Deck Lighting Can Make Your Deck Come Alive

Lets make your deck lighting more inviting, more people friendly and heck, we want it to be the main source of conversation when people experience it. Make them love it and want to spend as much time there as possible.

Your deck is the single most important part of your home's exterior space because it brings your inside living space outdoors. After all, some of your most memorable moments shared with family and friends are spent there.

Planning Your Deck Lighting

When designing lighting it is important to make sure that it is beautiful and also functional. Do you have a grill on your deck that needs task lighting for those late night burger cravings? Are there beautiful plants or pieces of art that cry for your attention?

Make it inviting since there is going to be a lot of traffic here. Lighting that is too bright will bind your guests while weak lighting is a distraction.

In order to satisfy this balance, it is recomended to use low voltage lighting in high traffic areas.

Lucky for us there are so many outdoor lighting fixtures to choose from. When choosing your lighting fixtures make sure they match the decor that already exists.

Except for decorative outdoor lighting, your best bet is not to draw too much attention to your fixtures. Position them in a way that will draw attention to the beauty of your deck's environment.

Deciding Proper Deck Lighting Functionality

First decide what your main objective will be for in lighting your deck. Will it be primarily to provide lighting for functional use, to showcase points of interest throught your deck, or both.

Here are some questions you need to ask yourself:

• Are you going to use it to host parties? Do you have a table and chairs that you entertain on?

• Is your deck primarily used as an attention grabber?

• What is unique about your deck?

• Are there any cool sculptures or plants that show off your personality?

Light Positioning

If you like to entertain guests, your table and chair setup will determine the positioning of your deck lighting.

If guests are going to be sitting in this part of your deck, you want to make sure that the lighting is coming in at about face level.

Doing so will provide enough light for your guests to see each other's facial expressions making for a more pleasant and inviting conversation.

Positioning lights at face level helps you avoid the anoying shaddow effect on people's faces created by a light sitting directly on top of the table or a flood light pointed downward from up above.

Supportive Lighting

If all you want to do is draw attention to your deck or simply dress it up, it is best to use lighting that will help draw attention to those parts of you deck that you just love.

If you've dressed your deck up with plants or beautiful statues, make it known. Focusing lighting on these items will make your deck warm and welcoming.

A great way to draw attention to these features is to use outdoor recessed lighting. Because they are hidden, all the attention goes to your featured item.

Another way to do this is to light these features from up above. First make sure that your lighting doesn't blind people. Be aware of the shaddows created by such lighting. If you need to change the positioning its best to use outdoor lighting fixtures that can pivot and lock into position easily.

8 Ways Deck Lighting Can Enhance The Beauty Of Your Home

• Outdoor Post Lighting will even out the light distribution throughout the whole deck and give it a finished look that can make your deck really stand out.

• Outdoor step lighting is not only a safety measure that everyone should take, but can also be attractive and fun at the same time.

• Solar deck lighting is a great supplement to conventional deck lighting and will cost you nothing to operate.

• Low voltage lighting is easy to install, cheap to operate, and a great way to decorate your deck.

• Its time to get really creative! Party it up on your deck with outdoor party lighting.

• Torch lights are a great way mellow out your decks environment as well as help keep those darn bugs away.

• Used sparingly, outdoor tabletop lighting can add that last bit of light needed to make your guests feel more at home.

• Recessed lighting will install flush into your decks surface to create a sleek and clean look.