How to Brighten Up Your Backyard Gathering with Outdoor LED Lighting

Creating your backyard oasis, your natural retreat from the madding crowd, begins with planning and implementing a beautiful landscape design. Once you’ve got lush greenery in place you can put up a fence to add privacy and reduce noise from the neighbors. From there you’ll choose finishing touches like comfortable seating, a cooking setup for backyard barbecues, and perhaps even a water feature to make your lounging and entertaining space complete. There’s one more element you don’t want to forget, however: lighting. If you want to get the most enjoyment from your outdoor living spaces, you should add the lighting that will transition your yard from day to night. This way your gatherings can go on well after the sun has gone down. Whether you live in a temperate region that allows you to enjoy the outdoors year-round or you’ve only got a few months between spring and fall to host outdoor soirees, the right lighting will keep the party going into twilight and beyond. Before you start lamenting the lack of outdoor fixtures to illuminate your backyard, you should know that there are abundant options offered by LED lighting. Here are a few you may want to explore.

Replace Existing Bulbs and Fixtures

Do you find that the few outdoor lights you have simply aren’t cutting it in terms of providing the illumination you need to cook on the grill and socialize after the sun has set? If so, then it’s time to replace existing incandescent or CFL bulbs with LED alternatives. You don’t even need new fixtures these days. Advances in LED lighting technology have brought bulbs to market that will fit in standard fixtures. Now you can enjoy the bright light and energy savings of LED bulbs without having to install all new fixtures.

Add New Fixtures

You needn’t continue to rely solely on a single bulb at the back door or a flood light mounted to the side of the house to add lighting to your backyard gatherings. Instead, consider the addition of new lighting fixtures to your space. You could, for example, add down lights under eaves or light bars along the edges of counters if you happen to have an outdoor kitchen island. One of the easiest options, however, is to simply place battery-powered puck lights around your space. You could add these to outdoor cabinets or counters.  They will provide the illumination you need to cook after dark.  Alternatively, you could place them around seating areas to create atmosphere. You also have the option to add extra illumination by running LED strip lights or LED rope lights around door frames, down stairs, across railings, around fountains, and even around decking or furniture, just for example. With plenty of colors to choose from you can not only add amp up illumination, but also highlight special features in your space and create ambience. Even better, these lights are easy to place and move.  You could easily change your lighting decor seasonally or create a new lighting scheme for every gathering you host.

String Lights and Netting

If you want the opportunity to show your sense of style with your lighting decor, then rope and strip lights can certainly serve both practical and aesthetic purposes. You might also want to consider options like string lights and netting. Although many commonly reserve these styles for holiday lighting, there’s no reason you can’t make use of LED options year-round. You can also use string lights for more than just dotting the eaves. Instead, wind them around railings or tree trunks for extra brightness and ambience. You could also set up poles and stretch string lights overhead to create a fiesta-like atmosphere. You can use net lighting in much the same capacity.  Drape them over trees or shrubbery to highlight your landscaping even while providing additional illumination.

Holiday Additions

If you’re lucky enough to live in a region that has temperate weather conditions throughout the year, there’s no better way to bedeck your yard for outdoor holiday gatherings than with LED lights. You’ll not only find traditional strings of white or colored lights to festoon your house and yard, but you can also find holiday novelties like snowflakes, stars, and more. For those who are really into holidays, there are even options like hearts and clovers to accentuate Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day parties. Whenever you’re thinking about adding brightness to evening gatherings, consider that the perfect option for making your backyard shine can probably be found through the addition of LED lighting.