“We were driving by your house last evening and thought of dropping in but…” If you’re hearing that a lot these days, it may be because your house is not inviting enough at night. Outdoor lighting will remedy that problem in a jiffy!

Outdoor lighting is available in a profusion of styles so it is quite easy to get fixtures to suit the architecture or the surroundings or your own personality. Let’s run through the gamut of fixtures and related issues.

The lamp used for outdoor lighting has to be protected from the elements. If the lamp is to be used in a sheltered location, then you can use almost any shade or fixture to hold it. However if it is located right out in the open, then you’ll need specifically designed weather-proof fixtures.

Lighting fixtures must be functional first and foremost. That applies to indoor as well as outdoor lighting. But just as with indoor light fixtures, you needn’t stop just at bland functionality. You can always get a functional lighting fixture that also has style and grace and adds to the decor of the ambiance, whether indoors or outdoors. If the purpose of your outdoor lighting project is to make your house more attractive, then you should, nay, must, pay attention to the matter of style and beauty. You just can’t say: “Look at the beautiful gazebo!” and use a tin pot lampshade to do the pointing, just won’t happen. So do use the profusion of styles that are available to you to choose something functional and amazingly beautiful.

When you pay for outdoor lighting fixtures you pay for durability that comes from quality. Replacing a fixture means buying a replacement. Thus, replacement of a light fixture means paying more than twice the price of the original fixture. So it is better to buy a fixture which, though costlier initially, lasts for a lifetime, rather than skimping on the initial cost and ending up paying more than twice the initial cost.

Most fixtures will be as good as “what you see is what you get”. So a visual inspection should suffice to give you a fair idea of the durability of a particular item. If you can, take an experienced friend along when you’re selecting fixtures for the outdoor lighting. Listen to the advice of the storekeeper. Read up reviews, especially online reviews, of the items that you have shortlisted to buy. Getting this sort of information is very important if you’re buying the items from a webstore. You have to be discerning and not allow yourself to be swayed by a few comments that buck the general trend.

Make sure you get firsthand experiences from friends and family who have put up lighting fixtures similar to the one you are interested in.

Make sure you estimate the lighting requirement accurately. Ordering six fixtures from an online store, only to find that they are inadequate is going to up the bill unnecessarily, besides delaying the project.

That’s all you need to bear in mind when designing the outdoor lighting system to light up your house. A few fancy lights in the trees will make your house look like a scene out of a storybook, a beautiful storybook. Now just watch the number of friends and colleagues who’ll invariably drop in ‘just driving by’ every weekend evening!

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