Lights, camera, and action! From Hollywood blockbusters to your humble haven, lights, and lightning, in general, play a crucial role when it comes to any form of design.
Lightning can set the mood for the room or an area or even affect our mood.
With a bit of tinkering, googling, and taking a glance at our suggestions, you will be surprised at the results and the potential your backyard green haven has.
Lightning should be considered as the cherry on top, something that you add as the finishing touch that rounds up the whole image.
Without further ado, let’s go from lights to the action!
Contents
1. Combine the Natural and Artificial
Light pollution is a real threat that diminishes the wonders of space that are just above our heads.
Oversaturatating the environment with artificial lights causes those natural ones to lose their charm.
If you have ever been camping or somewhere away from the city, you will realize what damage light pollution causes in the form of diming the indescribable wonders of space.
If you have an open garden, you might consider combining subtler lights with what Mother Nature provided for free.
Such a design is perfect for a backyard garden that wishes to provide peace, clarity and a meditative spot for connecting with the universe.
2. Illuminate the Trees
When you have planted trees in your backyard garden, you want to show off and include them in your design.
Trees take an extremely long time to grow and you probably cultivated them to your taste.
You maybe even did a bit of tree scaping if you have an artistic side. With all that investment it would be a shame if they remained in the dark.
Uplifting lights that are recessed into the ground will make those canopies shine bright and proud.
With countless branches and leaves, the visage will be astounding and everchanging.
Or you can set lights on moveable poles or glue them to the trunks and branches of your trees, and then you can light up only those parts.
Highlighting what you like about your trees comes easy with smaller and adjustable lights as they can adapt to your needs.
3. Put Your Focal Point in Focus
While this subject may be broad, it’s because all backyards are unique. A focal point for you in your garden may not be the same for others.
Pinpointing what means a lot to you and in what form is present becomes the first step, and how you want to showcase and emphasise it is the other.
For example, if you have a fountain, you can make it shine bright as daylight during the night and make all heads turn when you turn the lights on.
You can even infuse a dash of magic if you have a walkway toward your centrepiece.
Then you can use some discrete lighting at the side of the walkways that lead up to the centrepiece and the main attraction.
Setting up an intro towards the main even is as Hollywood as it gets.
4. Zoning Lights
All gardens are beautiful, but some parts are more beautiful than others. That’s where zone lightning comes into play.
For when you want to pick and choose your favourite places in the garden, it comes no better than this decorative option.
One way you can do this is by utilizing quality and eco-friendly solar fairy lights, which you can place just about anywhere and with no wiring involved.
Not only will you be saving a bit on your electrical bill, but you will also be helping the environment as well in the process.
And you will be able to pick and choose your favourite spots in your backyard green haven which you want to showcase.
For when you wish to be a bit discreet, there is nothing better than focusing on one point and letting the other one chill in the shade.
5. From Dusk Till Dawn
Time is of the essence, and you can utilize this essence when you opt for a timed lighting design.
Why wait till bleak nightfall to start your lights when you can program them to start discreetly at dusk and then amplify (or remain the same) when nightfall comes.
When all of the lights turn up at nightfall, it can create a stark contrast between scenes.
But when you opt for a subtle beginning at dusk, a sort of introduction, you start an intermediate, transition phase that eases the process.
This is more practical know-how than general garden design to keep in mind when you shop around for lights.
Always check if they come with the lighting timer and, you will be able to program them to your fancy.
6. Indoor Feel at the Outdoors
The fun does not need to stop once night falls. When the curtain of shade envelops your backyard, you can crank up the lights and move the party outside.
We’ve talked about subtle and dimmed lights, so far that do wonders to set the mood, but you should not underestimate the power of strong lightning.
When you use several high-powered lights, you can replicate the indoor feel outside with no downside.
Let’s say that you have a pergola or an outside dining area.
With some stronger lights, you can have abundant lighting that will illuminate them and make you and your guests feel right at home.
7. Light and Chill
On the other side of the spectrum, there is also an option to use light for relaxation.
When you have an outside pool or any swimming area, you can turn it into a luxury spa with a few dimmed, adjustable and subtle lights.
Swimming does wonders for health, and being near water in your garden is also a medicinal advantage you can take.
Once the sun goes down and the whole world goes quiet, you can mimic and adapt to the situation by dimming the lights, relaxing in the pool/swimming area, and letting go.
Subtle lights will be there to accompany you and enhance the moment, without breaking the mood.
8. Mix and Match
So far, we have presented both sides, the lavish and the subtle. Nowhere is it carved in stone that you have to stick to only one style.
You can produce astounding, new and fresh moments if you choose to combine the best of both worlds.
Just like interior design caters to each room, so too does exterior backyard garden design.
Some areas of your garden could use a subtle freshening up while others would thrive by being put in the spotlight.
The different feel of your garden can be put into the spotlight in each sector with appropriate lightning, and with them, you can create a journey from one place to another.
9. Stairway to Heaven
When people talk about backyard lights, they usually talk about white or shades of white which is a crying shame because they are ignoring the entire colour spectrum.
Stepping away from the established norms and browsing thru the roads less traveled will reveal that your lights can be of any colour you want, not just white. Any stairs you have can be illuminated in adequate matching lights.
Aside from setting the mood and emphasising some elements, you can also bathe them in the desired colour and add a whole new dimension to them.
When you think outside the box, your world and backyard become that interesting to be in.
10. From the Windows to the Walls
Garden walls and windows that are adjacent are all unused space. Why let it all go to waste when you can include them in your design?
String lights can stretch from one side of your wall to the other, and all you have to do is support it a bit here and there.
Once you start viewing your walls as giant canvases, the options only multiply from there.
A plain white wall can be used as a foundation for some shadow art, where your lights can project any image, you would like.
Or if that’s too much, then string lighting is completely fine. Window frames are also great for when you wish to add a bit of flare or mystique to them.
While the lights are turned off inside, they can subtly shine and be included in the garden design. More so if you have plants on them.
11. Light Is Not Bound to One Place
Breaking the norm once again, you can use portable lights when you can’t make up your mind or when you want your garden to have a new glow.
Or maybe you want to experiment? We’re talking lanterns, candles and tiki torches or LED wireless lightning, as these options are ideal for when you can’t make up your mind.
Easy to mount, carry and portable at a whim, they can be used in any place inside your garden. One day, you can host your garden party at the table and plant them around.
Some other day, you want to shine and relax in some other part.
With portable lighting, you are saving a bit as you don’t need to light up and install lights all over your garden.
With portable lighting, you also have less hustle because you choose the time and place you want to bathe in light.
If you can’t make up your mind, start with portable lighting and work from there.
Lightning is your best friend when it comes to garden design.
All that hard work, effort and patience that you spent when building your ideal green haven can now be put into the spotlight.
This topic may seem like a vast and unknown land, but you will get the hang of it the more you delve inside.
Bit by bit, lamp by lamp and your garden will be bathed in a brand-new light before your very eyes.
There is no time like today, so the sooner you start, the sooner your garden gets to shine. We wish you all the best!
