Next to decks, patios are one of the most popular outdoor areas for lighting. There are many reasons for this. Most homes have some kind of a patio and it tends to be the most functional area outside your home. It can be used for get-togethers, grilling, reading, and a multitude of other uses. Lighting it correctly will create an amazing ambience as well as providing security from any accident prone areas around your patio. Combined with the right garden lighting, outdoor patio lighting will help pull together a great lighting plan on your landscape.
When you’re thinking about installing your light, first think about what type of atmosphere that you want to set on your patio. The type of atmosphere you want to set will determine what light fixtures and even the colors of lights that you can install. If you’re installing other outdoor landscape lighting fixtures, try to match the theme you are using with those to the one on your patio to create a sense of continuity and cohesion.
When you’re choosing your lighting fixtures, there are many different routes that you can go. The first is to use embedded lighting. Embedded lighting keeps your light sources out of sight by embedding them in furniture, walls, floors, stairs, and even pots and other fixtures. This will create a soft, ambient light that lets you enjoy the night without any interruptions. This type of lighting works especially well in stairway lighting where you embed the lights in the side walls of the stairs. Doing this allows people to see the stairs they are walking on without drawing too much attention to the stairs, letting people’s attention to be directed at other, better aspects of your landscape.
Another great option for stairway and walkway lighting are outdoor pole lights. Because they are situated up high on a pole, they shine light in a 360 degree circle around them. This provides enough light for people walking around and depending on the choice of your light fixture can also play into the theme that you are setting with your patio lighting. Pendant lights, which are hung from a high branch or roof, also act in much the same way as pole lights by shining a large amount of light.
Lanterns are another incredibly good option for patio lighting. They come in many different size, shapes, styles, and colors, making them some of the best modern home lights and a great way to set many different moods and themes. Today there are even lanterns that when hung up over your patio that will project an image on it, providing some ambient or task lighting while at the same time creating an interesting effect.
Lanterns can also be used as surface mounted lights, but not all surface mounted lights are lanterns. Surface mounted lights are lights that can be mounted on any surface on your patio, from railings, to tables, or any other structure. They are also great for setting a theme and providing great ambient light.
Finally, for when you have a special occasion, you can put some festive lights on your patio. This can be anything from Christmas lights to celebrate the holidays to tiki torches for a late night summer party. The sky is the limit, and while these lights may only be used for a short amount of time each time, they can be reused over and over again.
Getting the right outdoor patio lighting is not hard. Just make sure to pick a theme, find the best lighting fixtures with some research online and you’ll be well on your way to making your patio resemble that of a classy hotel or resort.
Great tips on setting up the lighting in patios.
I agree that lights can do so much to beautify any setting. The lights can also help in creating a romantic patio.