The back of the house has a different job
The front of a property is a view. The patio is for people sitting in it. Everything changes once you are the one sitting under it. Nobody cares how the patio reads from the road. What matters is whether the space still works after dark.All of which adds up
https://emilianoigvk303.trexgame.net/outdoor-lighting-in-greenville-sc-from-roofline-to-walkway-outdoor-lighting-around-greenville-and-the-upstate to one point. A roofline system does a great deal for the front of a house and almost nothing for where you sit. Two spaces, two separate sets of requirements to satisfy.
Glare ruins more patios than darkness does
A single glaring bulb will empty a patio faster than no light at all. Look at a bright source and your eyes stop adapting to the dark. Aim for illumination without a visible bulb.
Bistro and string lighting
Strung lights above a patio give the space an edge overhead. A patio without them has no top to it. With them it becomes an outdoor room. Warm and dim is the setting that works, because bright overhead strings turn a dinner into a parking lot.The good version rarely costs more than the bad version, because aim and color temperature are free decisions.
Layers, the way a designer thinks about it
A patio usually needs three kinds of light. Something overhead for general warmth. Something low for the steps, the edges and the path in. And a little accent somewhere at the edge. Put them on separate controls if you can, because the dinner setting and the cleaning up setting are not the same.
Restaurants and businesses face this too
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. Nothing changes technically. Only the reason does.
Lighting buys you months
An unlit patio stops being usable in October. A lit one keeps working well past the point the sun stops cooperating. In the Upstate there are plenty of mild nights well outside summer, and almost all of them are dark by six. The lighting is the thing standing between a nice evening and an unused patio.
Warm light and the bug question
Outdoor light attracts things on a warm evening. Warmer light pulls in fewer of them, which conveniently matches what looks good anyway. It will not eliminate anything, and that is not a claim worth making. But it is a free consideration when choosing the setting.If a permanent system runs along the roof over the back of the house, set it warm and low for evenings outside, so nothing competes.
Getting your patio looked at
The plan comes from seeing how you use the space, not from a template. EverCrest Lighting does patio and outdoor living lighting for residential and commercial properties in Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, out of Greenville. The consultation is free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].