Fall is a fantastic time of year to install outdoor lighting. With cooler weather it’s a great time to get outdoors more, and there’s plenty to enjoy in the changing of the seasons. Evening hours are longer, which means lighting can go a long way to extending your enjoyment of your outdoor space. And it will highlight all those beautiful fall colors in a whole new way.
As an added bonus, you’ll be ready for the dark, cold hours of winter, with lighting that will add a welcoming and lovely glow to the natural beauty that surrounds you.
Today we’re sharing some ways that landscape lighting can be used through fall to take advantage of the special beauty the season has to offer.
Light Walkways And Steps
This might be self-evident, but with more dark hours it’s even more important to be safe as you navigate your outdoor space. You’re more likely to arrive home from work in the dark, and children might even arrive home from school after dark. Adding lighting is as much of a safety feature as it is a great way to welcome your family home.
But just because it’s functional doesn’t mean it has to be boring or rote. There are myriad unique and beautiful ways to light up walking spaces, from lights dotted along the edges, to lighting embedded right into paving stones or set beneath stair risers. You can choose fixtures that are low to the ground, or lighting on posts that can be placed as easily along walkways as in gardens to bring them to life after dark.
While you’re at it, include bold entryway lighting to welcome family and guests right into the heart of your home. Warm up the evening hours with bright sconces, stately post lamps, rustic lanterns, or a great big chandelier above your doorway. Choose fixtures that are features in themselves that will both light your way and make a statement as you embrace the season.
Highlight Trees
With all those bold, rich colors, why not appreciate them as much during the evening as you do during the day? Moonlighting hung up among the treetops will not only cast a warm glow below but will showcase those crimson reds and golden yellows.
Spotlights are another great option to highlight autumn trees. Placed at the base of trees, they will emphasize these stately giants and add seasonal ambiance to your space.
Even as trees lose their leaves, bare branches can create just as much of an atmosphere as lush ones. Highlight branches of unique trees and shrubs, like the singularly interesting Witch Hazel. Or if you feel like the bare-branch look is more suited to Halloween, simply lower the angle of spotlights so they highlight the lovely intricacy of bark on the trunk instead.
Create A Focal Point
A focal point is a welcome addition any time of the year, but during fall you can choose one that is unique to the season. Create a fall display full of radiant color, pumpkins and gourds, or fall flowers, and add spotlights to highlight it. Add spotlights at the base of an interesting shrub to highlight its shapes and textures as light plays with shadow.
Consider how you can take advantage of a unique architectural feature, a piece of artwork, or even a water feature that may otherwise be hidden in a lush summer garden. Perhaps you have tall grasses along a border that would make for an interesting focal point with some spotlights placed within them. Or a garden bubbler that can add movement and a multidimensional sensory experience to your evening.
As leaves fall and blooms fade, look at your space with a new eye to find hidden gems. You might be surprised by what you hadn’t noticed in a perviously verdant landscape.
Brighten Seating Areas
It’s too early to hibernate! Cooler fall evenings are an excellent time to get outdoors and cuddle up around the warmth of a fire pit, or to admire the sparkle of the stars between bare tree branches. To appreciate all the season has to offer, you need a cozy seating area from which to enjoy it. That may be a couple of rocking chairs on a porch, a few Adirondacks in the back yard, or a sofa and some chaises on the patio.
Wherever you lay your hat, lighting will make it a cozy, welcoming space to be. Remember those spotlights around trees? Scatter them around a patio to create your own glowing circle of warmth. Or shine them up into a ceiling structure to create a glow that will wash down on your seating area.
String lights can create an especially welcoming and cozy atmosphere when used above patios, wound into pergolas, or adorning gazebos, fencing and railings. Save the red-and-green lights for your Christmas décor and stick to warmer neutral hues. From tiny bulbs to bold globes, they’ll create such an inviting atmosphere that you won’t be able to resist stepping outdoors into the fresh evening air.
These are just a few ways that you can enhance your seasonal enjoyment through lighting. If you’d like to explore options and talk about how your space can become a seasonal center of joy, contact us for a consultation. We’ll discuss your desires, create a plan, and even install a free demo lighting kit so you can get a sense of what lighting can do for your space.
Seize the season and enjoy all that Mother Nature has to offer!
