I became charmed with the drama of outdoor patio lights at an exceptionally romantic restaurant in the old part of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We sat in the courtyard garden surrounded by outdoor art sculptures while rope lights wandered up and down the trees. It was the first time I had recognized the beauty and impact of outdoor lighting and outdoor art. I was mesmerized. Since that initial night I have visited many other romantic restaurants and have admired their outdoor lighting and outdoor art but nothing makes an impact like the first night.

At my own house, I have tried to replicate the feel of bringing the indoors out which is what properly placed outdoor patio lights should do. I have met with moderate success and I love to experiment. In choosing your outdoor lights there are a number of things you should always consider. I have tried to list the 4 most important considerations below.

1. What is the purpose of the outdoor lighting? Is the lighting to be atmospheric or functional or both? A certain amount of bright lighting is necessary for general safety. This type of lighting would include lights at every door including your garage door. This lights need to be bright. Safety lights are a necessary evil of outdoor lighting. Other types of outdoor patio lights can be for effect and these lights don’t need to be bright and really shouldn’t be bright. Lighting for effect can be quite dim or use very small bulbs. This type of lighting should be experimented with.

2. Where to place your outdoor lights. Lights for atmosphere can be placed in trees shining down or at the base of trees shining up. You can high light any outdoor art you may have or a swimming pool. You can use rope lights to highlight trees or a fence in the distance or often lovely and simple white Christmas lights make a nice year-round romantic setting. As mentioned above, the lights for safety need to be by each door of your house at a minimum and it must be relatively easy to change the bulbs. If the light requires a 20 foot ladder to change, you might go months with a burnt out bulb and that is not at all safe.

3. What type of light are you looking for? There are a number of relatively new types of outdoor patio lights available these days. There are solar lights. Solar lighting has become less expensive but these lights are slightly unreliable and often give off poor light. It goes without saying that the placement of solar lights is important to their function and cannot be counted on in cloudy or rainy areas. Solar lights will likely work best as mood or effect lighting and should not be used as safety lights. Of course, the most popular and energy efficient are LED lights. These lights can be used as both safety lighting and atmospheric lighting. The price of LED lighting is very reasonable and these are the lights most recommended.

For more articles about patio lighting, visit exterior lighting.

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