Hi and welcome to our website which is all about out door living and making the best use of your deck and other outdoor spaces. Outdoor living is an option everywhere – even the coldest parts of the country but is of course most popular for those of us lucky enough to live in warmer climates. Though extreme heat and humidiity will drive us all inside in the height of summer with the right landscape design and structures your outdoor spaces can become an useful part of your home almost year arouund. Lets consider some of the most important aspects of designing not just a beautiful outdoor space – but one which is practical as well.
Landscape Lighting
Candles may be romantic -but they are certainly not pracitcal or safe for lighting your outdoor patio! Instead you need to consider an outdoor landscape lighting scheme which will will be both practical and enhance the area. A popular option is low voltage landscape lighting becasue this type of lighting can be installed easily by an amateur and does not require a sophisticated outdoor power setup. Even easier, and a green alternative, is solar powered landscape lighting – this is particularly useful for lights that are only required for a few hours after sun-down – which is often most of your external lights. Although not that bright, solar-powered lights can be adequate for paths and border illuminations.
Outdoor Furniture
When it comes to outdoor furniture there is a bewildering range of choices – but its probably best to start with the larger pieces and decide an overall look for yoru outdoor space – just like you would a room inside your home. Modern outdoor furniture comes in every style from resin wicker furntiure, to solid teak furniture to cheap and cheerful plastic outdoor sets. Outdoor dining furniture are often the center piece of a patio area and you probably want to spend most of your budget on a good quality dining set. An outdoor bar and BBQ are also popular additions to your outdoor room.
Outdoor Furnishings
Just like rooms within your house you can soften the look and make the outdoor space more inviting by using outdoor furntiure cushions and indoor outdoor rugs. Choosing the right fabric is critical particularly if you keep these items outdoors all the time. Another option is to have a storage unit or trunk for cushions where they can be stored when not in use and protected from the elements- particularly the sun which will fade bright colours quickly in many parts of the country. If you are going to leave outdoor seat cushions in place all the time you should ensure that they are wind-proof and tie them firmly to the chairs so the wind doesnt’ rearange them for you!
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Tags: If you are contemplating adding solar landscape lighting to your property, be assured that this is a fine way to increase the curb appeal of your home. There are several types of solar powered landscape lighting available. These include LED landscape lights, flood lights spot lights, solar powered driveway lights. To be sure there are others but these are some of the most common.
Nearly all solar landscape lighting reviews talk about the economic advantage of installing solar lighting, and why wouldn’t they? After all, once you’ve paid the acquisition cost, the only other cost is going to be bulb replacement and that’s going to be quite minimal. Most landscape lighting solar powered LEDs are rated from around 30,000 to 40,000 hours, which is far longer than any other type of light source.
We chose to install solar driveway lights because at night people didn’t notice turn in our driveway all the time, and they kept bumping into our Dogwood tree. We went out and purchased seven driveway lights and installed them.
Since we had chosen solar, installation was really easy. You just pick a spot and push them into the ground. Ever since we installed these new lights, two things have happened. One, people say they love the look of those lights at night when I drive up to the house, and two, no one bumped into that Dogwood tree since, which we, and the Dogwood tree, really appreciate.
Those solar lighting landscape driveway lights started me thinking. We have covered patio in the back yard, I started thinking about using solar string lights. I was thinking it would look really extraordinary and have LED lights, which are small and look a lot like stars, lighting up the backyard at night.
Then I thought of another place I could use low voltage lighting. The back wall of our property is is a pretty long expanse of nothing. There’s no color, no features, really nothing but a plain wall. Here’s my idea. I am going to put a series of solar powered floodlights at the base of the wall. Each one will be a different color, and the be aimed at the wall in such a way as to make different shapes splashes of color against the wall at night. I think the effect will be quite nice.
As you can see from just these two ideas I’ve had, there are endless ways to use solar lighting. And if by having solar landscape lighting I am able to increase the value of my home, so much the better.