Take your time and add fixtures and decorations to your new garden one at a time.

So you just bought a new home and it’s got a sizable lawn and your gearing up to add some garden lights to it. If that’s the case, then more likely than not, you are also trying to figure out what type of lights will make the most sense. Most retailers aren’t going to let you take them home for a test run. Given that, how do you decide what type of exterior lighting fixture is best for your home and garden?

It’s a good question – and there are a few different ways that you can go about answering it. But the first step is really to ascertain just what you want to accomplish with a new garden lighting system in the first place. Is it about aesthetics? Are you trying to create a subtle or magical ambiance in the front yard?

Or are you interested more in safety and practicality? In other words, do you want the lights to illuminate the driveway and the front of the house so that you can walk back and forth without tripping?

You might even want to combine the artistic effects with functionality.

After you’ve figured that out, then you can begin to consider the specific details – the best way to put your plan into action. One way to do this is to actually play in the garden with flashlights. That’s not going to give you exactly the same effect, but it will give you an approximate idea of what some garden lights will do.

There are a lot of newspaper articles and magazines – not to mention websites – that offer image rich articles about garden lighting. Why not check a few of them out? You might get some ideas about what you’d like to see in your own space. And, just as importantly, you might learn what you don’t want as well.

And don’t overestimate doing some actual research in the field, so to speak. That is, why not take a twilight walk or drive around the neighborhood and see what your neighbors are doing with their own gardens and garden lighting systems? When you see something that strikes your fancy, chat up the homeowner.

Garden lighting is a process – it’s easy to forget this. If you can enjoy the business of finding the right light, then you are going to have a lot more fun in the long run then if you get obsessed with nothing other than the final result.  Take your time and add fixtures and decorations to your new garden one at a time. And don’t forget to have fun!