Your backyard can easily become added living space where you retreat for much-needed solitude, entertain guests, or enjoy family time. The key to making the space your own oasis is creating ambiance.
One of the tricks to creating a glowing and welcoming backyard is landscape lighting. Light can enhance walkways, garden beds, and landscaping to create a soft and welcoming glow. There is no reason to need to vacate the backyard when the sun goes down. Instead, you can continue enjoying the space well after dusk.
Inspiring Backyard Lighting Ideas
No one likes a floodlight that can blind you and create unwelcome shadows on the light’s outskirts. Ideally, you want to create a warm glow that is reminiscent of moonlight at night or otherwise known as the “moonlight effect”. You want to create a natural look that features light that is not too intense but bright enough to make beautiful shadows and intense highlights on your home’s exterior as well.
One of the most popular outdoor lighting choices is LED exterior lighting. LED lights create dazzling light that can highlight your home and garden’s features in a pleasing way.
If you are trying to extend your living spaces outdoors and achieve a signature exterior look for your backyard especially when it comes to light then check out our outdoor LED lighting ideas to create that backyard experience you seek instantly!
Highlight Plants
Does your backyard have landscape features such as hanging plants, planters, garden beds, and trees that you want to highlight during the night? LED lighting works by creating contrast, color, and warmth. It is a comfortable lighting option that makes any tree look lovely when illuminated from above, at a side angle, or below. The lighting is not so intense that the tree looks spooky or scary. Instead, it is a soft and inviting glow.
Uplighting
You can purchase LED lights in a variety of styles and sizes. Use an uplighting technique to display your outdoor space and bathe everything in a warm exterior glow. You can use the lighting to create an upsweep stream of light to also accentuate your home’s architectural features or draw attention to a water feature in the yard.
Utilizing Focused Lighting
Focused lighting is also known as recessed ground lighting. This type of lighting is designed to be placed directly in the ground as part of your exterior lighting scheme.
Look around your backyard and find a focal point. Now use LED exterior lighting to truly highlight the area and brighten the landscape – accent shrubs, trees, plants or any decorative features around the outside of your home. This technique creates a design pattern with the lighting. It draws the eyes to a location in your backyard that you want to show off in an inviting fashion. Perhaps you can even use the lighting focused on a pergola, gazebo, or some other outdoor structure and make that your focal point.
Outdoor Fireplaces
Although not LED lighting, the soft glow of an outdoor fireplace is hard to beat, especially on a cold evening. You can gather outdoors with friends and family or snuggle up next to the fire with a delightful book after the sunsets. Kids adore outdoor fireplaces because they are a suitable place to roast marshmallows or make smores.
Beauty and Function
Exterior lighting is not just about creating a glow or environment but also about function. Walking around a cobblestone pathway or across an uneven deck after the sun sets is dangerous. Lighting creates beauty but it also lights the area for safety. Use the lights to showcase walkways, paths, patios, steps, and decking. The lighting can remain functional while looking fantastic.
Path Lighting
If you have a two-story home, look down on your backyard with its pathways illuminated. It will look magical from your balcony or window. Install lights along the ground on both sides of the walkway. You can use the lights to also emphasize flower beds. Use all white lights or opt for colored lighting.
You can pick low voltage 12 to 15-volt lights or solar LED bulbs. Solar lights are also an excellent choice to outline your pathway.
String Lighting
String lighting is not just for the holidays. You can use it to evoke a warm and intimate feeling in your backyard which is ideal for entertaining. Hang string lights along the eaves of your home, near your outdoor kitchen, around a post or pillow, across an outdoor pavilion, or in the trees.
When shopping for string lighting, look for rechargeable, waterproof lighting that is battery powered. You can also choose battery-powered lights. Electric powered string lights are often a hassle because they depend on extension cords that you’ll have to crisscross your yard and then find electrical outlets. If you do opt for electrical varieties, make sure you pick waterproof brands that can stay on safely if it should rain or snow.
Edison bulb styles are exceedingly popular right now because of their unique appearance and the soft glow that they create. LED Edison styles last longer and are an ideal choice.
Charming Lanterns
Lanterns bring back the charm of a bygone era. They make excellent accent lighting for small areas or along an outdoor wall. You can install them near your backdoor or within a pergola. Some lanterns are semi flush mount and others affix with an arm plate to the wall. You can pick electrical, battery-powered, or solar lanterns. Ideally, you should choose translucent lanterns as opposed to choosing the transparent glass varieties that often make a brighter, harsher light.
Creating a warm and glowing backyard is a fantastic way to genuinely enjoy everything your home has to offer year-round.
