Outdoor lighting for fall and winter

There’s something to be said about landscaping and lighting for wintertime. While most of us don’t think about our exterior “look” in the colder months, it’s important to incorporate lighting all year long not only for aesthetics, but to enhance the overall security of a home as well.

“A little bit of light goes a long way in the dark,” said Darren Naimer of Éclairage déca Lighting. “For me, I would never want to wash or blast an area – it’s all about creating drama with pockets of light and shadow, and defining features so you create depth of field and achieve that drama.” For example, silhouette a tree from behind, create a visual layer from the front of the space to the backspace, and don’t up-light or down-light the entire space. It can be overwhelming to a lightscape. “I prefer grazing — positioning the fixture relatively close to the surface so you can actual see the organic ripple of brick, bark or stone, and get a true sense of that surface. It warms up the space and creates a certain feeling.”

Position and the colour of lighting have a major impact on overall lighting schemes, especially when it comes to the outdoors. “Position and angles are very important, and something that you want to be mindful of,” Naimer said.

If you are lighting a pathway on the approach to your backyard, you don’t want to point the light from the eave of the home all the way down to the end of the pathway because it will be right in your eyes. “Be strategic with angling. And also, be mindful of colour, which is very important. A lot of LED fixtures are hitting the market and colour choice is very important, so inquire about the colour if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Homeowners who are looking to create a calming lightscape outside of their home also need to be weary of overlighting. Overlighting occurs when the light shines into indoor rooms, which can be very distracting. “When there’s overlighting, you can’t look up. You don’t see the stars because your eyes are overwhelmed and you end up washing out the night sky. Overlighting can be aggravating to the homeowner as well as the homeowner’s neighbours.”

A well lit home is also a safer home. When adequately lit, it can help protect the property, offering increased peace of mind to its inhabitants.

However, given our cold and overwhelming winters, lighting can be muted or completely masked by ice and snow, and certain fixtures can help to cut through the elements. “As a general rule, here in Montreal, because of all our snow, we typically tell landscapers to use LED up in the eaves of a home to down-light, but on the ground, it’s best to stick with halogens,” Naimer explained. “LED is not going to melt the snow, so you won’t enjoy all the benefits of the installation when they are covered in snow. Plus, halogens are easy to change.”

While our time outdoors is quite limited in the winter months, we can still have a beautifully lit home that is also safe. Both LED and halogen lights provide a balanced, well-thought out lightscape that can be enjoyed all year long.