Stone Water Feature below Illuminated Façade

Design notes

Colonial design is symmetry and restraint. Look for a central axis from the back door, matched beds and hedges either side, bluestone or brick terraces with tight joints, and white or black picket and post-and-rail fences. Planting is disciplined — boxwood, hydrangea, holly, dogwood and shade trees — and furniture is classic: teak benches, Windsor chairs, a market umbrella. Georgian brick, clapboard and shingle houses all suit it.

What to look for

• Layers: one overhead, one at eye level, one low along the ground
• Whether you can see the fixture or only the light
• Colour temperature — everything warm, nothing blue