

How to Choose the Perfect Post Lighting for Your Front Yard
Choosing the right light posts for your yard, driveway, and pool area can have a big impact on your home – both its appearance and its safety. Are you unsure of which style best complements your home’s exterior? Do you want guidance on maintaining outdoor lights and making sure that they stand up to the elements? You’ve come to the right place. Read on to learn tips for selecting the right design and ensuring that your light posts last for years to come.




Benefits of adding light posts to your front yard
First and foremost: think in terms of curb appeal. When you look at the front of your home from the street, you want the brightness of the exterior to enhance its beauty and architectural features. Consider what message you want to send with your outdoor lighting: are you creating a welcoming and warm invitation, a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere, or something dramatic?
Lighting for safety and security
The right lighting can go a long way to help prevent unwelcome visitors, by providing additional security. Walk out to the street at night and look at your home. Are there dark or shadowed areas? In particular, keep in mind entryways and choose lighting that will clearly spotlight anyone trying to get into your home. Think about the optimal brightness for these areas: you want to cast light into corners without overpowering the ambiance. Outdoor floodlights that include motion sensors are a great option, turning on when someone is walking past, then off to conserve energy and maintain the overall aesthetic that your house’s exterior creates.


Shape and color of front yard light posts
When you think of lamp posts, a lantern globe is likely the first thing that comes to mind. Lanterns are highly popular because they fit with almost any home’s design aesthetic, and come in shapes and designs that complement a wide range of styles.
Shape of lantern light posts
Generally speaking, different shapes have different visual tones. Rectangular or square shapes can convey an understated or rigid tone, while round shapes without edges are softer. Your light posts and lanterns can work to complement the architectural style of your home or even contrast with it, drawing attention to the lanterns themselves as accent art pieces.
Using finish and color
Outdoor lighting comes in a range of finishes and colors, to integrate beautifully into the overall impression that your home gives. Black is the most common color, since it plays nicely with almost any home exterior and landscaping. But there are other options, too. You might opt for antique bronze for a classic look, weathered pewter, or even a copper hue that highlights the colors of a stone wall.
Popular styles of front yard light posts
Accentuate and elevate the design of your home with elegant front yard light posts that come in a range of styles. If your house is traditional in architecture and design, you might want to choose a more timeless and traditional light post to match. In fact, traditional light posts are a good fit for almost any architectural style. But if your house is a modern design, consider a modern light post such as an oblong industrial, rectangular or square contemporary fixture that will accord with its exterior.
If you want to add a bit of drama and Victorian flair to your home’s exterior, then go for it! This can call up hints of the gaslights that used to line the streets of old world England, or the ornate decor of Parisian outdoor walkways. You can even go farther, with Gothic light posts that cast a bright but moody atmosphere over the exterior of your home.
From Colonial to rustic, Craftsman to nautical, at Visual Comfort we have a wide variety of options to suit any architectural style.


Front yard light post placement
This is one of the most multifunctional rooms in a house. It’s where we get ready for a good night of rest, but it’s also where we get ready for a productive day. It’s where we sleep, but also where we read and connect with partners.
To accommodate all those functions, consider dimmable overhead fixtures such as flush mounts or pendant lights, to provide adjustable illumination for different activities. Soft and diffused lighting can create an atmosphere conducive to sleep, while bedside table lamps can facilitate reading before nodding off.
Driveways
Typically, homeowners want lights to clearly illuminate their driveways in order to prevent trips and falls, as well as to set the drive off from other features of the home’s exterior. One or two post lamps are often enough to provide sufficient light without overwhelming the rest of the ambiance. It may even be that lighting only one side of the driveway casts enough brightness, while creating a stunning look.
Paths and walkways
In addition to providing an important function by helping visitors to your home see their way clearly, installing path and walkway lights can help make the entrance more inviting. Most homes install evenly spaced pathway lights on both sides of the path, but as with driveways you can choose to light one side, or even embed lights among bushes, plants, or any other feature that you would like to highlight.
If you want to direct light toward a path without adding to light pollution, or highlight the contrast between your landscaping and the sky, consider downlighting. This directs brightness toward the ground to help prevent your feet from slipping, while also adding a dramatic effect to your pathways.
Stairs
Do you have stairs on the path or porch to your home? Think about adding step lights to illuminate the way. These can be fixed onto the walls beside stairs or recessed into the ground to keep visitors from losing their footing.
Patios and pools
Brighten up your patio and pool areas with light poles and beautifully designed fixtures that highlight the tranquility of the spaces. A bulb with a warm hue is generally best for these areas, helping to create the right atmosphere for an evening dinner or a night swim.
Landscape lights
When selecting lights to sprinkle throughout your landscaping, consider the view from both your driveway and your front porch. Are there particular trees or beds of flowers that you want to draw attention to? Landscape lighting can be a great way to illuminate your yard stylishly and create a great effect.
Pairing lamp posts with other outdoor lighting
Sometimes, post lights do not provide sufficient lighting and so they are often paired not only with pathway lights, but also with exterior wall sconces. Choose fixtures that have similar styles, whether traditional or modern, and finishes, whether antique brass to black to pewter, so they work together to create the look you want.
Energy efficiency and sustainability
To help preserve the environment and reduce the cost of your energy bills, consider using LED bulbs in your outdoor fixtures. LED bulbs use up to 90% less electricity and last up to 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs, so they don’t need to be replaced and end up in the trash, and then the landfill. Another popular choice is solar light posts, which draw energy from the sun during the day and store it in an internal battery to light your pathways at night. And in today’s world there are even smart fixtures that can integrate with an app on your phone, giving you greater control over your outdoor lighting than ever before.
There is no one way to light the exterior of your home, but front yard post lights are both practical and attractive, helping highlight a driveway or path, call attention to landscaping, or set the mood by a pool or patio. At Visual Comfort’s outdoor post lighting page, we’re ready to help you get started!
FAQs
What’s the best way to clean my outdoor lighting?
Use a soft cloth to remove loose dirt, then gently cleanse with soapy suds to wipe down the fixture and post, avoiding any electrical connections. Dry with a towel before applying metal polish. But be sure to avoid harsh abrasives or chemicals, as they can damage the finish.
What’s the best way to clean my outdoor lighting?
At Visual Comfort, our outdoor lights are made of durable materials that are designed to last for years. Be sure to check your outdoor lights at least once a year for damage, such as a loose fixture. If there is any damage, you might be able to repair it yourself but if it is more extensive, contact a professional.
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