Imagine coming home to glowing lights gently illuminating your driveway, having your front door lit up by a stylish accent light and sitting back for a relaxing sunset drink on your deck while admiring your favourite garden features.
Indeed, the right type of lighting can completely transform an outdoor space. But creating a beautiful, functional garden lighting system takes more than just popping a few solar lights around the yard.
In this guide, we go through every step to creating a comfortable outdoor living space with the right types and styles of garden lights. From choosing the right sort to how bright they should be, here are Fusion Lighting's top tips for creating a welcoming outdoor space with lighting.
Different Types of Garden Lights and Where to Use Them
Choosing the right type of garden lighting for the right setting is crucial to improving safety and aesthetics. Here are some common garden lighting systems that might help you understand the correct application for different styles of lights.
Wall Lights
Outdoor wall lights can be placed at entrances, on garden walls or fences, or on patios or decks to provide focused or ambient lighting in outdoor living spaces. Popular styles of wall lights include coach lights, sconces, flood lights, motion sensors or up-and-down lights.
Pathway Lights
Pathway lights aren't just for safety and security, they can also help to beautify and boost kerb appeal on driveways or front paths or make your entire backyard more accessible after sundown. Stake lights or bollards that provide 360-degree illumination, fixed in-ground lights, traditional lamp posts, or the modern look of post lights are most suited to this type of application.
Spotlights and Uplighting
Using spotlights or uplights is the best way to highlight a garden focal point. Trees, garden sculptures, water features and architectural elements need not be hidden once the sun goes down with a narrow, focused beam of accent lighting from a spotlight to highlight them. Uplights create depth and allow you to show off your entire garden once the sun has gone down.
String Lights
Fairy lights and festoon lights are a great way to create a cosy atmosphere in entertaining areas and BBQ areas and they are also extremely versatile. You can hang them across a ceiling (or to create the feeling of a ceiling) or to give a curtain effect from pergolas, patios and walls. Fairy lights can even be wrapped around trees to highlight their beauty after dark.
Deck Lights and Pool Lights
The importance of light fixtures at ground level is often overlooked. However, in-ground lights on your deck or around your pool can improve safety and make the space more appealing. Another way to create an inviting atmosphere on your deck is to use an outdoor pendant light or festoon lights to provide ambient lighting for after-hours relaxation. Alternatively, choose colourful lights to create a party atmosphere around your pool and deck areas.
Step Lighting
Step lighting provides enhanced safety and visibility, especially when compared to traditional overhead lights that cast dangerous shadows. Lighting fixtures fitted with motion sensors are a great way to illuminate staircases without making them a constant feature of your garden lighting design.
Understanding Different Types of Outdoor Lighting Power Sources
When it comes to power sources for garden lighting, there are 3 options—mains-powered, solar-powered lights, or low-voltage lights.
Solar lights are cheap and readily available. However, they offer limited brightness, have a limited run time, depend on favourable weather conditions, can't be placed in shady areas, and often come with low-quality batteries that lose their charge after a short time.
Here at Fusion Lighting, we prefer low-voltage lights for several reasons. Outdoor lights powered by a transformer are much safer to use outdoors than mains-powered lighting options as they minimise the risk of electric shock if wires are accidentally exposed.
They also provide power to multiple lights, making them more energy efficient, and they are easily added to if you decide to change your garden lighting design.
Which Type of Bulbs Are Best for Outdoor Lighting?
The best bulbs for durable, high-performance outdoor lighting are LED bulbs. They have a long lifespan and offer energy efficiency. Alternatives like halogen bulbs use high amounts of energy and have a much shorter lifespan. Smart bulbs are another alternative, although these are more expensive and require a Wi-Fi connection for automation.
Exposed bulbs like those on festoon lights are easily broken in poor weather conditions. This is why Fusion Lighting uses high-quality shatter-proof LED lights in our designs. Our LED lights don't emit heat, so they aren't a fire risk around certain types of plants like palms. They are dimmable without the need for a qualified electrician, and they are designed to withstand harsh weather.
When choosing lighting for outdoor spaces, you should always go for bulbs with a high IP rating of at least IP65 to ensure their weather resistance.
What Colour Lights are Best Outdoors?
Choosing the correct colour temperature is essential to creating the right sort of atmosphere in outdoor spaces. Cool white light is most suitable for security lighting and task lighting, while warm white lighting creates a cozy atmosphere.
The unit used to measure colour temperature is a 'Kelvin'. The higher the K value, the bluer the light. A lower K value indicated a warmer, yellowish light. Warm white globes for patios and paths should be around 2700K, while cool white lights for security and tasks should be from 4000-5000K.
How Bright Should My Outdoor Lights Be?
Now that we've looked at the colour temperature, the other consideration for outdoor lighting is brightness. You don't get more brightness with a higher-wattage bulb. The wattage only measures energy consumption. How much light a bulb emits is measured in lumens.
Security lights require more lumens for greater light output with around 700-2000 lumens usually suitable. Pathway and accent lights should range from 100-300 lumens.
The Easiest Way to Choose Garden Lights is to Give Us a Call
At Fusion Lighting, we don't just sell lights. We offer a free custom lighting plan with our garden lighting design service, and we can even offer installation guidance to ensure they are positioned correctly for optimum functionality and style.
Visit our website to explore our full range of outdoor lighting solutions to enhance your space. We offer the highest quality outdoor garden lights in Australia, with a warranty period of 2-5 years, and personalised service that can't be matched.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it important to choose the right outdoor lights?
The wrong types of light outside can impact the look, functionality and safety of your space. For example, lights that are too bright or poorly directed can cause glare, while inadequate illumination can pose a safety and security hazard.
What is the rule of thumb for outdoor lighting?
Choose the right brightness and colour temperature, install lights at the right height and facing the correct direction and space them evenly for the best effect.
How to choose garden lights?
Outdoor lights that are durable and made to last are a great investment as they can reduce your energy usage and ensure you have a cosy, safe outdoor area after dark for many years to come.
How many lumens is a good outdoor light?
This depends on the purpose of the light. If it's for security or tasks, opt for around 1000 lumens. If the light is to create an atmosphere, around 200 lumens is suitable.
