Sometimes you enjoy sitting on your patio in the dark, but more often you like to see who you’re sitting there with and where you set your beverage down. Conversations are more enjoyable when you can see facial expressions. When you don’t have enough light to see your beverage, you’re likely to accidentally knock it over, which means you’ll have to go inside and get another one.
If the above scenario sounds the least bit familiar to you, it’s time to investigate professional patio lighting. Even worse, if you’re still trying to get satisfactory light out of tiki torches or citronella candles, it’s time to investigate professional patio lighting.
While patio lighting is available as a stand-alone service, most clients of Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Northern Ohio select patio lighting as part of a mix of landscape lighting services. If you could choose just one type of landscape lighting, what would it be? For many people in Solon, OH, that would be lighting for the patio.
What, Exactly, is Patio Lighting?
As we mentioned above, patio lighting is primarily landscape lighting in the patio area. How we design the lighting around your patio depends on what types of landscaping you have there and what other hardscape features you have. Let’s look at some of the possibilities:
- Do you have shrubs encircling your patio? We can use small light fixtures at the edge of shrubbery to cast a bit of light around the outside of the patio. They’re the same fixtures we use for path lighting because they’re small enough to tuck right up next to the base of the shrubs.
- Do you have any trees with branches overhanging the patio? Ah, the trees. We have a special effect we call moonlighting we can use when tree branches extend over the area to be lit. We install small lights high in the tree to shine down through branches and leaves. The effect is magical, hypnotic and dramatic. When the night is still, you’ll see flecks of light and shadow across the surface of the patio. When there’s a breeze, the tiny shadows will dance and sway. You’ll swear there is a full moon out every night of the year.
- Do you have container gardens around your patio? Container gardens provide an amazing way to enjoy a mixture of plant textures and colors in a relatively small presentation. We can use lighting fixtures small enough to tuck into those container gardens. The result is a soft glow that helps to illuminate the patio without overwhelming the space with too much light.
- Do you have a seating wall or planters built into your patio? By now you are realizing that we can use small lights placed strategically to create an overall effect. Our patio lighting techniques include placing small LED lights under bench seating and at each end of the seating wall itself. We light built-in planters the same way we do container gardens.
- Do you have an outdoor kitchen built into your patio area? Now we’re getting away from landscape lighting, but that’s OK, we’re still talking about patio lighting. An outdoor kitchen not only presents additional opportunities for lighting installation, it also provides additional necessity for lighting. You want to be able to see what you’re doing out there.
Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Patio Lighting?
The last thing you want around your patio is the glare of spotlights. A little bit of outdoor lighting goes a long way, so we are careful not to over-light. Our goal is to create a gently-illuminated area with a relaxing ambiance, a place where family and friends gravitate at the end of the day.
Is Nighttime The Best Time to Enjoy Your Patio?
It’s up for debate, but many people do believe the best time to enjoy a patio is at night. During the summer, especially, sometimes it feels too hot outside to enjoy the patio until the sun goes down. Those who work late or have a long daily commute may not even get home until after sunset. They are entitled to enjoy their patios, too! All they need is a little patio lighting to make it right.
Dining al fresco with friends on the patio? There is something incredibly relaxing about lingering over the end of the meal, enjoying tea or wine while the sun starts to set. When you have patio lighting, you won’t need to move indoors after dark. It’s our opinion—and we are biased—that patio lighting in Solon, OH, is truly a necessity. That goes for the rest of northern Ohio, too, by the way.
Where do you go to find the best patio lighting in Solon, OH?
Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Northern Ohio, of course! You won’t find it at the home improvement stores or with a landscaping company that does outdoor lighting as a sideline. Outdoor lighting is all we do, and we’re passionate about doing it right. You won’t find a better outdoor lighting company around. We have served the northern Ohio area for over a dozen years and have a client base that would go nowhere else.
