I'm very new to outdoor lighting. I want to light up my house and the pathway in front, but not sure which type of lights to use or how many to use. Would you also light up any of the bushes or trees? There are no street lights so the area is pretty dark at night. Please help. Thanks!
Beautiful home and the sculpted shrubs give off a fun, Edward Scissorhands vibe. I've diagrammed one of your photos to show you one possible approach to illuminating the facade. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good sense of how close your shrubs are from the foundation so bear that in mind when considering my suggestions. I think if you illuminated the areas where yellow graphics are, you should wind up with a decently compelling lighting plan for the facade of you house. The areas indicated by the orange graphics are places that you might consider lighting if you wanted lighting distributed more uniformly across the width of the facade. But again, it's hard to tell from your photos if there's obstacles that might prevent you from staking fixtures in those locations. When I illuminate homes, I tend to highlight them in a way that shows their overall structure and size as opposed to illuminating every single brick or column. I think this approach can add a little mystery and drama to a lighting plan. I also like the idea of transforming a house so that it produces a significantly different impact at night than it does during the daytime. I mean, what's the fun of illuminating a house so that it looks the way it does during the daytime but just with a dark backdrop? But that's just my own personal preference and over time, you'll find your own style and what works best for you. For your landscape, I also think you should consider lighting select trees and shrubs rather than trying to illuminate every single plant on your property. So maybe you could illuminate a few different groups of the shrubs along your pathway. I'd light the japanese maple of course and I'd light that tall conifer to the left of your house. I'm really big into ornamental grasses these days. Because of the way they sway in the breeze, they add movement and complexity to your overall lighting plan. I'd absolutely illuminate those with either spotlights or floodlights. Getting back to your shrubs along the path, the great thing about having those mulched areas is that you can stick some well lights or path lights between them and you don't have to worry so much about lawn equipment hitting them. I highly recommend that you consider lighting some of those shrubs along the path in a way that you can enjoy them both as you're approaching the house and from inside your home as well. There is a dizzying array of lighting choices available to you for lighting your path. I highly recommend that you do some "window shopping" on the site first to familiarize yourself with the different fixture models and how they're used to best effect. Also look at the gallery photos and look at some online photos to get a sense of the overall look and feel you have in mind for your home. With low ambient lighting, you can make a big impact with lamps in the 1.5 to 3 watt range for most of your fixtures. A tree like the large conifer I mentioned earlier might require you to step up to 5W or more (if you want to reach the very top of trees. Now that I've sufficiently overwhelmed you , hope this helps to get you started.
