Evening, I have built decks, done gardens, and resided houses before but really dont have a good clue on what lighting would look best for my backyard landscping. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! We live in Northern Virginia.
Hi, Bruce. In my experience, people often have a lot more creativity and design sense than they realize. I diagrammed your photo to indicate areas of your yard to consider lighting. Pretty decent plan, IMHO. But you live there. You could tweak my plan based on what your favorite plants and other features are. While you're doing that, also consider how different trees and shrubs look throughout the year. Are there flowering trees or shrubs you want to highlight in the spring? Or maybe you have very colorful fall foliage that you want to highlight. I love the way my backyard looks right after a snowstorm and I love how the bark on our crape myrtles looks illuminated in the dead of winter. We also have ornamental grasses that we enjoy seeing swaying. Think about what you want to see from your dining room, bedroom, or kitchen windows. There are any number of ways you can illuminate that handsome fence. Really just a matter of thinking about how you use the space and what you want to see when entertaining or just looking out your back windows at night. HTH to get you started.