Landscape lighting is an extraordinarily powerful addition to your outdoor living area. It has the power to emphasize your favorite features and help you create the perfect ambiance for special occasions. You can design a completely different look for your backyard or patio at night using lighting landscape ideas to create stunning effects. The trend is for washes of light that complement, add drama, and illuminate, elevating even a basic planter, water feature, or some basic steps into something all the more special. When done properly, outdoor lighting can become a piece of art in itself. But this does not mean having as many lights outside as possible. Rather, think about what exactly you want to emphasize and how best to do it in a way that looks elegant and adds to the ambiance of your outdoor area. Subtle, warm lighting that is positioned well can be used to focus on several essential elements and highlight different textures and contours, while a more dramatic style of lighting allows you to take things up a notch if you want a little more impact than a low-key glow. In this blog, we, at JH & Co., one of the best landscape design companies in the UK, have brought to you several ideas to add landscape lighting to your outdoor spaces.
Landscape Lighting Ideas
Lighting is a progressive way to extend the use of your outdoor spaces as well as create an extravagant and welcoming look. One flick of a switch can bring your whole area to life. Electric lights are the most convenient way to illuminate your landscape but you can also go for candles that offer a lovely subtle light with a gentle movement.
1. Revamp Your Gazebo With a Warm Glow
A gazebo becomes a real focal point in the evening if the lighting is used to highlight its best features. A combination of internal and external lights works quite well when it comes to integrating lighting landscape ideas. A gazebo provides shelter so that you can enjoy the garden throughout the seasons, especially if it has a fireplace within it for added warmth. Surrounding the gazebo, spike lights can also be used to enhance multi-stem trees which have pendants hanging from the branches to add a hint of magic at night.
2. Light Up Oversized Planters
Lighting oversized planter ideas means that they become so much more than just somewhere to put your plants. Rather, they are remodeled into eye-catching state-of-the-art pieces with each detail thrown into perspective. Your oversized pots can be backlit for a dramatic effect.
3. Stake Lights
Another excellent landscape lighting idea is stake lights, popularly known as path lights. Stake lights are installed in the ground to provide lighting at ground level. A lot of them are solar lights, requiring only sunlight to work, so you do not have to plug them into an outdoor electric socket or use batteries. They make for the perfect garden lights and can be moved or removed to your liking.
4. Outdoor Wall Lamps
One of the most popular options is to install lamps on the exterior of your home. These require a little bit of work to install than other light fixtures but are totally worth the effort. They make for perfect accent lighting and downlighting and are an ideal start for a yard-wide lighting system.
5. Natural Lighting
If you are looking for something a little less electric for your lighting requirements, you always have natural landscape lighting options. Seeing the shadows dance from a natural light source is simply gorgeous, and you do not need to rely on solar power, electricity, or batteries. There are three types of natural lighting ideas- candles, outdoor fire pits, and gas lanterns. If you use an outdoor fire pit, you automatically create a gathering spot for when you have a group of friends over to relax in your yard, as well as a source of warmth on cold winter nights.
6. Step Lights
If you have steps in your backyard, whether they are on your patio or part of a path, they can definitely do with some lights. Illuminating your steps accents them and can definitely help make even the most colorless aspects of your backyard all the more attractive. Add lights on every step to avoid the lighting being too bright and making the steps harder to see at night.
7. Pool Lights
If you have an extravagant swimming pool, then adding some light fixtures to it can certainly enhance it wonderfully. Swimming in a lit-up pool at night with an open sky overhead is definitely a magical experience.
8. Hardscape Lights
These lights are basically the ones that are installed in the hardscape areas of your backyard like paths, walls, and stones. Decks, patios, and driveways are also considered hardscapes. Adding light to them can certainly help emphasize some of the most frequently-traveled spaces in your backyard. They can either be temporary or permanent fixtures.
9. Light Bars
Light bars are what they sound like- bars of lights. They can either be attached to walls or sit on the ground. These bars can easily wash surfaces or walls with light and add a contemporary touch to your backyard. Ground-level light bars are excellent for accenting walls as well as other flat surfaces from below. The best part is that they can be installed almost anywhere and at any angle with ease.
10. Recessed Lighting
Recessed lighting sources are low-key lights set in ceilings or walls. They are permanent fixtures that are wired into your home. You can install these in places like your deck ceiling or porch if you want to light up your outdoor areas without having to look directly at light fixtures. They are a sure-shot way to light up your outdoor gathering spaces.
Summing Up!
When you are choosing lighting landscape ideas for a relaxing ambiance, make sure you coordinate them with the colors and textures they are illuminating for a harmonious look. When these lights are switched on at night, consider how they will work and where shadows will be cast. The perfect way to achieve your dream backyard is by hiring the best landscape services. At JH & Co., our team works alongside you to ensure you get exactly what you were looking for. So, if you are looking for landscape design services in the UK, be sure to get in touch with us for more details.