One of the best ways to take advantage of beautiful weather is to enjoy the beautiful outdoors in a lovely outdoor room. You can take outdoor room lighting to an entirely new level by adding the right type of exterior lighting.
As with lighting an indoor space, lighting an outdoor space can be easy, convenient, and affordable if you do it right. Here is some helpful information and straightforward tips for turning an ordinary outdoor room into a truly beautiful outdoor living experience.
Enhance An Outdoor Space Through The Use Of Lighting
There are lots of ways to enhance your outdoor room with unique lighting. For example, you can enhance an outdoor space by installing a unique conversation piece such as a chandelier. It’s not right for every outdoor room, but if you have tall or pitched ceilings, it could accent that feature.
Different kinds of lights can produce a more romantic or quiet setting. For example, candle-type chandeliers can reduce glare and create a warm, gentle glow for those who wish to dine outdoors in a more romantic setting. Read on for plenty more lighting ideas!
Outdoor Lighting Options
Outdoor lighting options can include path lighting, spotlighting, shadow and reflection, deck lighting, and string lighting. Path lighting provides an elegant and safe environment to navigate throughout your yard and outdoor room. Spotlighting or landscape lighting can bring out the most beautiful parts of your yard by focusing one beam of light directly on an object. Shadow and reflection lighting can enhance your opportunity to accent your outdoor features.
Spotlighting
Spotlighting is a strategic way to introduce shadows and reflection to parts of your yard. Shadows can accent sculptures, plants, and even walls. Both warm and subtle cool colors can be utilized in the spotlight. Reflections can especially accent lawns, water features, rocks, and even the floor. Therefore, giving a climactic and breathtaking design for both you, your family, your friends, and your guests to enjoy.
Uplighting and Downlighting
Uplighting spotlights can be used to illuminate: magnificent fountains, trees, sculptures, and so on. Downlighting spotlights can be used to illuminate lower portions of your yard’s ponds, gardens, and bushes.
Deck Lighting
Deck lighting is another helpful safety lighting feature to help residents and guests maneuver up and down the stairs on a deck and gives light to those enjoying the deck and atmosphere. Deck lighting is commonly ingrained in the cracks and steps of the deck, so it is not a tripping hazard and blends in well. This type of lighting can also accent important objects surrounding the deck, such as gardens and trees.
String Lighting
String lighting can also provide a romantic atmosphere with warm colors accenting the peaceful outdoor relaxing areas, whether sitting at a table, having a backyard picnic, lying by the pool, or reclining on chairs. Different types of LED lights can change colors as well while giving off a calm, peaceful, and romantic atmosphere.
Professional Installation
At NightVision, we can install lighting types that can be adjusted per occasion. We can install different circuits to provide myriad effects throughout your outdoor room or general landscape. If you are having a party, you can use brighter lights for the guests to see clearly and walk safely, while if you are preferring a more cozy, peaceful, or romantic night, the lighting circuits can be switched to give off a dim light.
Depending on the use, the lighting can complement different fixtures and areas. For example, if you are having a barbeque at night, the lighting can accent a table, grill, and outdoor kitchen, while the lights can further accent the pool other nights you are having a night swim.
Task Lighting And Indirect Lighting
Outdoor lanterns are another impressive lighting style. These unique lighting fixtures are intended for outdoor use and can be installed on railing posts where they produce gentle, soft lighting for your patio or deck. Even more impressive is when this type of exterior lighting fixture is mounted close to a grill or outdoor sink.
Outdoor lanterns, combined with other types of task lighting and indirect lighting, can create an enjoyable atmosphere for avid entertainers who wish to share the beauty of the night with neighbors, friends, and relatives. They also give excellent opportunities to accent gardens. The lighting can also allow those who enjoy warm summer nights to read a book or write outside!
Deck Lighting Examples
We mentioned how wonderful deck lighting can be earlier, so now let’s dive into some details! Decks tend to be utilized mostly during the day, but with proper night lighting, you will be able to safely use your deck at night as well. Therefore, installing safety lighting along the steps, edges of the deck, and rails can prove helpful.
The safety lights provided by local Atlanta, Georgia lighting companies, such as NightVision, are low-level lighting that gives just enough lighting to see where you are stepping without giving off a blinding glare. At NightVision Outdoor Lighting, we also provide sensor-activated lighting that can warn of movement from an intruder or simply a guest. This dimmer and sensor-activated safety lighting can also allow stargazing by lowering the light pollution that blocks out the stars.
Outdoor Garden Lights
Post Lighting And Garden Lights
A waterproof table lamp or another type of unique lighting fixture can also add intrigue and appeal to what would otherwise be an ordinary space. In addition to enhancing an outdoor room with an outdoor table lamp, you can carry the same theme into your yard to create an overall harmonious effect. The possibilities are virtually endless, from deck lighting to post lighting and garden lighting, as well as low voltage landscape lighting and garden wall lighting. Best of all, backyard lighting does not have to be complicated, expensive, or high maintenance.
Post lighting has a range of sizes to best fit your yard and can be dispersed throughout your yard and along pathways. Since post lighting is often designed based on Victorian street lamps, they can also serve as a specific design feature and decor for your yard. However, post lighting can have many design options besides Victorian style, so you have many options to choose from.
Wall Lighting
Don’t forget about wall lighting! Wall lighting is also a beautiful feature to light your outdoor room. These lights are meant to be shown off as a design feature. At NightVision, we provide a variety of lighting options depending on your housing style, whether modern or historical. Lighting features can form a creative and unique design for your outdoor room.
When discussing this aspect, consider grazing and washing as lighting styles. Grazing is most effective for textured walls, such as popcorn walls and ceilings. The lighting brings out the texture of the wall. The light can accent the popcorn wall by focusing on one side of the bumps over the other. This is also an effective technique for stone columns and concrete surfaces.
Washing is an excellent option for more plain and untextured walls. The washing technique is especially effective on lighter walls that are matte. This also brings out the depth of the wall, giving the appearance that the room is larger than it is. Washing does so by eliminating any shadowing. Washing is also an effective option for porches and decks.
What Not To Do With Outdoor Room Lighting?
Take your time selecting your outdoor room lighting design. Though there is room for experimenting and personal preference, we will also give general recommendations on what not to do with outdoor room lighting. For example, installing exceedingly bright lights (like industrial lights) cannot only over-light your yard but also damage your eyes.
Stay Away from Damaging Light
Stay Away from Damaging LightThe lighting that tends to damage your eyes the most is “cool” lighting. Cool lighting is lighter colors, such as white and blue. In comparison, warm lighting is less detrimental to your eyes. Warm lighting consists of deep yellow or red colors. Bright, cool, and blue lighting can damage
your retinas and cause a great amount of strain on the eye. This is especially detrimental to children whose eyes have not completely developed resistance to blue light yet. Already, there is increased strain on the eyes due to recent technology, so installing landscape lighting that causes the least amount of eye strain possible is important.
In fact, since 1971, nearsightedness in the U.S. has almost doubled. Bright cool lighting can also lead to the “disco ball effect”, which causes a blinding light that can make it difficult to see. The strobe light-type disco ball effect can also be detrimental to the eyes and cause spots in front of the eyes that cause issues seeing. This is called posterior vitreous detachment (PVD). This occurs when the vitreous moves away from your retina. The vitreous is a transparent gel between an eye’s retina and lens. The retina is “bleached” by the blinding light. This works the same as when you take a picture with a flash at night.
Avoid Oversized Lighting
Another landscape lighting design to avoid is installing massive lighting fixtures that do not fit the layout or size of your yard. This can take up space and decrease the focus on the rest of your landscape features. Solo lighting, which is also known as “the haunted house effect,” can do the opposite of the massive lighting features. Solo lighting can give too little lighting, so it is difficult to see the features in your yard, and it can be unsafe to move around your yard. Less lighting can make tripping over hazards or even falling in the pool easier.
For grazing lighting, the technique avoids walls and ceilings with overhangs. Make sure not to use a very bright light, or it will give the opposite effect. An excessively bright light will make the textured wall look flat. Also, avoid too dim lighting because it will not even make it to the wall or ceilings. Our recommendation at NightVision is to use no more than 100 to 150 lumens for walls that are vertically ten feet and 150 to 200 lumens for walls that are vertically ten to twenty feet. For walls that are twenty to thirty vertical feet, use approximately 200 to 300 lumens.
For washing, lighting professionals are typically wary of trying to wash dark-colored walls, especially if the wall is dark and shiny. Using the washing technique on a dark and shiny wall will create a mirror and reflective effect, which will strain and be detrimental to your eyes. Lastly, do not use wall washing on a textured wall because you will not be able to see the texture of the wall.
Therefore, consulting with your local lighting experts, such as NightVision Outdoor Lighting, will help you find the best lighting landscape design for your property and needs.
Further Recommendations
Although there are some things to avoid, that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment and explore lighting options. You can try out different colors, contrasts, and even brightness. Just be wary of the extent of the bright light you choose. A variety of outdoor lighting colors can be used besides the simple yellow and white lights. Red, blue, and violet colors are becoming popular hues. There are so many other colors to choose from as well. Colored lighting can provide excellent shade and reflective lighting for your yard features. This contrast gives a quirky and artsy yard style. For example, somewhat bright pink or red lighting can beautifully accent plants, lawns, and garden areas.
Do not worry about completely coordinating your lighting. Yes, coordinated and organized lighting is a beautiful way to accent your landscape, but it is not always necessary. Sometimes, having disrupted lighting in separate locations throughout the yard can make the landscape seem larger and more in-depth.
Outdoor Room Lighting Experts
In today’s modern world, outdoor room lighting is more affordable, safe, and easier to install than ever before. While some homeowners choose to do this type of work on their own, your best bet is to seek the skill and knowledge of an experienced exterior lighting expert. Professionals with extensive experience can quickly and efficiently install walkway lights or enhance the nighttime lighting of a tree or bush. With so much to offer, it is clear why yard lighting experts typically produce the best results. Contact Night Vision Outdoor Lighting today to learn more about modern outdoor lighting in Atlanta.
