Design your outdoor patio lighting to fit your individuality.
Lighting design has expanded and amplified over the years. No longer are you resigned to simple jelly jar wall lights or black carriage lights. Designs vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer, from the smallest deck light to the largest outdoor hanging pendant. The hardest decisions when it comes to picking out light fixtures for your patio will be what color and what style. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Make a list of the type of lighting you think your patio needs. Contemplate your existing lighting and decide whether you will leave some of it installed or replace all of it. Decide whether you need to add lighting to new locations, or perhaps install security lighting or landscape lighting to brighten the yard at night around the patio. Set a budget. Knowing what you can spend can help you narrow your decision.
2. Measure the areas on your patio where you plan to install light fixtures. For a replacement wall light, measure the height from the electrical connection to the eave of the roof and from the electrical connection down to any structures that might impede the wall fixture. Measure the maximum width you have from the electrical connection. For landscape lighting, get the measurements from the lighting transformer installation point and around your patio to know how long your cable needs to be. For security lighting, measure the length and the height of your exterior walls to determine how many lights you'll need. Security lights have maximum coverage area designations, and the type you choose will determine the number of lights you need to cover the area.
3. Pick a color and finish for your patio lighting. They should complement existing patio features and blend in with the outdoor decor. For example, if the furnishings on your patio have copper accents, lighting with a copper finish would enhance the accents. For a patio with black wrought iron furnishings, black wrought iron fixtures can tie the lighting and furnishings together. With outdoor lighting finishes ranging from aged bronze to antique white, you should have no issues in choosing light fixtures that will enhance your patio.
4. Pick a style of outdoor lighting fixture for your patio. Use your existing patio features as inspiration to choose the style of lighting that will enhance your patio. If your style is art deco, then choosing art deco lighting fixtures would make more sense than picking traditional fixtures. A patio with a modern air would call for a modern style fixture rather than one with a nautical theme, for example.
5. Take all of your information to a designer at your lighting or home improvement store. Do not limit yourself to what is on the showroom floor. Take the time to look through special order lighting catalogs to choose just the right outdoor patio fixtures for your home. Before placing any special orders, ask the lighting designer if he has a similar fixture in the showroom.
Tags: your patio, electrical connection, from electrical, from electrical connection, black wrought, black wrought iron
