Patio and Outdoor Living Lighting: What Makes an Outdoor Room Work After Dark|How Should a Patio Be Lit|Outdoor Living Lighting Done Properly and Why It Is Not the Same as Curb Appeal

Two sides, two purposes

The front of a property is a view. Out back the light is around you, not in front of you. That flips most of the design rules. Nobody is grading the back yard from the street. What matters is whether people stay out there past nine.The short version: the patio deserves its own plan. The front and the back need different work, and one light over the door is the usual result of not planning it. Two spaces, two separate sets of requirements to satisfy.

What actually drives people inside

A single glaring bulb undoes an otherwise good plan. Look at a bright source and your eyes stop adapting to the dark. The fix is to put light low, high, or behind something: down at the deck, overhead well above the eye, or hidden behind furniture.

String lights overhead do more than they should be able to

Strung lights above a patio create a ceiling where there was not one. A patio without them has no top to it. With them it becomes an outdoor room. Warm and dim is the setting that works, because bright overhead strings turn a dinner into a parking lot.None of this costs much more than doing it badly, because the difference is mostly placement and color rather than the number of fixtures on the invoice.

How the pieces stack

A patio works best with a few layers rather than one solution. Overhead, underfoot, and accent. Put them on separate controls if you can, because the dinner setting and the cleaning up setting are not the same.

Commercial outdoor dining

For a business with outdoor seating, the lighting decides whether those tables get used after sunset. Bistro and string lighting over an outdoor dining area makes the space usable and inviting after sunset. The same rules apply, just with a stronger reason to get it right.

The part that pays for itself

An unlit patio has a usable season that ends when the days get short. A lit one keeps working through the shoulder months and into the evening year round. Mild evenings are not limited to July, they just happen at night. The lighting is what converts them into usable time.

Something worth knowing about color

Anybody who has sat under a bright outdoor https://holdenmimh764.trexgame.net/permanent-outdoor-lighting-a-homeowner-s-guide-considering-permanent-outdoor-lighting-here-is-how-it-works light in July knows what shows up. Insects are drawn more strongly to the cool end, so a warm setting over a seating area is the better choice for more than one reason. It helps. It is not a solution. But it is worth factoring in.Worth adding: the same warm setting suits the roofline above the patio, so the space reads as one thing.

Where to begin

Patio lighting has to be planned in the actual space, preferably at night. EverCrest Lighting designs and installs patio and outdoor living lighting for homes, restaurants and businesses across Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, from Greenville. Consultations are free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email [email protected].

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