Outdoor Lighting Placement: 4 Reasons Why it is So Important

Jan 31, 2023 10:17:40 AM

While outdoor lighting placement might seem like a simple component of a landscape lighting design, it’s actually a factor that can make or break the success of your installation. You might be shocked to learn that moving a fixture just a few inches can give you a completely different lighting effect. 

While placement is critical, it’s not always given the attention that it deserves. If you’ve seen a lackluster landscape lighting design, it could be that placement wasn’t given enough thought. 

In this article, we’ll dive into the importance of outdoor lighting placement in order to deliver the best possible results. 

The Importance of Outdoor Lighting Placement

Here are some reasons why outdoor lighting placement is a bigger deal than you may have realized. 

#1: Poor Outdoor Lighting Placement can Decrease the Functionality of your Property

We’ve talked before about how the lighting in landscape design can serve functional purposes. There’s no question that great landscape lighting adds curb appeal. But it also makes your outdoor areas more functional by serving highly specific purposes.

For instance, driveway lighting is going to help you and your guests navigate your driveway more safely and easily. Pathway lighting is going to help you and your guests safely traverse your Memphis property’s paths.

But if careful attention to detail is not given when adding lights to these features, it could completely derail the functionality. If the lighting is not placed in a way that you can actually see where you are going, it will defeat the purpose. 

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#2: Poor Outdoor Lighting Placement can Decrease Safety

In addition to decreasing functionality, poor outdoor lighting placement could actually cause problems on your property, too.

If you’ve ever pulled into a driveway and had a light shining directly in your eye, then you know exactly what we’re talking about. That’s due to poor outdoor lighting placement. 

In a situation like this, the light is actually contributing to not only decreased functionality but to creating an actual hazard. You don’t want you or your guests to be blinded by lights when navigating your property. 

Similarly, with something as important as step lighting, in which the lights are helping you and your guests to see where steps are located (and safely navigate them), poor lighting placement could be a dangerous problem. 

Whether it’s that the lights are blinding or that they aren’t placed in a way that helps guide people where they’re going, this could be a serious hazard. Lights are meant to make stairs safer.

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#3: Poor Outdoor Lighting Placement can Harm Curb Appeal

As you might have guessed, poor placement can also have a negative impact on curb appeal. When using a technique like landscape architecture lighting, every single detail counts. 

You want every light on your property to be shining just the right way to light up the architectural features of your home in a way that will maximize curb appeal.

But as we said at the start of this article, mere inches can completely change the lighting effect. You definitely want to be working with an outdoor lighting professional who has an eye for design and will know exactly where lights are best placed to achieve the desired result. 

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#4: Poor Outdoor Lighting Placement can Impact Enjoyment

Finally, as you know, outdoor lighting has a direct impact on how much you enjoy your outdoor spaces. This is due to the ability of light to boost both aesthetic appeal and functionality. 

But if there isn’t thoughtful attention to detail with outdoor lighting placement, you may not find your outdoor space very enjoyable.

In fact, with improper placement, you could easily find that your space feels either overlit or under-lit. Oftentimes, people assume this has to do with the brightness (and it can), but it could also be a matter of placement. 

It’s important that your landscape designer is paying attention to lighting placement so that you are able to get full enjoyment out of your spaces.

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Working with a Lighting Designer Who Takes Outdoor Lighting Placement Seriously

At the end of the day, this really boils down to working with an outdoor lighting company that is going to pay close attention to even the seemingly “small” details. As we’ve said, every single light in a design counts. 

The last thing that you want is to work with a designer who is just putting lights around your Memphis property without a whole lot of attention to detail. You want to work with a designer who takes every aspect of the job seriously.

At Mid South Night Lights, we understand how important it is to you that your outdoor spaces are safe, functional, and enjoyable. 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.

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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.

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