Two sides, two purposes
The front of a property is a view. The patio is a place you occupy. Everything changes once you are the one sitting under it. Nobody cares how the patio reads from the road. The only test is whether the space gets used.All of which is a long way of saying the back yard is its own project. A roofline system does a great deal for the front of a house and very little for the space behind it. Two spaces, two separate sets of requirements to satisfy.
Glare ruins more patios than darkness does
The fastest way to make a patio feel wrong is a bright fixture in somebody's line of sight. A bare bulb at eye height makes everything behind it disappear, so the rest of the property vanishes. Aim for illumination without a visible bulb.
String lights are not a shortcut, they are a real technique
Strung lights above a patio create a ceiling where there was not one. A patio without them is a slab under an open sky.
https://collinmxkf729.quantlynix.com/posts/off-season-storage-and-holiday-light-takedown-what-happens-in-january-who-takes-down-your-christmas-lights-january-and-the-part-of-holiday-lighting-nobody-plans-for-what-to-expect Add a canopy of light and the area has walls it did not have. Keep them soft, every time.The good version rarely costs more than the bad version, because aim and color temperature are free decisions.
How the pieces stack
Think of it as three jobs, not one fixture. Overhead, low, and a feature or two. Put them on separate controls if you can, because the dinner setting and the cleaning up setting are not the same.
Commercial outdoor dining
A restaurant patio has to solve this every single night. Bistro and string lighting over an outdoor dining area makes the space usable and inviting after sunset. The same rules apply, only the consequences are measured in covers.
The part that pays for itself
An unlit patio stops being usable in October. A lit one stays open well past the point the sun stops cooperating. Mild evenings happen most of the year here, they just happen at night. The lighting is the thing standing between a nice evening and an unused patio.
Something worth knowing about color
Anybody who has sat under a porch light in summer knows what shows up. Warmer light pulls in fewer of them, which happens to be the same answer aesthetics gives. It helps. That is all. But it is a free consideration when choosing the setting.Worth adding: the same warm setting suits the roofline above the patio, so the two do not disagree with each other.
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, out of Greenville. The consultation is free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].