you have time for a leisurely stroll.
Light up flower beds so that you can enjoy the color and beauty as much in the evening as you would in the daytime. Draw attention to the architectural details of your home that made you fall in love with it. Highlight topiaries, water features, signature trees, and other features. Lighting on paths encourages nighttime strolls, while patio lighting will make you much more likely to enjoy a cup of coffee before the sun has risen or drinks and appetizers after it has set.
What Areas of a Large Home Can Be Lit?
When it comes to a large home, there are all kinds of great options in landscape lighting. You may be surprised by just how many ways a landscape lighting services company can give you to light up your home. Here are just a few options worth considering:
- Garden. Landscape lighting can make your garden shine in the evening, drawing attention to what's best about it and making it look even better at night than it does during the day. Flowering shrubs and flower beds can show off their color just as well at night as during the day.
- Paths. Paths are some of the most charming features to highlight in your home. Not only does lighting up paths make practical sense since it makes it easier for you to navigate at night, but also path lighting looks stunning from the house and from the street.
- Driveway. It makes sense to light up your driveway so that you'll easily be able to pull in and walk from the driveway to the house, but lighting up a driveway can also make the entire house appear more attractive.
- Trees and bushes. Trees can be turned into works of art when lit from below and they can help you replicate the effect of moonlight when light shines down from the branches. Bushes and hedges work very well as perimeter and path lighting and they can also look very beautiful in their own right, especially when they are shaped into topiaries and lit artistically.
- Hardscape. Lighting can emphasize the texture in flagstone or brick, making patios and hardscaped landscaping look stunning. It can also make these spaces a pleasant place to enjoy at night.
- Outdoor living spaces. Anywhere that you enjoy hanging out outside during the day can also be a wonderful place to enjoy at night with landscape lighting. You may find that you enjoy your patios, porches, pergolas, and other outdoor spaces much more.
- Architecture. Landscape lighting is one of the best ways to emphasize the unique features of your large home. Use lighting to show off the texture of stone or brick walls, emphasize charming shutters or window boxes, or anything else that you love about your house.
- Walls and fences. The right kind of lighting cast upon your perimeter walls and fences provides a stunning backdrop for the rest of your garden, as well as providing security benefits.
What Type of Light is Best for Landscape Lighting Large Homes?
The right landscape lighting for large homes can be a wonderful investment into your property, but the wrong lighting can look cheap and fail to accomplish the effect you were going for. It is best to choose a professional lighting company to help you choose the ideal lighting for your space.
There is a huge range of options available, from very bright lights to shine up onto architecture or into trees to sweet, subtle lighting for along a path or on patios. Some lighting fixtures are beautiful in their own right, while others can be completely hidden so you'd have no idea they existed during the daytime. The best lighting for your large home will depend on your goals, architecture, landscaping, and more.
Does Landscape Lighting for Large Homes Require Maintenance?
High-quality landscape lighting is a great investment into your property that can last a long time. However, like any working feature, they can require some maintenance. A great landscape lighting company will be happy to replace bulbs, redo wiring that may be damaged, and perform any other necessary maintenance to keep your lighting looking great for many years to come. Our team can help you maintain any lighting system that is installed by our company.
Is Landscape Lighting Worth It?
Landscape lighting for large homes can be a meaningful investment, so you may be wondering whether it is really worth it for you. When you consider all of the benefits that landscape lighting can bring in increasing your enjoyment and the functionality of your home, improving the property value and curb appeal, and just making your home look its best, you are very likely to decide that landscape lighting is a good decision for you.
If you're asking what are the best landscape lighting services near me, look no further than American National Sprinkler & Lighting. Since the early 1980s, we have been installing beautiful, high-quality landscape lighting throughout Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.
We have installed gorgeous lighting for thousands of beautiful, large homes like yours, and we know exactly what it takes to install landscape lighting for large homes that accomplishes all of your goals.
Talk To A Professional Today
Our system continues to work great, and we always appreciate getting the phones calls to let us know when it is time to schedule the opening and the closing of our system. Andres and his partner do a terrific job putting our system to bed in the fall, and opening it up again in the spring, noting any work that might need to happen before we can begin to water again the next season.
Erica RegunbergOctober 16, 2019