You put a lot of time and energy into projects in and around your home during the daytime - things that people can see when it's light outside. But what about when the sun goes down? Why keep your home in the dark (literally) when there's so much beautiful mood lighting you can set up to broadcast its beauty to passerby? We love the look of a home with outdoor accent lighting, whether it's a series of smaller lights that lead the way up a stone path to the front door, or medium sized flood style lights that illuminate incredible architecture. Whether you're looking to light up your garden, deck, or patio, outdoor lighting is one of the easiest ways to add beauty to your home - and to increase your home's security! Lights let people know you're home, and that you won't appreciate a late night burglary visit.

Investing in weather-resistant light fixtures and receptacles helps to ensure that you can highlight your favorite landscape features, and keep your home looking great even when the sun sets. Whether you're looking to provide additional security at a back porch door, or want to enjoy your outdoor patio space long after the sun goes down, outdoor lighting adds pizzazz to even the simplest of spaces.

Path lights are a great starting point when looking into lighting the exterior of your home. Whether you choose to install them along your walkway or your driveway, they ensure that you and your visitors have a safe walk up to your front door, even when it's dark outside. We love the eco-friendliness of solar lights, which utilize the sun's light to power up after dark. Plus, because they only go on after dark, you never have to remember to turn them off when you leave!

Even prettier than path lights are accent lights - the sorts of wall lights and ceiling lights that flank your stairwells and porches to add architectural interest to the space. An easy way to marry the various outdoor spaces in your home? Use a coordinating collection of lights - so that the space feels cohesive no matter where you are.

Last but certainly not least are the most "boring" lights: flood lights. While they're not particularly pretty, flood lights are great for lighting a dark stairway, garage or entryway. They're great for keeping intruders out, and can also help you family to feel safe when they return to the home late at night. Flood lights can also be easily customized by motion sensors and timers, ensuring that they're only on when you need them and that they don't waste energy.

As you begin to search for outdoor lighting, don't forget to start from the ground up: you'll want to ensure you have tamper-resistant receptacles for all of your outdoor lighting needs. Tamper-resistant receptacles also make it easy for you to comply with the 2008 NEC mandate for tamper-resistant receptacles in all new residential housing (a mandate that came about after numerous cases of children attempting to insert foreign objects into receptacles were reported). TR receptacles like the ones we carry have been proven to effectively prevent electrical injuries - and what parent doesn't want that? Now, go off and find some lighting inspiration…you've got work to do!

Products covered: Tamper-Resistant Receptacles