Transforming the Outdoors: Discover the Different Types of Outdoor Lighting
Picture this: A warm summer evening, the sun has dipped below the horizon, you look out the window and see your backyard bathed in a soft, warm, and inviting glow. Lighting is not just about utility or safety; it’s also an artistic tool that can be used to enhance the ambiance, colors, textures, and functionality of any outdoor space at night.
Let’s dive into the world of LED outdoor lighting and explore the types you can use to brighten-up your nightscapes.
Path Lights
Path lights are most commonly known for their practical purpose of illuminating paths for a safe passage through the dark. But there's more to them—path fixtures cast stunning lighting effects you can use to create unique designs and bring out the textures and vivid colors of their surroundings, guiding guests with a welcoming ambiance.
Path lights come available in all sorts of styles and finishes to match any outdoor space design. Use them to illuminate pathways, driveways, patios, gardens, decks, or to cascade down onto steps. Installing path lights is easy: push them right into the ground for softscape applications, or hard-mount them directly to wood or concrete by removing the ground stake.
Think beyond: pathway fixtures are also a great addition to any hardscape or deck lighting design to frame, create layers, and expand the project's depth by illuminating surrounding green areas.
Recessed Lights
Recessed lights -also known as in-ground or well lights- are used to illuminate outdoor elements from the ground-up. These fixtures come available in different diameters, brightness levels, ring shapes and finishes you can mix and match to create unique and modern lighting designs.
Recessed lights are commonly installed into pavers, concrete, decking, and even directly into walls or fences. Most high-quality recessed lights are also drive over rated, meaning you can install them in high-traffic areas of a property such as driveways, pathways, steps, decks, patios, and docks.
Installing recessed lighting into pavers, concrete, and stone requires more planning and tools than most types of lighting; a drill press, Diamond drill bit, and water swivel accessory to attach the drill to a water source are essential. Installing recessed lights into wood or composite decking is more straightforward; use a hand-held power drill along with a Forstner drill of the right diameter to achieve perfect holes.
Some lighting manufactures also offer ground stake accessories you can attach to your recessed lights for softscape applications where drilling is not an option.
Undercap Lights
Undercap lights -also known as ledge lights- are the bread and butter of hardscape and deck lighting. These fixtures do an outstanding job of illuminating a space to perfection and creating a warm and inviting ambiance thanks to its semi-covered downwards light source.
Use undercap lights with installation brackets for hardscape applications such as concrete or stone steps, outdoor kitchens and bars, retaining walls, fire features, and pillars. For wood or composite decking applications, you can mount the undercap light directly on the facade, riser, or bench without the need of a bracket.
When it comes to installing undecap lights into hardscaping elements, the pre-planning, tools, bracket accessory and cable placement are key to achieve a seamless installation. Tools you might need include: a concrete saw with a diamond blade to cut a levelled channel for the fixture's bracket and cable, and concrete adhesive to glue the bracket in place before placing the stone cap back on.
Spotlights
Spotlights -also known as spots- are one of the quickest and most dynamic fixtures to install into any project. They're the perfect add-on to any lighting design to create layers and expand visual depth of an outdoor space at night.
Use them to illuminate garden beds, bushes, trees, fountains, walls, pillars, pergolas, gazeboos, and so much more. Spots are also ideal for use in mature landscapes or pre-existing hardscapes and decks where drilling, cutting, or lifting pavers to install recessed lighting isn't possible.
Installation for spotlights is a breeze: You can either push them directly into the ground for softscape applications, or remove the ground stake and hard-mount them to posts, decking, fences, ceilings, or walls.
Pro Tip: Make sure the lighting manufacturer you choose offers spotlights with an adjustable light source and a removable ground stake accessory in the box. This will allow for more customized spotlight applications!
Wall Lights
Wall lights are incredibly dynamic and impactful when it comes to transforming the design of an outdoor space at night. Their purpose spans beyond task lighting and improving the visibility of the space—you can play with the placement, orientation, shadows, and lighting effects of your wall lights to create masterpieces that come to life at night.
Wall lights also come available in different shapes, styles, and finishes to adapt and accent both classic or modern outdoor space designs. Use them to light up walls, porches, pergolas, posts, fences, privacy screens, railings, decks, and so much more.
The biggest factor to consider when installing wall lights is the cable management aspect. Always plan where and how you will run, pin, and hide your cable when installing low voltage LED wall lights to ensure a seamless installation.
For Professionals: Learn to design and install outdoor lighting
If you're a professional who's new to the world of LED outdoor lighting and would like to learn how to design and install, there are free online training resources for outdoor living professionals who want to take their business to the next level with outdoor lighting.
The best part? You can get a Certificate of Completion after completing all courses to earn your "Master of Outdoor Lighting" title.
Click here to learn more about BOLD Academy.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact the BOLD team at support@boldpros.com or to give us a call at 1-833-472-9960 Monday to Friday from 8AM-4:30PM EST.
