Summer is here! It’s time to spruce up your yard, however big or small, and prepare for outdoor dinners, fires, or simply pulling up chairs around the lawn. Adding light to your yard is a good idea, but adding it in the right way can be hard. Depending on the size of your space, your accessibility to hooks, and your outdoor electrical outlets, your options can look different.
Here are some ways to bring some personality to your backyard with outdoor lightning options!
Add string lights to your house or garage. Buying a couple packs of outdoor string lights and fixing them to the edges of your house or garage can serve as the accent you need to your landscape. You’ll need to find a place to plug them in, hooks to secure them into place, and you’re set! Using longer string lights will also eliminate the need to look for long invasive extension cords. String lighting, when draped across paths or driveways, can also provide the soft lighting wanted for lower key outdoor events. Look for bulbs that are long lasting and weather proof; not doing so will require you to look for replacements often or put your electrical wires at risk of damage.
Add lights around your walkways. Installing ground lights around your sidewalks, walkways, and driveway (whichever you have) can serve a practical purpose – guiding your guests into your yard space – as well as an aesthetic one. Accenting walkways can be a subtle way to make your yard appear to be more put together and keep the need for flashlights away. For this option, you could consider a more expensive solar powered option or connecting the lights via wires.
Install tree or bush lights. Highlighting a main feature, a large tree or trimmed bushes, might be the accent your yard needs. Larger string lights are a good option for this as smaller bulbs can get smothered by larger leaves. What shade and extra darkness the tree may cause will be decreased by the presence of this lighting, adding extra illumination as well as an attractive yard piece. Similarly to the other string light option, ensure that your bulbs are weather proof and long lasting.
With any of these options, consider putting them on a timer. This will let you forget about turning them on and off while having reliable light in your yard each evening!
There are plenty of options to make your yard more welcoming this summer, and those three options are just a start.
Photo by KALZ