Guest post – Decorative garden lighting ideas
Decorative garden lighting ideas
Show off your garden at parties, barbecues and other outdoor events by enhancing the decor of your garden at night-time with these simple decorative lighting tips.They’re suitable for all styles of garden and all budgets – there is something here for everyone.
Pathways
First impressions are important, and you can put your guests in the right frame of mind from the outset by decorating the paths and walkways leading to your home and garden with some attractive lighting. Ensconce several nice, flickering candles in lanterns and place them strategically along your walkways. You can use either battery powered candles or traditional wax ones – if you are on a budget – you will get equally good results either way. As for the lanterns, look for models that can be staked straight into the ground. Tiki style oil lanterns are another fine option here (they also keep the mosquitoes away). Upon walking in your front gate, your friends will feel like they are entering into an enchanted wonderland!
Twinkle, twinkle little star
Bring charm to your backyard also by hanging candles from the trees and bushes in your backyard. Put the candles in glass jars that have wire handles and hang the latter up in your preferred locations. You can use either wax candles or the battery powered ones. Perfect for romantic dinners and intimate gatherings with just a few people. Special decorative lanterns are another option here – mix and match with different colours and styles in order to create an interesting, unique atmosphere in your yard.
Go green
Solar power is a great option if you want some decorative lighting during the summer months that will last all night long. By day, your solar lights will automatically charge by virtue of their exposure to direct sunlight; come night time they will be ready to go illuminating and accenting your yard. Solar lighting is available in many forms, for example lanterns, dimmer lights, motion sensor lights, and decorative string lights – the possibilities are endless. And the best solar landscape lights are extremely cheap to use – no electricity bills, no wires, no maintenance or replacements needed, they’re super energy efficient as well. They’re a great decorative lighting option for your yard, whether you are on a budget or not.
Highlight your garden’s best features
Identify the showpiece elements of your garden, it may be certain plantings or trees, and accent and accentuate them with some good spotlights (upward facing). This lighting strategy will work wonders in any style of garden – you always want to highlight the best features of a decorative scheme! A good tip: incorporate a timer into your spotlights so that they turn on automatically at dusk, then off at dawn, and you don’t have to keep switching them on and off every day.
Dimming lights
Whatever lights you choose to decorate your garden, get some good dimmers to go with them. That way you can adjust the level of lighting in your garden at will to suit the occasion – turn up the lights to their maximum output if you want to create a vibrant and lively atmosphere to parties; for more intimate gatherings or romantic dinners, you can dim them down to a lower setting. This is another decorative lighting strategy that will work well with all garden styles and for all budgets – most modern dimmers are very affordable! And you save money by not consuming as much power. Motion sensor lights with a dimmer function are another fine option here.
Wheel out the party lights
Get some good string or rope lights and hang, drape, coil and wrap them around your patio, veranda, fences, or even the trees and shrubs in your yard. These light strings are very flexible, you can create any kind of pattern or lighting effect you want with them. They also come usually with multiple color options and lighting modes (for example static colors, changing colors, pulse, strobe, fading colors etc).
There you have it then! These are just a few of the simple things you can do liven up and enhance the decor of your garden. They are suitable for all budgets and style of garden as well – the advice presented in this article is universal in its application. So get to work! Your guests will thank you for having created such an inviting and enchanting atmosphere at your outdoor parties and get-together.
