Jun 28, 2023 12:26:47 PM
Walkways are a highly functional addition to your Memphis home. They help get you safely around your property. However, in order to keep them as effective as possible, it’s important that they are well-lit at night.
You want your outdoor pathway lighting to be both a functional and aesthetic addition to your property. Lighting a walkway sounds like a relatively easy aspect of a lighting design but too often simple mistakes can really take away from the overall look.
In this article, we’ll talk about pathway lighting that will get you the best results that contribute to the value of your home.
When people think about outdoor pathway lighting they almost always first think about individual path lights lined up along a walkway.
While that is one way to do it, it’s not our preferred choice.
In fact, more often than not, homeowners (and even some lighting designers) overdo it on these path lights and end up making their walkways resemble an airport runway! Proper pathway light spacing is a critical component to ensuring the final look is not overdone.
While individual path lights are certainly one option for lighting a walkway, our preferred method is actually downlighting, where we mount the lights in trees above the walkway and cast the light downward.
This is a more subtle way to light a walkway without making it feel like it’s an airport runway. Your family and guests will be able to see where they’re going but it’s a much more attractive approach.
This effect is also sometimes called “moonlighting” as it mimics the look of the moon casting light downward.
Another way to light a walkway is with core-drilled marker lights which are installed right into the pathway itself. This won’t illuminate the pathway as much as downlighting but will provide a path that guides you and your guests on where to go next.
Imagine seeing lights built right into your walkway helping to show you where to go with each step. This can sometimes be a subtle and attractive addition that works in conjunction with another type of lighting.
Of course, sometimes there’s just no getting around path lights (and sometimes, we understand, that is what homeowners prefer).
It’s just important not to overdo it on these lights as they can really clutter your space. Path lights are also easy to bump or damage with lawn and landscaping equipment (or even the kids’ sports balls).
No matter what type of light you ultimately go with, you want to make sure that the space is lit properly so that it is safe to navigate. This is particularly true if you have steps as part of your walkway. At nighttime, steps can easily become a trip and fall hazard.
If your outdoor space has a pathway with or without steps, it’s important that you are thinking about ways that you can make it safe to navigate, even after the sun has gone down.
Falls on walkways and steps can be incredibly dangerous in the nighttime hours when people can’t see where they are going.
Fortunately, when you invest in good LED pathway lighting, this doesn’t have to be a worry. As long as it’s a good lighting design, your property should be much safer to navigate at night. This should help give you some important peace of mind.
At Mid South Outdoor Lighting & Audio, we understand how important it is that your outdoor spaces are safe, functional, and enjoyable. That’s why we create lighting designs that will help you to get the most possible use out of your outdoor living areas while keeping them safe to navigate.
Are you ready to create a secure, functional, and beautiful property at any hour of the day? If so, let’s meet and discuss some bright ideas.
