Garden Lighting Design - Top Tips!
By Sally Storey, Creative Director at John Cullen Lighting.
If you are considering lighting your garden, remember that a little light goes a long way at night.
Here are my top garden lighting tips to help you light your garden beautifully and use the best garden fittings for the required task.
1. Use garden lighting selectively and remember that darkness can also be used to conceal any less attractive areas. Decide on the areas you want to light, what your key features are and focus on these.
2. The key to successful garden lighting is flexibility. John Cullen Lighting’s LED garden spike lights are ideal as they can be easily moved to suit the changing seasons and planting growth. Our 1w LED Kew spiked spotlight and directional 1w Hampton spiked floodlight now allow you to light your garden extremely effectively using as little as 20w of light in total – so you really don’t need to feel guilty about energy consumption. For larger gardens, our 8w Kensington and Richmond are an ideal solution.
3. Remember to light steps for safety. The 1w LED Riena orLucca External recessed into the side wall, are ideal solutions and create atmosphere as well as reduces the risk of anyone tripping. Alternatively, for an instant garden lighting effect use night lights in small glass holders which provide a pretty way to emphasise a staircase or low level wall. Consider using the 1w Riena or Lucca to uplight a wall or the side of a pot.
4. Most garden lighting fittings are black but the ones that usually blend into gardens best are olive green. Copper fittings can also be good as they patinate to a neutral green colour with age. When mounted high up in a tree as a downlight, bronze fittings blend in well with the colour of most tree trunks and can provide pools of light at the base.
- When lighting outside living spaces, make sure the wall lights complement rather than detract from the lighting in the rest of the garden. Wall mounted lights Pillar up/downlights can be dramatic or use wall lanterns can be a soft solution. Alternatively, use Wall Downlights as shown above or our new miniature 1w Syon spotlight.
6. For an additional element of magic, why not suspend our wonderful LED Starliter in a tree. These are best hung in three’s and they produce a wonderful twinkly atmospheric light.
- In addition spike some Carella candle lights into your flower beds to light them. These look like staked flares or nightlights and can even be used to light a path.
- Add a wash of light to the planting surrounding your al fresco dining area to show off the colours and flowers when it gets dark. This is best achieved with a selection of 8w Kensington spotlights for taller more structured planting or Hampton and Richmond floodlights for the front of flower beds or paths.
- In an age of energy efficiency, a whole new range of exterior lights from John Cullen from 1w to 8w means a garden can be lit for less than 60w! There is need no longer feel guilty about energy consumption in the lit garden at night. Let the experts at John Cullen extend the feeling of space with magical garden lighting with our design service or just our products.
Comments (8)
Jessica Magri
6 years ago
Anna
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Need help in designing Foyer Area
Comments (28)Hi Few points: 1. It's not an independent residential apartment. It is a flat in a 25storey block 2. I have attached the floor plan for reference. The entrance is not too huge. 3. It's good to know that you guys have liked the Bathroom & kitchen design. The tiling work is in progress and it has come out well. I will take few snaps and post 4. When I say resort look - I understand and mean a simplistic natural looking design. More towards wood, nature, green, matt finish etc... Hope i am not confusing anyone here 5. Do you think the bathroom & kitchen design gels with what I mean by resort look. 6. The foyer area is a small (not too big) entrance. It's like a passage as you can see in the pics I posted earlier. When you enter you don't see the entire living room rather you see the wall (kitchen wall), where we intend to keep our dining table. Some thoughts on designing that wall is also requested Thanks!...See MoreSingaporean Houzzer? Say Hi!
Comments (91)Hi Everyone! We are a creative, caring, energetic team of individuals who take pride in striving to be the best we can be for ourselves, our suppliers and our customers. We are excited by giving our customers the tools to create homes that are not only good to look at, but are fun, comfortable and functional to live in too. We aim to spark the imagination, so that our collections will give their owners a sense of putting their own unique stamp on their environment. Twenty years of travelling the world, searching for the unique has given us the inspiration and resources to create our own ‘Originals’ blend of furniture for the home. Shop at our online store : www.originals.com.sg or drop by our showroom at 896 Dunearn Road, Sime Darby Centre #02-03, Singapore 589472 Tel: +65 6471 9918 | Email: Shop@originals.com.sg Cheers, Originals...See MoreHow can I spice up my boring balcony?
Comments (8)Artificial turf! The green (they come in different colours, too, if you'd like to be psychedelic) adds a lively pop of colour to a blah space, and they're designed in easy-to-install tile-style units that have some built-in drainage for minimal maintenance. Absolut Outdoors and Green Turf can tell you more :) And I'd hang an outdoor art piece or a screen for air plants on that blank wall, too, to enliven your balcony....See MoreNeed help with Scandinavian style for BTO
Comments (5)Hi Mr Martini! Congratulations on the new BTO! Hiring a good interior designer will definitly help with designing your new home. And seeing that you are a family man, I imagine you would want as little hassle as possible. A good interior designer will listen to your ideas of how you want your home to look like, and make it happen as best as possible, taking into consideration your family's lifestyle, HDB limitations on renovation, your budget, etc. While my husband and I did hire an interior designer for our resale flat, I unfortunately will not recommended them for they gave us more headache than I felt necessary for the tiniest of problems. So do ask around and see if anyone can recommend a good interior designer. Back to your love for Scandinavian design! I was going for the Scandinavian style too only to later realise along the design process, that we were not loving the bland colours and minimalism and somehow, we managed to end up with a relaxing resort-themed home which we're loving. In fact, a recent Houzz article tells us that the Scandinavian colour palette is moving away from pale cool shades which I find fun and refreshing. Here's the link: Check out this story from houzz - http://houzz.com/sr/m=7/u=L2lkZWFib29rcy82NjU4MDg4NA== Nevertheless, if bright pops of colour is not your thing, here's another article I found: 'Top 10 Tips for Ceeating a Scandinavian Interior': http://freshome.com/2012/12/03/top-10-tips-for-creating-a-scandinavian-interior/ I feel this article breaks down the Scandinavian style so that it's easy to replicate, one aspect at a time. As a common design style in Singapore, I think most deisgners are now very familiar with this style so you shouldn't have any trouble achieving this style. All the best, Mr Martini with this exciting (though sometimes exasperating!) project and do share photos of your new home if you can! Katherine...See More
Michael Newborough
6 years ago
Caroline Keeble
6 years ago
Harry Martin
6 years ago
PRONick Auston Design
6 years ago
PROTouch Landscapes
6 years ago
Maddy Ciccone