The most important part of backyard lighting design is ensuring the outdoor lighting fits your needs. Still, you can implement the right design more effectively with a few essential tips. You don’t need an expert to create a design; this is a great place to let your creativity flow, allowing you to personalize your outdoor space and establish the best look for your style and needs.
Simple Backyard Lighting Tips
Using a few simple outdoor lighting ideas, you can improve your design and get the most from your efforts.
- Space walkway lights approximately 8 to 10 feet apart, and alternate the light fixtures on either side of the walkway so your path doesn’t look like a runway.
- In dark places, a little light can go a long way.
- Don’t try to light too many areas. You want some shadows to help define the areas that use outdoor lighting.
- Experiment with landscape lighting techniques like backlighting. Uplighting a hedge behind a tree will create a silhouette in the foreground.
- When using bullet lights or spotlights, adding a pale blue or pale green lens can take the yellow out of a halogen light, creating a look somewhat like moonlight.
- Sometimes, you want to conceal the light fixture so you can’t see exactly where the light is originating. You can hide it behind a shrub, branch, or rock or use a shroud on the light fixture. But be careful not to block any part of the light coming from the fixture.
- Create a distinct nighttime look for your yard so it looks different at night than during the day. Use a few different backyard lighting techniques to achieve your desired effect.
Outdoor Lighting Tips For New Construction
When you have the benefit of building a home on a new property, you can take some steps during construction to make adding backyard lights easier.
- Install a few extra power switches by the outside doors so it is easy to turn the outdoor lights on and off.
- Before installing driveways or sidewalks, place conduit so you or an electrician can run the wire later.
- Consider installing outlets at transformer locations so you can easily access an electrical current when you are ready to add outdoor lighting.
Remember, outdoor lighting often serves a variety of purposes, so it is usually necessary to use a few different lighting styles. By utilizing these backyard lighting tips, you can improve your backyard lighting design and enhance the enjoyment of your yard.