Different types and styles of patio lighting

There are many different ways that you can provide illumination to your garden, patio, drive or footpath. Here is a summary of the various lighting options.

Down lights (and up lights)

These are lights that are generally wall mounted and they usually point down to illuminate an area, or sometimes upwards to produce a dramatic look or to illuminate corner alcoves or create shadow effects. They come in a range of shapes and sizes and many are stylish in appearance.

Recessed deck lighting

Recessed lighting features are perfect for sinking into timber decking. They are usually round, square of hexagonal in shape and, although they are not usually flush with the decking, they only project slightly. Most of these deck lights have a metallic finish although coloured, timber and stone look finishes are also available. They are perfect for timber decked patio areas that are used for night time entertainment and dinning.

Recessed lighting for turf or solid surfaces

This kind of lighting is primarily for paths and driveways where illumination is a visibility and security measure. Recessed lights of this type usually require professional installation and, in an existing driveway, it will be necessary to chase out channels for the electric cabling. There is normally some adjustment of the lights direction that can be made during fitting.

These kinds of lights can also be used in masonry walls to provide illumination to a path or drive below.

Movable spike lights

Lighting of this kind is intended for placement in either turf (lawn) or flower beds and uses a sharp spike at the base of the light fitting that can easily be sunk into the ground.

Lights of this type can be quickly moved around or taken in doors when not in use. They can create some nice effects when partially hidden in shrubbery or low level planting.

Spike style lights may be hard wired to a mains electricity supply, but more usually they rely on a small solar energy cell that powers a battery that stores energy during sunlight hours and is then triggered into light at dusk. This kind of lighting is cheap and versatile, but only offers limited fluorescence.

Spread lights

These are the typical garden lights that may or may not be spiked (as described above) and which are intended to provide a general 360 degree scattering of light in a localised area. They are perfect for demarking lawn borders or the edges of a patio and since many have a mushroom style canopy they are attractive to look at – even during the day.

Bollard lighting

Most bollard lights are found to the side of drives and paths and they are normally hard wired and secured in the ground. Because they are hard wired they offer good luminescence and can be controlled with a master switch or placed on a timer or daylight detector. Many of these lights have stylish and modern designs.

Step lights

A lighting effect can be achieved on steps either by using recessed lights or by using special step lights.

Step lights come in the general shape of a solid square block with pre-recessed lights on two adjacent surfaces. These blocks can then be built into a step (of similar height), or used in sequence to create a step to a raised area. The lighting blocks normally have a timber or stone effect and the lights have a metallic surround to the (impact resistant) glass cover.

Tree mounted lights

For good illumination and dramatic shadow effects it can be a good idea to fix lighting to a well established tree or a secure timber pole.

High level lighting requires spot light strength illumination, but it can allow a single light to illuminate a large area without causing glare or "catching some ones eyes in the headlights".

Brick lights

Brick lights are specialist lights that take the size and shape of a brick or concrete block enabling them to be substituted into a wall, mounted on a wall, or partially recessed into it.

Light clusters

Light clusters see a combination of small individual lights all supported on a single mount. The individual lights normally point in different directions to one another enabling them to provide a spread of illumination whilst producing a dramatic effect.

These light clusters can be mounted on bollards, walls or other fixing arrangements and the individual lights can often be adjusted separately.

LED lighting

The LED light is the latest in outdoor lighting options with very low running costs.

Lamp post style garden lights

These are exactly what their name suggests, i.e. lighting that reflects the appearance of a street lamp. The most popular versions mimic the style of the old Victorian gas lights from bygone days, but there are a great many options available.

Rope lights

Rope lighting is perhaps used more for decorative effect at festivities like Christmas. It provides an attractive and distinctive feature, but provides limited illumination of the surrounding area.