How to Create Natural Outdoor Lighting Effects For Your Gardens

Creating a stunning garden takes time, care, and an eye for detail. But once the sun sets, all that effort can fade into darkness—unless your landscape lighting is thoughtfully designed. With the right outdoor lighting strategy, your garden can continue to shine after dark, offering both visual appeal and practical functionality.

Whether you’re entertaining guests, enjoying a quiet evening outside, or boosting your home’s curb appeal, natural landscape lighting can transform your outdoor space into a warm, inviting nighttime retreat.

Why Natural Outdoor Lighting Is the Best Choice for Gardens

Natural outdoor lighting enhances your garden’s beauty while keeping the ambiance soft and elegant. Unlike harsh floodlights or high-wattage spotlights, natural lighting mimics moonlight or candlelight, producing gentle shadows and subtle highlights.

This softer approach:

• • • Preserves your garden’s natural appearance
    • Adds depth and texture to plantings
    • Increases safety without overwhelming brightness
    • Extends the usability of your outdoor space

Tip: Think of garden lighting like seasoning—you want to enhance, not overpower.

Top Outdoor Garden Lighting Ideas for Natural Effects

1. 1. Add Warmth with Outdoor String Lights

String lights are an easy and affordable way to introduce a cozy atmosphere. Wrap them around trees, drape them under pergolas, or string them along fences to create an inviting glow.

Best For: Small gardens, patios, balconies, and pergola-covered seating areas.

Tip: Opt for warm white LED bulbs for the most natural-looking glow.

1. 2. Create Dramatic Effects with Uplighting

Uplighting is a technique where lights are placed at ground level and angled upward to illuminate vertical features like trees, statues, and garden walls. This creates bold silhouettes and striking visual depth.

Ideal For: Trees, architectural features, tall shrubs, and garden sculptures.

Pro Tip: Use narrow-beam spotlights for dramatic highlights or wide beams for broader wash lighting.

1. 3. Use Downlighting to Simulate Moonlight

Mount outdoor lights in trees or beneath eaves to cast a gentle downward glow that mimics moonlight. This technique offers soft, natural lighting ideal for walkways and seating areas.

Best For: Patios, garden beds, pathways, and tree-lined areas.

Tip: Use lower-wattage bulbs to maintain a soft, natural ambiance.

1. 4. Highlight Focal Plants and Garden Features

Start with your tallest plants or signature features—like ornamental grasses or statement trees—and use directional lighting to highlight their shape and texture. Then layer smaller accent lights to guide the eye through the rest of the landscape.

Best For: Flowering perennials, trees, garden art, and vertical structures.

Tip: Highlighting tall plants adds rhythm and balance to your nighttime garden

 design.

1. 5. Illuminate Pathways for Safety and Visual Appeal

Outdoor path lighting serves both form and function. Rather than lining lights symmetrically like a runway, stagger them for a more organic effect. Use shielded fixtures to direct light downward and reduce glare.

Best For: Garden walkways, driveways, stairs, and entry paths.

Bonus: Lighting steps and uneven ground improves safety after dark.

Creative Garden Lighting Ideas to Try

Tiki Torches and Flameless Candles

For a resort-inspired glow, use tiki torches or flameless LED candles. These work beautifully near pools, on decks, or in cozy garden corners.

Tip: Choose battery-operated flameless candles with timers for convenience and safety.

Use Subtle Coloured Lighting

A gentle touch of colour can enhance your landscape. Soft blue or green LED lights accentuate foliage, while amber adds rustic warmth to stonework or wood.

Tip: Use coloured lights sparingly to maintain a natural look.

Professional Tips for Better Outdoor Lighting Design

To create a lighting design that looks cohesive and refined, keep these technical tips in mind:

• • Use hoods and shields to minimize glare and direct light where it’s needed.
  • Choose beam angles and wattages that create contrast and highlight texture.
  • Place fixtures at side angles to reveal shadow and dimension.
  • Hide hardware behind plantings or stones for a clean daytime look.
  • Add spotlights to accent fountains, birdbaths, or small garden features.

Common Garden Lighting Mistakes to Avoid

Designing a natural garden lighting scheme takes restraint. Here are a few things to steer clear of:

• • Straight lines and symmetry: This can feel too rigid and artificial.
  • Too many lights: Over-lighting washes out the landscape and ruins ambiance.
  • Relying only on solar lights: These often lack brightness and consistency, especially in shaded gardens.
  • Harsh front-facing lights: This flattens features—always opt for angled or side lighting.

Tip: Test your lighting layout at night to make real-time adjustments before finalizing placements.

Design for Both Day and Night

Your garden lighting should enhance the space without being a distraction—during both day and night. Choose low-profile or concealed fixtures to ensure your garden looks clean and polished even when the lights are off.

Tip: Low-voltage LED lighting is durable, energy-efficient, and easy to customize.

Unlike solar-powered options, wired LED systems deliver consistent

brightness and can be precisely positioned anywhere in your landscape.

Why You Should Consider a Professional 

Garden Lighting Designer

If you want truly natural-looking landscape lighting, working with a professional can make all the difference. A qualified designer brings an artistic eye and technical know-how to ensure everything looks just right.

They can:

• • Recommend the ideal fixtures for your space
  • Balance aesthetic design with safety and visibility
  • Install hidden, weatherproof wiring systems
  • Optimize placement for energy efficiency and visual impact

At Nite Time Décor, we specialize in customized outdoor lighting systems for homes and businesses in Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, Halton, and Hamilton. Our team uses premium-grade, hard-wired, low-voltage or line-voltage LED lighting to deliver a system that’s both stunning and reliable.

Schedule Your Custom Garden Lighting Quote Today

You’ve invested time, creativity, and love into your garden—don’t let it disappear at sunset. With a custom lighting plan from Nite Time Décor, your outdoor space can be just as enchanting at night as it is during the day.

Contact us today to schedule your consultation and receive a free quote. Let’s work together to design natural outdoor lighting that brings your garden to life, no matter the hour.

Visit our website or call now to get started—your dream nighttime garden is just one switch away.

What Is Moon Lighting And Why Does It Remain So Popular?

There’s nothing more beautiful on a breezy spring night or warm summer evening than moonlight whispering in soft beams through tree boughs to your deck below. With landscape lighting, you won’t have to worry about clouds blocking your moonlight ever again with a simple technique. Read on for our tips for getting this beautiful permanent moonlight.

Moon lighting imitates the natural light of the moon in your yard. This type of lighting is subtle, elegant, and creates a ton of ambiance.

What Is Moon Outdoor Lighting?

Moon outdoor lighting, generally speaking, isn’t used for security or for task lighting – it’s soft, utilizes the natural movement of the trees so you’re looking for that sweet spot of providing light without being bright or harsh.   Light cast down from above, often filtered through trees and other features, results in a soft, full moon glow, regardless of the actual moon or the weather. As such, a tree with a large canopy is the best candidate for a moonlighting installation.

One of the reasons moonlight is so beautiful is its subtlety. The soft glow from a round silver sickle creates ambience and romance in a way that bright yellow outdoor lighting cannot. So, when you’re mimicking the moon with your Nite Time Décor landscape lighting, imitate its softness as well. Use low voltage landscape lighting to create your moonlight effect.

Create A Layered Design For Natural Effect

Where the “moonlight” looks most natural and gorgeous will depend heavily on your home’s unique features and landscaping. You’ll want the effect somewhere close to a heavy traffic area, so that you can enjoy it while relaxing on the deck. If you’re choosing a tree, pick a tall, full tree to make it look like natural moonlight has been caught in its boughs.

The moon and stars produce amazing natural light at night, but it’s a layered light. To create a realistic effect with your landscape lighting, you want several lights criss-crossing each other in your tree, angled down to the ground. One light won’t get the shimmering moonlight effect, and will be too harsh a light source.

Placement For Best Recreated Moonlight In Your Yard

When recreating moonlight, the effect is diminished if guests can see the fixture casting the light (because it’s obviously not the real moon). Attaching the fixtures within the tree hides the mechanics from view, offering light without a visible source other than the moon above. A good height to use is about 20-25 feet up into the tree. The dappled shadows on the ground, particularly in the lower, silvery blue tones will make your guests forget about lighting fixtures.

The other benefit of securing the fixtures high in the tree is that you avoid the glare that comes from lower angled lights. Bright, lower placed lights are harsh and stark on the human eye, and certainly would not create the moonlight effect that you want to achieve with your outdoor lighting.

Moonlighting doesn’t always have to be from trees. Sometimes it can be from the tops of your roof, patio, or gazebo in order to create a layered and beautiful moonlighting effect. This will always depend on your unique lawn design. A Nite Time Décor specialist can help you figure out what areas are best for your moonlighting locales.

What If You Don’t Have A Tree

Many of our tips for moonlighting refer to placing lights in trees and taking advantage of the natural movement of the leaves to create a dapples or filtered light. But what if you don’t have a large tree, or a large tree in the right place? That’s OK. Moonlighting doesn’t always have to be from trees.

Choose a location that has a considerable amount of height over the rest of your lawn. Moonlight effect won’t be believable unless it’s higher than most of your other architectural and natural features. Consider the tallest feature you have on your lawn that is within reach of high traffic areas such as your roof, patio, pillars or columns, gazebo, etc.

Take Advantage Of Other Landscaping Elements

If you have any water sources – whether it’s a pond, pool, fountain, or otherwise, moonlighting can create a fantastic effect on a reflective surface. Moonlight glimmering on water has been the source of poetic imagery for generations, so why not include that lovely ethereal scenery in your yard? Position your fixtures so that they’re in an architectural or landscape feature close enough to the water to create a shimmering design on its surface.

Shine lights from your trees or shrubbery nearby so that the water glistens off of the surface.

Choosing The Right Colours

Moonlight has a silvery blue tone to it that can be difficult to mimic with outdoor lighting services. The best way to imitate the tone is with slightly blue lights. Be careful with the shade of blue you choose, though. If you use too much blue the illumination will appear artificial, tacky, and provide a nightclub vibe. A light blue tone will do the trick, by creating a silvery blue tone that is closer to how the human eye perceives moonlight.

Choose a blue that is subtle, silvery, and low. When this filters through branches or onto the ground, the colour will hit the human eye in much the same way that moonlight does, creating the same colour perception.

Low Voltage Outdoor Lighting

When you are trying to imitate moonlight you need to use low voltage, softer lighting. You don’t want something that’s too bright, because it won’t look natural. If you do want bright lighting for security purposes, use these in other areas of your property in which you don’t want the natural feel. For example, you could use bright lighting on pathways or cast onto textured walls, rather than use the bright lighting for the down lights in your trees.

Don’t over light and use too many fixtures. Only install as much lighting as will build a light glow across your lawn. You want it to illuminate your yard enough to protect against intruders, but not so much that it will be bright and overwhelming. It’s a hard balance to find, but a Nite Time Décor specialist can help you out.

What Kind Of Fixtures Are Used To Create Moonlighting?

Flood lights are the most common products used. These will need to be placed at different angles and areas of the tree, depending on what you want to highlight. For lighter and less shadowing, ask your outdoor lighting service to mount the lights near the edge of the canopy and closer to the ground.

If you want to highlight just the tree trunk, place a light lower in the tree, just above the trunk and point it straight at the ground.

Does Moon Lighting Harm The Trees?

Some DIYers will use staples and hammer the wires to the tree. This isn’t terribly professional looking but it is effective in the short term. However, the staples do cause injury to the tree. The staples aren’t great for the wires either. Trees grow. A couple of years after installing those moon lights, the tree may have grown enough to damage or destroy all that hard work and now you have to cut into the tree to remove or replace the wires.

We use specially designed hangers that keep the wires secure and intact without harming the trees at all.

Leave It To The Pros

What part of hanging lights in a 25 foot tall tree (that’s a really long way up!) and running electricity across your yard (to code) sounds fun or easy to you? No one wants to spend his or her weekends or holidays engaging in something that could easily lead to an injury, cause damage, or fail to work as you want it to. This should be the time to relax, after all.

The best way to get landscape lighting in the Oakville, Mississauga, Burlington and Hamilton areas to fit your needs is to hire a professional. Seasoned experts can tell you exactly what fixtures will provide the most appealing aesthetic effect for your lifestyle and needs, and how to enhance the usefulness of your yard after dark, as well as the safety, security, and curb appeal of your home.

The warranty and lifetime maintenance is another huge benefit and the peace of mind knowing it was done properly and professionally the first time and won’t cause damage to your landscaping!

For any outdoor landscape lighting job that needs doing, we can do it for you! Don’t wait to enhance the night time beauty of your home. Contact Nite Time Décor for your complimentary quote, more information, or to book a consultation.

Landscape Lighting 101: Planning Outdoor Lighting, Even If You’re Not A Pro

Planning your landscape lighting can be a difficult and daunting experience. You may not know where to start, and the idea of devising a design that will provide an efficient, effective, secure, and visually appealing lighting system can be cause for anxiety. This is particularly true if you’ve never attempted to plan a system before.

As a homeowner, you work hard to make the inside of your home reflect your own unique style and personality. Why stop there! Designing and decorating the outside of your home, including lighting, offers the opportunity to show off your home in the evening and help it stand out in the neighbourhood.

A landscape lighting system can highlight the visually appealing architecture of your home and its natural elements, all while adding valuable curb appeal, security, and enhancing safety. But, form follows function.

Take a minute to read through this important list of considerations before you start planning your new outdoor lighting system or speak to one of our lighting specialists about installing a lighting system for you.

Plan for Living

Figure out which areas of your landscape and property you use most. Then decide which of these you will want to use at night, if it isn’t all of them. From there, you can plan your outdoor lighting to highlight these areas for safety and security so you can continue enjoying the great outdoors after sunset.

Decide where there are “risk zones” in your yard. Pick areas that need to be lit up for safety reasons, such as steps, around the pool, dark zones, and other areas where guests may be in danger of tripping. This has the benefit of adding security from trespassers.

How Will You Use Your Outdoor Space?

Before choosing any outdoor lighting designs, consider how you will be using your outdoor space. Do you only want security and safety lighting for your front walkway and entrance? Or, would you like to light up your backyard to enjoy BBQ dinners and entertain family and friends? Consider areas including, front steps, driveway, patio, porch, backyard, pool, or other unique architectural elements. The lighting design you choose will enhance the way you use your space, so be sure you’ve considered all the ways you’ll use your outdoor spaces at night before making your final decision.

Illuminate Points of Interest and Unique Features

Just as every homeowner is unique, so too is every yard unique. It’s important that you find the unique features of your yard and accentuate them. This is also the perfect time to express your personal style and tastes for passers-by.

When planning your outdoor lighting design, you should think about placing the fixtures so that your gardens and landscape is appealing regardless of the time of day. Think about any alterations or changes that you make to your yard with the seasonal shifts.

Determine Lighting Style

Deciding on the needs of each area of your home will help to streamline the decisions on what kind of lighting and lighting fixtures to install. You may want task lighting over the bar-be-que. Maybe you want to brighten up the darkest parts of your yard for security with strategically placed floodlights. Perhaps you’ll want to install uplighting for your trees or illuminate a unique architectural feature on your home with spotlights. You’re not limited to one style. If you want one type of light for the bar-be-que area, that same lighting doesn’t have to light up your dining area.

Let one style and brightness complement another. This is where smart technology and creating zones for your outdoor lighting design planning comes in!

Creating Landscape Lighting Zones Maximizes Versatility

Outdoor lighting has come a long way very quickly. Not only can we offer customers a variety of colours, beam spread, and intensity of light, we can create zones that can be controlled by scenes (twilight, dinner party, security, etc.) or control individual fixtures all right from your phone or tablet.

Zones are created by grouping fixtures placed close together on a single line from the transformer. Each zone then can be controlled independently depending on the intended use. Outdoor lights used for security will likely be needed all night and turn off at dawn. Lights for special events or just while you’re outside on patio could automatically shut off when you go to bed. Create a timed light show to music if you want. We can create as much versatility as you want if that flexibility is built into the design.

Using LED technology, landscape lighting is available in a variety of colours, beam spread, and intensity. Zones allocate a particular focus or intended use and each zone will complement and blend into another. Smart technology allows you to control individual fixtures with your phone or tablet.

There have never been more options for style and versatility.

Each lighting zone will be grouped on a single line from the main transformer and each zone can be controlled independently, depending on any number of factors. For instance, security lighting can be programmed to come on at dusk and turn off at dawn – set it and forget it.

Smart technology can also automate the lights on your patio or pool to suit your lifestyle. If you need lights for special events or while you’re outside on the patio, you can set those to automatically turn off at a particular time, or even create a timed light show to music to enhance the occasion.

How To Determine The Best Zones For Your Outdoor Lighting

You might create zones based on the proximity of the fixtures to one another or a particular feature (fence line, building, hot tub, or tree in the yard), or based on their function (security, pool, cooking). If you are creating zones based on function, you might want to craft a design where you can leave your security lighting on all night, but be able to shut off your garden lighting before you go to bed.

We recommend that you begin by drawing a rough diagram of your yard and make note of any features you want to highlight at night, such as a fountain, pond, statue, etc. Those individual items will need their own electrical lines if you wish to control them separately from other zones.

Next, identify which parts of the yard require specific kinds of lighting:

Pathway lighting for safety.

Downlights in the tree for entertaining.

Uplights along the foundation to highlight the house façade.

Spotlights for security around the garage.

This design draft will allow you to conserve energy and only use the lights you want when you need them. Want to know where to start when designing zones and choosing fixtures? Keep reading.

Limit Zones

The more zones you have, the more complicated the design becomes and intricate the electrical work. The fewer purposes you have, the easier the lighting will be to install. You can have some fixtures pull double duty. For instance, the path lighting for safety could also be used for aesthetics when you have friends over. When all the other light for entertaining turn off, the path lights for security will remain on.

Controlling Zones

You will be able to control which zones remain on all night and which turn off early. You don’t need to completely light up the front yard to deter thieves.

Know that you can control zones to turn on and off with the different seasons, or to coincide with your own sleeping patterns. Prefer to stay up late on Fridays and Saturdays, but have the lights turn off earlier the rest of the week? You can do that. You’ll also have the option to turn the lights off manually.

Basic Design Principles For Custom Landscape Lighting

Usually, the home is the focal point of a landscape lighting design, but other areas of focus can be included. A good design will tie these separate elements together to establish a cohesive appearance.

Be sure to avoid a flattening effect by only adding outdoor lighting to the front of your home. Instead, create a three-dimensional viewing experience by adding depth and contrast through lighting multiple angles.

Maximize your home’s nighttime potential. Many home builders install minimal lighting, so the effect is utilitarian rather than aesthetic. Upgrade the look of your home by highlighting its architectural features and landscaping to create a unique-to-you effect day and night!

Strategically placed landscape lighting directed at the shadows in your yard can increase the security of your home. Don’t forget your pathways, driveways, walkways, and stairs — they also need adequate lighting to provide safety for family and guests. If you have a pool or another feature that could pose a safety risk, proper lighting is a must.

Never accept a light fixture that’s only functional, search for the fixture that’s functional, looks great, and provides just the right kind of light. Many of these fixtures can pull double duty and provide light for multiple purposes to maximize your investment.

Types of Outdoor Lighting

In order to better understand your outdoor lighting design needs, consider the following outdoor lighting classifications:

Decorative Lighting: Adds overall value to your home by illuminating areas of your yard where you can socialize with family and friends. Our tiki lamps provide a nice downlighting effect and will enhance the mood around the pool or near the BBQ.

Landscape lighting: If your garden is the envy of the neighbourhood, why not show off all its features with lighting? Try our mini wash light for garden areas or our above-ground well light for trees or fountains.

Security lighting: Illuminating a large area will help to discourage trespassers. Sensors or timers will be effective once you determine where there are “risk zones” in your yard. Select areas that would benefit by being lit up for safety reasons, such as steps, around the pool, dark zones, and other areas where guests may be in danger of tripping.

Consider the Effect of Your Landscape Lighting

Rather than simply considering what the fixture looks like, you should be thinking about what desired effect you are trying to achieve. Common techniques are grazing, silhouetting, spotlighting, moonlight effect, and cross lighting.

Consider factors such as the height of the feature you want to highlight, the type of feature (hardscaping areas like fire pits, walls, and ovens, or natural landscaping), the colour of the feature, and the type of texture. Texture will enhance the effect of the lighting by creating shadows.

Layered Lighting Essentials

Layered outdoor lighting means even if you want to entertain on the patio every weekend and your spouse simply wants a quiet space to read, you can accommodate both activities effectively.

Ambient Lighting: This type of lighting provides enough illumination for comfort. After dark, our outdoor lighting expectation is that the light will be softer, more nuanced. Ambient lighting may be as simple as a ceiling fixture in a covered porch or pillar accent lights on a back deck. Ambient lighting is the backdrop, the basic first layer that all the others are built upon.

Task Lighting: Task lighting makes outdoor activities safe. This may include security lights for a garage or pathway. Typically, headlights help us see the driveway well enough, but what about the path to the house or yard? Will someone unfamiliar with the yard lose their step?

Lighting pathways isn’t the only type of task lighting. Remember that spouse who wants a quiet corner to read? Why not place a light looking over their shoulder from behind mounted in a friendly tree or landscape feature? String lights hung artfully over an outdoor table or kitchen create great atmosphere.

Accent Lighting: Water and electricity aren’t good bedfellows normally, but there are many attractive underwater lighting options for the pond or pool – and don’t forget decorative fountains. Accent lighting is great for special trees, vases, art, or unique yard features. But why highlight the puny tree that cost you $25 when you could highlight architectural detail of your home instead?

Remember that a single accent light on a tree will only highlight one angle. You’ll need to add lights to all the viewable sides. If everything is highlighted, then nothing is highlighted. Selecting specific features to highlight, less is more, will be more effective and dramatic than filling in every corner of your yard.

An expert in landscape lighting will consider how the space is used, how a feature will be viewed, and will choose fixtures and fixture placement to avoid you and your visitors being blinded by the light or stumbling in the dark.

Go Green

Consider the greener options to help the environment and your bank account. LED lights may be more expensive at the initial purchase, but will save you in the long run – especially with the many lights needed for landscape lighting.

Hire a Professional Landscape Lighting Installer

The best way to get well-design professionally installed landscape lighting in the Halton, Hamilton, Mississauga, Burlington or Oakville area to fit your needs is to hire a professional like Nite Time Decor. Our seasoned experts can help you plan and tell you exactly what fixtures will provide what effect, and how best to enhance the usefulness of your yard, as well as the safety, security, and curb appeal of your home. The warranty that comes with a professional installation is another huge benefit.

Don’t wait to enhance the night time beauty and safety of your home. Contact Nite Time Decor for your complimentary lighting demo and quote today.

Enhance your backyard water features with these awesome outdoor lighting ideas for pools, fountains and ponds. 

Outdoor lighting isn’t limited to lawns and gardens. What about those water features that you love so much during the day? Having a beautiful water feature in your yard is lovely to enjoy – the sound and sight of water can have a very calming effect. Using landscape lighting is a great way to admire your waterfall or pond even after the sun goes down and seems to transport your yard to a world of sparkling magic and ethereal beauty.

Adding some outdoor lighting to your pond, fountain, pool, or other water feature opens up many new opportunities for visual impact at night. Water features are often focal points of yards, gardens, and patios and should be properly showcased!

Highlighting your water feature can also provide a beautiful backdrop for nights spent socializing or just soaking up the relaxing sounds of the water. Nite Time Décor Oakville provides you with landscape lighting design and services that you won’t forget. And neither will your friends – they’ll be talking about it for years to come!

Creating the perfect lighting for your water feature isn’t quite as easy as setting up a spotlight. Safety also needs to be considered since electricity and water don’t mix well so hiring a professional is imperative.

We’ve compiled this helpful list of lighting ideas for your pool, hot tub, ponds and other backyard water features.

Submersible Lighting Adds Drama To Water Features

Submersible lights are placed below the surface of the water in a basin and then directed back towards the body of water. Ponds and fountains look especially beautiful when this type of lighting feature is used. Adding submersible lighting creates a shimmery effect, as well as illuminating any fountain streams. This can look very magical and be quite awe-inducing when done properly.

You can even enhance the effect by adding colour filters to your submersible. This is a fantastic way to show off creativity, as well as add a vibrant, trendy effect to your landscape water feature.

How To Keep Your Pool Safe At Night

Oakville pool lighting is more than just about aesthetics – it’s also about safety. However, safety does not need to come at the expense of the natural beauty of your landscape lighting.

Inground well lights around the edge of your pool will dramatically increase the safety of your yard. These lights highlight the edges around your swimming area, particularly areas that may be slippery or wet.

Well lights from Nite Time Décor Oakville also contributes to the aesthetics around your pool. If you have plants surrounding your pool, the well lights can create gorgeous shadows and silhouettes to add to the ambience.

Make your pool a warm and inviting location for a summer dip. Whether your pool is in-ground or above ground, outdoor pool lighting will create a look that is not only warm and inviting, but safe.

As noted above, submersible lights are common in pools and are often found at various intervals in the pool below the water line. These are a fabulous feature, but don’t let your imagination stop there!

Foliage Landscape Lighting

To give your landscape lighting a natural ambiance, consider placing the landscape lighting in the garden areas around your pool. If this isn’t an option, why not plant some flower beds along the pathway around your pool? The foliage connection is a nice design element that will help enhance your outdoor lighting and tie the entire look together.

A great landscaping idea is to place an ornamental tree in the yard with a four to five foot garden bed around it. Place some lights in the planting area and they will cast a warm glow into the pool water.

If you have large trees in your yard, why not place one of our down lights in them so they can shine directly on to your pool? The natural movement of the lighted leaves create fun shadows and other elements that help diminish the feel of the city in your back yard.

And of course, if you have a pool waterfall, you simply cannot neglect it. Ask us for more information on how to highlight water features!

Tiki Lamps can give your pool the accent lighting that your backyard has been lacking, while providing a nice amount of light to see with. The great thing about tiki lamps is they don’t have to be lit every night, only when you need them, and can be moved around the yard if desired.

And of course, if you have a pool waterfall, you simply cannot neglect it.

Let Your Pond Looking Its Best Even At Night

Lighting up a pond can be a tricky task. However, ponds are a special kind of feature of your commercial or residential yard that can look absolutely gorgeous when lit properly.

Perhaps the first thing people think of with a water feature at night is keeping everyone safe. But this can be easily achieved without sacrificing aesthetics. Of course you’ll want to make sure the perimeter of your pond is clearly visible at night, but how can we do that and still keep things looking amazing?

We can go back to the submersible lighting idea as outlined above. Placing lights in the pond looking up or into the centre of the pond can be quite attractive, particularly in combination with fountains and other features. The downside of this is that you won’t get the natural moonlight reflecting on the surface of the water.

Less is often more with underwater lighting, so this is usually used in combination with fountains, waterfalls, and sculptures.

Again, like with the pool, you can place lights in the surrounding foliage to catch the movement of the leaves while still illuminating the edges of the pond or the surface of the water. Subtle white lights are a great choice here because ground level lights can cast a glowing reflection across the water or mimic moonlight when cast down from a nearby tree.

Lighting Water Features With Surrounding Landscaping

You don’t need to overdo it. Lighting around the edge of the pond, highlighting protruding rocks, or small channels is an important safety consideration that doesn’t have to be garish or harsh.

Hiding lights among rocks around the pond can be a great way to provide subdued, but effective, lighting. Many restaurants or event halls with ponds tend to have bridges over the water. Place lights along the bridge to highlight the edges of the water while creating a romantic feel.

Coloured filters on the lights can also be quite nice. Subtle blues or yellows can provide natural tones to glow from the surface. A silvery blue is great for creating that moon on the surface of the pond look that’s so appealing at night. Avoid colours that are too bright or bold, particularly for commercial properties.

Keep Your Hot Tub Looking Romantic Even After Dark

Hot tubs are becoming more and more affordable, but they’re another water feature that needs to be lit properly to keep friends and family safe. If your hot tub is on a deck or some other raised platform, be sure the change of levels and stairs is clearly visible.

Again, surrounding the hot tub with recessed lighting is a great idea that’s both subtle and safety conscious. Submerged lights in the hot tub, coloured or white, create an exotic and romantic feel after dark.

Don’t Neglect The Pondless Patio Fountains

Some of us don’t have the space or time to maintain a pond or pool, but we love the soothing sound of water particularly at night. Many of the commercial patio fountains come with lights, but if yours doesn’t, why not add a string of (outdoor-rated) string or fairy lights? Give your small fountain that ethereal or other-world look after dark and create a nighttime focal point on your patio!

Overhead Deck Lighting

This type of outdoor lighting can give the illusion of moonlight, and we all know that swimming in the moonlight is a magical thing. Overhead lights can be mounted in surrounding trees or on gables and soffits of surrounding buildings.

In-Deck Lighting

Lights can be mounted right in your deck and pointed upwards to create an interesting effect. These lights can be installed in existing decks of all types including many concrete decks. Deck lights of this type can really help to accentuate surrounding architectural or garden features in a fresh way that is very attractive. In-deck lights can also be a safety feature by showing you and your guests where the edges of the pool deck are.

Stair Tread Lights

Since pool areas are often accessed with a set of stairs, why not take advantage of this and install lights under the edge of the treads. This is a great feature to have that not only looks great, but also helps improve safety for those navigating the stairs.

Adjacent Buildings

Lighting on and around adjacent buildings is usually a good and economical way to add lighting to your pool area. If this building is part of the pool area – an outdoor bar or shed for example – there are many options for lighting these types of buildings.

For a structure like a pergola, string lights can create that bistro feel, or up lights can highlight the structure’s architecture.

Lighting Choices For Water Features

The standard incandescent lights are still available, however investing in LED lighting will result in fixtures that are more energy efficient and adaptable. With LED you can add colour filters more easily to change with the seasons or for special holidays.

Low voltage lighting combined with water features creates a subtle and appealing visual. It’s neither overpowering or glaring but still provides enough light to answer safety concerns. Use the surface of the water to reflect the light over a greater distance instead of high-powered lights. Low voltage will get the job done, and continue to encourage safety.

Leave It to the Pros

Nite Time Decor Oakville has over 50 years of combined experience creating unique-to-you landscape lighting designs that will accentuate your backyard pool and water features so you can enjoy them all day and night.

A lot of thought and planning is involved in designing beautiful landscape lighting for your water features and pool which also requires professional skilled installation too.

There are a lot of electrical wires involved with adding any type of lighting, which can be a fire hazard. On top of that, combining those wires with water can make for a very “shocking” experience, so a licensed electrician is strongly recommended if you plan to do it yourself.

At Nite Time Decor, we are very knowledgeable about our products and can definitely help you find lighting options that will bring out the best in your landscape and water features. And, we will look after all of the electrical work too!

If you already have landscape lighting but would like an update, we can help with that!

Bring your pool and other water features to life with Nite Time Décor custom landscape lighting services. If you’re ready to gain the most unique and dramatic water feature lighting, contact us today for your complimentary quote and lighting demo. You’ll be happy you did!

With the month of May here and almost gone, that means COTTAGE SEASON has started!! Whoop! Why not make the most of your home away from home even after the sun has gone down and install some outdoor landscape lighting!

If you are a cottage owner, there’s a good chance that you spend more of your weekends at the cottage than you do in your own backyard in the summer. Most cottage goers prefer the natural light of a starlit sky or and roaring campfire.

While you might use your cottage to get away from the city and enjoy the great outdoors, it’s important to remember that landscape lighting can keep you safe and secure while also allowing you to maximize your usable space.

Because of these benefits, we recommend installing a landscape lighting system around your cottage. If you’re hesitant to this idea, you’re not alone. That’s why our lighting experts have outlined the 7 best ways to use landscape lighting for the cottage so you can have all the benefits that an outdoor lighting design offers while not compromising on your outdoor experience.

Being able to see the stars is what people want from the cottage so minimizing light pollution is paramount. Design follows function, my friends.

Point Light Down

Many cottages are in designated “dark sky” areas, which means that property owners need to be extra-careful about the type of lighting fixtures they choose to use. In order to preserve that view of the starry night sky and soften your landscape lighting, keep lights pointed down.

Lighting from above downwards on your landscape is how the moon shines and looks natural.  Using shields to shine the light downward as opposed to up toward the sky will help create a calm and subtle ambiance in your outdoor space and help you avoid light pollution.

Downlight Prevents “Light Trespass”

If you have neighbours nearby, down lighting will also keep you from shining light onto your neighbour’s property while trying to illuminate your own. Light trespass, or accidentally lighting your neighbour’s property with your outdoor fixtures, can cause quite a bit of tension in cottage country. To avoid this, don’t over-light. Instead, opt for low wattage downlighting effects to ensure a subtle, manageable glow.

Using fixtures that are low to the ground such as stake and post lights may be a happy compromise that allows your family to safely navigate the yard or pathways at the cottage without blocking your enjoyment of the night sky or the moon on the water.

This doesn’t mean you can’t put a light over the front or back door, but you may want to skip the uplighting to highlight the façade on the front of the cottage or avoid the spotlights pointed up at trees for curb appeal.

Use Lower Wattages

You don’t want to miss out on the fireflies, shooting stars or seeing the Big Dipper at night, so using dimmer lights at the cottage makes sense. Not all fixtures can accommodate lower wattages, not all locations can accommodate this (pool or dock lighting for instance needs to remain bright).

Solar powered lights might can be the perfect compromise here.

Lights On When Needed

Timers and motion sensors can be super helpful at the cottage. Regardless of what lighting options you choose it is helpful to have them controlled by a timer. Timers can help to save energy and minimize the impacts of artificial lighting. Not only will your human and wildlife neighbours appreciate it, you’ll have better control over your hydro bills.

This way lights only come on when needed or when you want them to, and you won’t forget to turn them off! Plus, it can help security if it appears there are people there all the time and not just on weekends.

Maintaining the dark sky is important to many cottagers. Consider a self-imposed light curfew and have all lights off by 11PM for instance.

Safety and Security Is Still Important

Safety and security at the cottage is important too, but the risks may look a little different than in the city.

Use lighting for pathways, steps and docks

Providing a safe environment for your family, friends and guests is one of the biggest benefits of installing landscape lighting around your cottage. The last thing you want to do during a weekend away is take a trip to the emergency room for an injury that was obtained due to poor visibility.

Cottages are notorious for uneven terrain, exposed roots, steep slopes, docks and ponds, unfamiliar paths, etc. Ensure that where sure footing or staying on the path is important that appropriate lighting is provided.

Pathways, steps and docks are three of the most important areas to illuminate to create a safe outdoor environment at the cottage.

Before installing your landscape lighting design, take a moment in the daytime to walk the perimeter of your cottage and scout out any areas that could present a hazard in the dark  – ascending, descending or uneven areas, stairs, pathways or the dock.

Light Up Signposts and Address Markers

Don’t forget the signpost or number for your cottage. Whether it’s a weathered sign nailed to a tree, a dedicated post, or some numbers next to the door, make sure this is clearly visible at night. This not only helps your family and friends find your cottage after dark, but it’s essential should emergency services ever be required.

This doesn’t mean your security lighting be entirely utilitarian. There are a lot of options to provide safety lighting in attractive and appealing ways that don’t cause light pollution. There are a lot of attractive plastic and resin options that will require less maintenance and withstand the elements better than metal like cast iron.

Lighting Task Areas

Cottagers love to make the most of their vacation, which often leads to lots of late night BBQs and impromptu bocce ball tournaments. Or lighting the area around the deck, dock or boat house. Ensure these areas and activities take place in well-lit areas with professionally installed task lighting.

Motion sensors may be just the ticket for areas where activity at night is more sporadic. This way you have light, but only when you need it. The most important consideration here is safety, but also keep in mind where the light is directed to keep the skies dark.

Keep It Simple

When it comes to a landscape lighting design for your cottage there’s one important thing to remember: the cottage is not the city. Because of this, you should not treat your cottage landscape lighting design the same as the outdoor lighting you have at home. When creating a lighting design for your cottage, use a ‘less is more’ approach that allows you enough light to be safe but not so much that you’re outshining the moon.

You might want to skip the chrome or polished fixtures for something more traditional. Choosing a black or pewter finish means the fixtures will blend in at night when not in use. Ornate and intricate fixtures will look out of place in a rustic cabin or cottage. Instead, consider fixtures that incorporate reclaimed wood, or textured natural elements.

In the city you set up outdoor lighting so that you can enjoy your landscaping and architectural features, but while you’re at the cottage you want to enjoy nature. It’s hard to see the stars and the fireflies when there are lights everywhere. Another consideration is the impact excessive lighting can have on wildlife behaviour when artificial lighting is added to their natural habitat.

One more consideration – extra lighting means extra bugs. Bzzzzz!

Don’t Want Electric Lights?

Some cottage owners prefer not to have electric lights at the cottage at all. Depending on the layout, location, and the soil conditions of your cottage property, it may be impractical to run wiring to things like the dock or along steep pathways.

For these areas consider using battery or solar powered lighting fixtures. While they may not be as bright, they may be perfectly suited for this type of application. For other lighting consider using LED fixtures to save on energy. LEDs may have a higher initial cost, but they will typically require less energy and less maintenance over their lifetime, resulting in a net benefit.

Selecting Fixtures for Your Cottage

There’s a lot to consider when selecting outdoor lighting fixtures for your cottage. While you want the style to compliment the cottage feel, you’ll need to be careful about what materials you ultimately decide to use.

Exposure to moist air can quickly take its toll on stainless steel components. As such, our Nite Time Decor outdoor lighting experts recommend using bronze fixtures. While brass and copper fixtures will rust and corrode, bronze fixtures are far more resistant to moisture and wind. What’s more, they’re often designed with a rustic feel, making them the perfect option for cottage life.

Contact Nite Time Décor

Your cottage is meant to be your sanctuary away from the city, and if you’re not a lighting professional, creating an outdoor lighting design and performing a successful installation can become a lot of work. And we all know cottages are meant for relaxing weekends away. And if you choose the wrong design you leave yourself open to over-illumination that will take away from the whole cottage experience. If you install the design incorrectly you could spend hours trying to find a solution by way of trial and error.

At Nite Time Décor Oakville, our lighting professionals can help you choose the perfect design for your outdoor space and install it quickly and correctly, so you can enjoy your lighting design right away. Whether you’re looking to get a design installed right away or just have questions about where to start, contact Nite Time Décor today.