9 Outdoor Lighting Ideas For Your Home & Garden

Installing exterior lights can add charm and warmth to your garden & outdoor entertaining spaces, as well as increasing the safety & security around your home.

There are no shortage of options for outdoor lighting, and you can combine many of these options together to create an outdoor atmosphere that is equally as stylish as it is practical.

In this article, we’ll dive into what these options are, but first, let’s have a look into why we recommend installing outdoor lights around your home in the first place…

The Benefits of Outdoor Lighting 

A well-designed outdoor space, is simply not complete without lighting systems of some sort, and for more reasons than one:

Lights Make Your Outdoor Space More Usable and Enjoyable 

Installing lights outside makes the outdoor spaces around your home more usable. When you have lighting, you can enjoy your backyard or patio spaces just as much during the night as you can during the day.

When you have guests over on a warm summer evening, or during the shorter winter days, outdoor lighting will enable all of you to continue enjoying your outdoor space at night . Whether you’re having a BBQ together or sipping wine and chatting with friends, exterior lighting will, well, ‘put a little light’ on the subject!

It Makes Your Property Safer

Exterior lighting will also make it much easier for you to see so you don’t need to rely on flashlights when you go outside to tend to tasks or to get something in the dark. Your lights can help illuminate staircases, uneven pathways, or driveways. It’s equally as important for your guests as it is for you as well.

As a result, this greatly reduces the odds of anyone accidentally tripping or knocking into something, or otherwise falling into something you shouldn’t like a fire pit or a pool!

It Increase Your Property Value

Adding exterior lighting can help boost your home’s curb appeal and its actual value. According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders, 90% of potential home buyers reported that outdoor lighting in a home was either essential or desirable for them. 

It Makes Your Home More Secure 

Burglars will always be less likely to try to break into your home at night while you’re away if you have outdoor lighting systems in place, such as automatic sensor lights that will turn on when they detect movement. You can go on vacation with greater peace of mind that your house is secure. 

The Best Outdoor Lighting Ideas For Your Home or Backyard 

Now for the real fun, here are nine of the best ideas for lighting up your home or backyard:

1 - Solar Lights

Solar lights are among the simplest kinds of lighting systems that you can install because they will charge up during the day and then automatically illuminate at night. There’s very little required maintenance work on your part once they’re set up. Plus they are environmentally friendly, are free to run (because they don't use any electricity) and are very easy to install (no electrician required).

2 - Path Lights

Path lights are ideal to set up around courtyards, gardens, or along driveways or pathways. They can help guide you and guests along while it’s dark out to limit the risk of accidents. Bollard lights are an attractive option to install on the side of a path, combined with recessed step lights around decking areas or on the side of steps or ramps.

3 - Hanging Lights

You can set up hanging lights from your porches, trees, or gondola or pergola ceiling. Hanging lights are effective at brightening up spaces from above, and can help create a moody atmosphere to your backyard as well. 

4 - Exterior Wall Lights 

Exterior wall lights are lights that you attach to the outside of your home or garden shed (if you have one in your backyard). They are another very simple option for adding lighting to your outdoor spaces. 

5 - String Lights

If you want to make your backyard look like a bistro, you can set up string lights by attaching them between trees and gondolas/pergolas. This is one of the best ways to help make your backyard more atmospheric and give it almost a restaurant-like feel to it. Festoon lights are an increasingly popular choice for people who want to create this look at home.

6 - Waterside String Lights

If you live on waterfront property next to a lake, pond, river, or stream, you can also set up string lights in between beams or poles along the water. These lights can help to illuminate a dock or surface area that you may have access to on the water as well, and should help make the water itself more visible from your home to improve its curb appeal. 

7 - Table Lamp

You can set up a rechargeable table lamp on any tables that you have in your backyard as well. This will be ideal for when you’re playing cards or sipping wine with guests and you need some lighting that is more functional.

8 - Candles

Candles are perhaps the most traditional way to add lighting, warmth, and comfort to outdoor spaces. For safety purposes, make sure that the flames of the candles are protected in lamps or glass jars of some sort. You never want the wind to pick up and carry the flame away to cause an accident!

9 - Security Lights 

As mentioned before, one of the most important reasons for adding outdoor lighting to your home is for security and deterring potential burglars. Besides the above lighting options, you can also invest in security lights that will automatically flicker on when movement is detected, which should startle any burglar and hopefully cause them to flee. These same security lights can also illuminate pathways and corners around the home for you as well. 

Conclusion 

There are many reasons to install exterior lights on your home and even more ways that you can do it. Take a close look around your home and property and think carefully about which of the above lighting options would work best for you. Chances are more than one will!