With winter just around the corner, daylight is becoming more and more of a luxury to us each day. This, along with the cold and miserable weather, therefore means that we are unable to spend as much time in our outdoor spaces, doesn't it?
Well, no it does not. While the weather may be miserable and the nights extra dark, creating an outdoor living space to be able to utilise and enjoy, even in the winter months, through the use of stunning light features is a fool proof way to warm up your garden area this winter.
In this article, we will give you 10 outdoor lighting ideas that will help you to brighten up your garden this winter. These ideas will help you to neglect your outdoor spaces and to be able to your garden and the wonderful fresh air that the crisp winter months have to offer.
Illuminate Any Garden Paths Or Garden Steps
This outdoor lighting idea is less about being able to utilise and enjoy your outdoor space and more about safety and protection. During the dark winter evenings, most people will be arriving home from work with it already being pitch black out. For this reason, illuminating any paths or steps that you have on your property with garden lights is a great way of ensuring no injuries or accidents occur.
While path lights and step lights help massively with safety, using low lights to illuminate steps, driveways, or paths also gives a very elegant and luxurious look and feel to your home. Whether you choose electrical, battery-operated, sponsored, or solar outdoor lighting options to illuminate your steps and paths they all provide an incredible purpose while also increasing the aesthetic of your home.
Install A Firepit
If you are wanting to utilise your outdoor space over the winter months but are understandably worried about cold weather then a firepit is perfect for you. Fire Pits are a phenomenal way of turning a cold and dark winter night into an extremely cosy and relaxing social space.
Fire pits not only create immense heat and warmth, but they also create a stunning warm glow that helps to create unbelievably pleasant and atmospheric lighting in your outdoor space. They allow you to continue to use your outdoor areas no matter how cold it is outside by creating an outdoor oasis of warmth that makes your outdoor space even more enjoyable in the summer months.
You can also accentuate a fire pit area by using other light features to help create the perfect space to be able to relax and unwind. However, when adding a fire pit it is important to keep safety in mind and only use such equipment responsibly.
Accentuate Trees & Plants
Some of the most beautiful features of our gardens are what has grown naturally. However, in the winter months, these stunning trees and plants do not get as much plaudits as they should as they are rarely seen in the dark.
One way of accentuating their beauty while also illuminating your garden space is to wrap these stunning plants and trees with lights. This helps to not only highlight their beauty but also add an elegance and stylish light feature to your garden that will help to give your outdoor space, and therefore your home, a more luxurious feel.
This can also be perfect over the festive period. Christmas lights help everyone to get into the festive spirit and these stunning light features help to give your home an extra magical feel over the Christmas season.
Utilise Stunning Wall Lights
Another amazing idea to help illuminate your home and your outdoor space this winter is through the use of wall lights. Wall lights come in either uplight, downlight or up-down lights and help to provide an aesthetic appeal to your home.
They are not only a stunning way of illuminating your outdoor space, but they also help to create a unique effect that accentuates the makeup of your wall through exterior lighting. This type of garden lighting is particularly effective on brick walls as it can help to create a stunning effect that furthers the beauty of your home's exterior.
Illuminate Small Garden Spaces
Too many people with small garden spaces render their outdoor areas useless due to their size. What they do not realise is that these small spaces actually have the most potential to become the most beautiful. One way of transforming these areas into stunning sanctuaries that can be utilised all year round is through using lighting features.
Whether you use hanging lights, wall lights, flood lights or any other accent lighting features, you can create a space that has a warm and cosy feel. This kind of space is perfect for enjoying and hosting in the winter months and the small space will help it to feel extra snug and comfortable.
If you have a small balcony, patio, or courtyard using lighting such as small and warm garden spotlights or hanging lights can help to create an atmosphere that thrives in the winter. This allows you to entertain guests and even utilise and enjoy the small outdoor space yourself, no matter the temperature.
Add Atmosphere & Warmth
The most obvious worry about using outdoor areas during the winter is the temperature. This is why it is incredibly important to use lighting features and lighting options to help create a cosy and warm atmosphere.
There are a number of different ways in which you can use lighting to create warmth and atmosphere. One must always use warmer lights, this is because cold and white lights will accentuate the temperatures and will make it very uncomfortable outside. On the other hand, warm light options will help to create a much more snug and therefore warm and comfortable atmosphere.
Warm hanging lights are also very effective at creating a cosy soft glow and a warm outside environment. This is because they are slightly duller than a spotlight and therefore create a much more atmospheric and moody feel. This soft light is perfect for creating a gentle glow and an environment that is perfect for use in the winter months.
Use Lanterns Throughout Your Space
Lanterns are not only a great way to help light up your outdoor space, but they are also incredibly stylish. Using lanterns throughout your garden area will therefore have a hugely positive effect on the overall aesthetic of your garden while also playing its part in helping to offer your space some light on those dark winter evenings.
There are a number of different lanterns that you can get, however, the main two are candle lanterns and bulb lanterns. Both offer a very warm, but not too bright, ambient glow that creates a very cosy and tranquil atmosphere. This makes them a phenomenal choice when looking to utilise any outdoor space over the winter.
You can also get wall light lanterns that are equally as effective and can create a much more elegant and luxurious feel to the exterior lighting of your home.
Utilise The Power Of Solar Lighting
A lot of these ideas to illuminate your garden may have a fair few of you sweating and thinking about the energy bills that come along with them. However, with lighting, there is one very cost-effective option that is utilised in millions of gardens across the world which are far more energy efficient, solar lights.
Solar panel lights are exactly what you would expect, the solar lights gather energy during the hours of daylight which they then use to power the light in the dark. This means that these lights are fully self-sustainable and come with zero extra electricity costs.
There are a huge number of different solar panel light fixtures, such as solar power lanterns, that will look amazing in a garden and will effectively light up your outdoor space. These will not only be very cost-effective to run but they also look and perform amazingly in your garden space.
Add Fairytale Hanging Lights
We have all seen the perfect Pinterest photos of the stunning gardens with fairy lights and other hanging lights draped throughout. Well, why not replicate this? This creates a beautiful atmosphere and a stunning aesthetic in your garden and will be sure to impress anyone you invite around.
You can get vintage-style hanging lights, festive hanging lights, lantern hanging lights and so many more amazing styles of hanging lights. They are incredibly effective at creating an atmosphere and a space that can be enjoyed all year round. Their incredible warm yet not-too-bright glow, mixed with their very appealing to-the-eye aesthetic truly makes them the perfect addition to any home's outdoor space this winter.
Utilise Low-Level Lighting
Low-level lighting is something that is not utilised enough in gardens. Not only does this style of lighting create an elegant atmosphere but it also acts as a safety element that ensures that you can navigate a dark garden area safely.
While they are great safety features, it is important to ensure that these bulbs are not too bright or too harsh. This is because they will then start to act as main lighting features which could therefore tarnish the cosy and comfortable atmosphere that you should be trying to create in your garden area through the power of lighting.
High-Quality Outdoor Lighting At CGC Interiors
Here at CGC Interiors, we have a huge range of the highest quality outdoor lights that will be sure to help illuminate your garden this winter. Whether you are looking for outdoor solar lights, hanging lights, wall lights, or LED flood lights, look no further.