Types of Backyard Lighting

Backyard lighting makes the most of your backyard space after dark. It accentuates garden features, enhances safety, and creates a new mood for your backyard.

Wall-mounted sconces highlight architectural details on your porch or patio. Lanterns and candles add charm to your outdoor dining area or tabletop bars. Torches create a cozy ambiance and serve as a mosquito repellent. You can return to our home page.

Solar Lights

Solar lights are a great option for lighting your yard without electricity. They work by using solar panels and rechargeable batteries to generate energy during the day. At night, the battery powers an LED light that illuminates your backyard. You can use these lights to highlight focal points or to light a path without running up your electric bill.

There are many types of solar lights, with each type serving a different purpose. Sherry Singleton, a writer who reviews products for The Spruce, says solar landscape lights can be used to line a walkway or create a focal point with plants. She recommends choosing a light that has a motion sensor and a timer, which will ensure it’s only on when it needs to be.

Another common solar light is the spotlight, which can be inserted into the ground or fixed to a post and directed to highlight a feature. Some of these lights are also motion-activated, which is great for security purposes or for guiding people.

Lanterns or Table Candles

Lanterns offer a simple yet attractive way to light up your backyard. They are a type of accent lighting that uses low-voltage illumination to highlight decor or architectural features on your back wall or in the vicinity of the front door, such as an arched window transom. Battery-powered tabletop lanterns are also available, enabling you to illuminate items that you might need for outdoor entertaining, such as bowls of snacks or beverages, board games, and other decorative decor.

Rather than using candles in lanterns that need to be relighted after each use, consider using flameless ones from Pottery Barn. These flicker and shine like a real candle and can be set on a timer for convenience.

For a woodsy-meets-elegant look, use sleek black lanterns surrounded by plenty of pine boughs and blooms for a stunning wedding centerpiece. Or, if you’re celebrating an autumn wedding, use rich red lanterns to accentuate the season. You can even hang these lanterns from a wooden pergola for an opulent backyard dinner party.

Motion Activated Lights

Motion sensor lights are a great way to illuminate your backyard when it’s dark. They automatically turn on when someone or something moves near the sensor, and then shut off after a certain amount of time. They’re useful for things like illuminating your backyard patio, walkways, and driveways when you come home late at night, or lighting up the area around a hot tub, pool, or shed for security purposes.

Many of these lights have adjustable settings such as a timer, sensitivity, and lux that you can change to suit your needs. They’re also an energy-efficient option, unlike traditional lights that stay on all night and spike your electrical bill.

For added peace of mind, motion detection lights can be paired with a security camera to help deter burglars and intruders. This will make it much harder for them to sneak up on you or your family as the camera’s light will turn on, giving them away.

Security Lights

Security lights are a good choice for larger homes with lots of outdoor space. They come in many styles and sizes and are often more attractive than floodlights. They also provide better coverage to keep out intruders.

It’s important to carefully select security lights to avoid blinding your neighbors. Bright floodlights that set off every time a cat or squirrel crosses your yard can get annoying to people who live nearby.

You can save energy by choosing lighting that turns on automatically at dusk and off at dawn. Some fixtures offer photo controllers that can additionally turn the lights off for the latter portion of the overnight hours, saving even more energy.

If you’d like to have lights that are always on, consider hardwired security lights that are connected directly to your home’s electrical system. They’ll work whether your batteries are dead or you have enough sunlight for solar-powered lights. For more information on your options, call a master electrician who works in the area you live in. Next blog post.