Outdoor Lighting Ideas for Your Garden

Identify the focus areas outside your home – such as particular wall textures, columns and trees, or even windows – and aim to illuminate those.

A selection of varied fittings can achieve much more than simply lighting the place. Remember, details and finishes can be made or marred by the lighting.

Evaluate how you’ll be using your spaces, too. It’s likely you’ll want to spend more time outside during the warmer months, so aim for a scheme that allows for a relaxing evening al fresco. In winter, a well-lit garden can vastly improve the inside-outside feel.

You’ll be able to look further out and bring nature into your interior space, as opposed to having windows act like a mirror.

Browse the gallery below for more outdoor lighting ideas:

The Expert View

Melanie Shaw, director and senior designer at Brilliant Lighting, shares her top tips:

What are the most important areas to illuminate outside your home?

In terms of practical considerations you’ll want to make sure paths, steps and entrances have enough light to be safe. But the principles of an exterior lighting scheme are very similar to those of an interior one: paying close attention to the structure of the space, identifying the focal points and using light to emphasise those striking elements that otherwise you wouldn’t see at night.

Understanding sight lines is important, too. How we perceive light varies from different angles, so you should think about how it’s going to look across all areas.

How can exterior lighting add to the visual appeal of the property and garden?

A well thought-out scheme can enhance the look and feel of your materials. However, to achieve this effectively you have to be selective – which is why you should know where you want to draw attention to before placing any fittings. You could, for instance, choose to accentuate an arch or other strong vertical, as well as a particular stone or wood texture.

Lighting the entire building can be confusing because you lose the focal points. Blanket lighting everything means your eye is not drawn to the things you actually want to show off and the scheme loses definition. People should be careful not to get carried away and end up with too many fittings they don’t really need.

What are the key steps to getting your garden lighting scheme right?

First you’ll have to plan in advance and in detail. This means understanding what you want to illuminate and making provisions early enough in the build process to achieve it. It’s not enough to say that you want a light in a particular location; you need to know what fitting, too, so you can run the right cable, create the right installation points and fit the appropriate drivers.

You should also aim to remove points of failure. For example, correctly rated Ingress Protection (IP) fittings are required in wet areas. However, the weakest point is usually the connection between fittings and drivers – so make sure those are installed in dry spots. Not taking this into account is a common mistake.

Lastly, I’d say don’t overdo it and remember that less can be more. If in doubt, engage the help of a designer.

Can homeowners plan a garden lighting strategy without blowing their budget?

Being selective in your scheme is not only a good design principle; it’s also good for your budget. By focusing on key elements or finishes, you can target your spend on where it’s going to have the most effect.

It’s critical to buy good quality fittings, too. Look at the IP ratings before buying – the higher the first digit is, the better your product is shielded from solid objects, while the second refers to protection against moisture.

You should also purchase from proven external lighting suppliers. Using the right fitting once is a lot less expensive than paying for remedial work later on.