Decorating With Outdoor Patio Lights

Matt Adams — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:43:34 +0000

I fell in love with the effects of outdoor lighting at a wonderfully romantic restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. As I recall, the restaurant was called Cafe Des Artistes. We sat in the garden amongst whimsical art sculptures while carefully placed outdoor patio lights snaked up and down the trees. It was likely the first time I had seen rope lights before. I was enchanted. Since that night I have eaten in many other romantic restaurants and have admired the outdoor lighting but nothing compares with my first experience.

I have tried to replicate the feeling of bringing the indoors outdoors which is what properly placed outdoor lighting should do at my own homes. I have met with some success and I love to continue experimenting with the effects of outdoor patio lights. In choosing outdoor lights there are a few things you should always consider. I have listed a few important factors below.

1. Determine the purpose of your outdoor lighting. Is the lighting going to be primarily functional and safety oriented or will it be more atmospheric? Some amount of outdoor lighting is needed for general safety. These bright outdoor patio lights should be placed at every door including your garage door. Other types of lighting can be simply for atmospheric effect. Lighting for effect can be dimly illuminated. Mood lighting should be changed about for greater dramatic effect.

2. Determine the placement of your outdoor lights. Be sure to highlight any outdoor sculptures you may have or a pond or a swimming pool. You can use rope lights to highlight distant objects. Often lovely and simple white Christmas lights make a nice year-round twinkly setting. The lights needed for safety should be by each door of your house at a minimum. It must be relatively easy to maintain safety lights. If the light requires a 20 foot ladder to change and you don’t have a 20 foot ladder then the light position should be changed.

3. Type of light. There are numerous types of outdoor patio lights available these days. Of course the most popular and energy efficient are LED lights. The cost of LED lighting has really come down and these are the lights most recommended. There are also solar lights. Solar lighting has also become less expensive but these lights are slightly less reliable and often don?t give off enough light. Placement of solar lights is critical to their function and shouldn’t be counted upon in cloudy or rainy areas. Solar lights likely work best as atmospheric lights and shouldn’t be used as safety lights.

By going to Outdoor–Lighting you can discover more information about patio outdoor lights.

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Decorating With Outdoor Patio Lights