Outdoor lights a bright idea as summer nears
Your landscaping, planting features and the elevation of the house itself are transformed by some star treatment with dedicated lighting.
Illuminate alfresco entertaining and conjure mesmerising effects with independent solar units, candlelight and low-voltage electrical system lighting that will plug directly into an existing mains outlet.
Mains-fed spots, spikes, pillars and lanterns can go anywhere a cable and suitable transformer will support them, but are best left to a RECI-qualified electrician.
For low-volt clip systems, add up the wattage of each individual unit, select the correct transformer with a higher wattage than that total, and connect them by cable to an RCD.
Layer your lighting rather than sticking up one bleak security spot, choreographing the height and intensity to suit the features.
Add directional hooded spots for navigating steps and entryways, switches set where you can easily find them.
Pour out generous washes from high overhead, making a cheery stagger through the borders safe after a jug of punch. Use the canopy of trees and shrubs, walls, fences and trellises to suspend string lights and lanterns.
Experiment with back lighting, shadowing and moonlighting with a large torch (push a large child up a tree with a bribe) before committing to fixed positions, pointing lights away from the eyesores, such as open compost heaps.
This pools light on the ground and, for larger areas, demands mains-wired units fixed to posts, trees or walls. Think about the angle of coverage.
A Stalag 17 spotlight will create harsh shadows placed too acutely over the receiving surface. Bounce down-light back up again off pale paving for a soft flattering infill.
Discreet solar down-lighters can guide footsteps over paths, steps and perimeters. Stud them generously close to the ground.
Falling across a freestanding feature, this throws out dramatic long shadows. From one or both sides it looks fantastic, highlighting the trunks of silver birch or statuary.
Too full-on for lighting eating areas, where someone’s going to get a face full of horrifying glare and an elephant-sized shadow, to boot — cross lighting is best kept for hard surfaces other than the patio table.
Point a light directly at a piece by a wall to project a shadow of a lovely figurative ornament. You can also light a wall behind the open frame of a plant or ornament with a good profile to throw a deliberate silhouette. The reverse of a generous waterfall will come to translucent glorious life by secreted backlighting (water-resistant naturally).
UP-LIGHTING Up-lighting can be bounced off surfaces to deliver an added diffused light and lick the undersides of trees, turning them into sculptural focus points. Even two or three trees can play a shining magic forest with the inky night background holding them in suspension.
Rake the light from smaller spots set close to the subject across stone walling, beneath shrubs and to draw attention to relief decoration on urns, for example. Nestle close for maximum texture, or back up the luminary for a more subtle wash. Hide these magician units in low shrubs.
Down-lighting taken through the tree canopy creates a shifting tapestry of dappled shadow on the paving or grass and, balanced with other lighting, is one of those theatrical touches you can only create outdoors. As the boughs move, the shadow-play dances as if alive.
Ropes, lines and nets of lights look beautiful studded through small trees and wound around boughs, posts and fencing. Look for LED solar sets that will gather power during the day without the worry of a live wire. We love the Silver Mesh Bird Strings with green wires, ideal for perching in trees and shrubs. B&Q, €20; and HomeStore & More’s Dragonfly lights, just €6.99 for 20 Lalique-style creatures.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
