Experts recommend lighting the garden before planning the garden area and before performing landscape work. This is due to the fact that all technical elements of lighting systems must be carefully protected from negative climatic influences: rain, snow, gusts of wind, etc. It is also necessary to provide in detail the location of the lamps, which should harmoniously fit into the composition of the garden and help the owners to effectively navigate in space at night.

Main purpose

When illuminating various elements and open areas, the main thing is a stylish decorative design that effectively highlights all the advantages of the landscape and allows you to see the beauty of individual objects, trees and shrubs. Often, outdoor lighting of the territory is used for additional security of the house and to ensure unhindered movement along the paths.

To decorate and illuminate the garden, lamps in the form of floor lamps of various heights are most often used. Modern manufacturers offer a huge selection of lighting fixtures in various architectural styles: Hi-tech, Classic, Minimalism, etc. The efficiency of work with proper design, selection of fixtures and their installation does not depend on styling at all.

Garden paths and stairs

When planning garden lighting with your own hands, you should remember about practical purposes. Illumination of paths and stair steps should illuminate them with high quality, so that it is safe for adults and children, permanent residents of the house and its guests to walk along them. Luminous lanterns, harmoniously located at a certain distance from each other, should help move around the garden, while creating the effect of a mysterious tunnel.

Today, special lamps built into tiles or other coverings of garden paths are very popular. Equipped with high-tech LEDs, this backlight is not visible during the day, but with the onset of darkness, a spot glow appears with a soft, dim light that instantly transforms the surrounding area.

Note! When illuminating a staircase or several lifting steps, it is necessary to focus on all the steps, illuminating each element separately. To achieve these goals, a wide variety of lamps can be used: spotlights, flashlights, built-in tubes and hidden lighting.

Water

During the day, any garden pond is individual and interesting in itself. But with the onset of dusk, its beauty fades, so only an effective lighting system can give a pond, pool, waterfall or fountain new life at night. The most demanded and popular sources of artificial light are ordinary flashlights, which are usually placed along the edges of the reservoir to clearly delineate its boundaries. For additional emphasis on the composition near the coast of plants and decorative elements, experts advise installing the backlight directly in the thickness of the foliage with directional light on sculptures or gushing fountains.

The light "from the inside" of the garden composition looks rather unusual. In this case, the backlight is placed in the reservoir, using special lamps with a protective casing for this. Modern decorators and landscape designers widely use floating lamps to illuminate ponds and other bodies of water, made in a wide variety of styles in the form of imitation of animals and plants, geometric objects and transparent spheres.

Video

About the types of garden lamps, see the following video:

A photo

Light at night is a comfortable movement around the yard and garden. It creates a cozy and romantic atmosphere in the recreation areas, and competent lighting of the garden will turn it into a fairy-tale kingdom.

But light is primarily electricity, the consumption of which is limited by the capabilities of the transformer and your budget. That is, when planning the illumination of the site, first of all, it must be made functional and economical, and after that, pay attention to the decorative part.

Nobody argues about the aesthetic side of the issue: in this regard, the widest range of outdoor lighting fixtures with a waterproof body has been created. These are wall, floor and ceiling instances that require a power source to connect.

The important thing is where to place them and what type of lamps to choose in order to ensure the most convenient movement around the site and rational energy consumption. The shape and size of the yard can vary greatly, so it is customary to install the light based on individual needs. But there are places where it must be.

! Lighting the entrance to the yard (gate, gate) is your protection against injuries and the safety of the house from unauthorized intrusion. The intensity of illumination in this zone is chosen moderate.

! Shine in the area of ​​​​the porch and the front door, and in such a way that shadows do not form on the steps, otherwise the descent from them may end in a fall (there is additional side lighting for this). Here you can set the average intensity of evening lighting and additional bright light for the moments when you need to open and close the door with a key.

Make visible outbuildings and approach to them. This technique will protect their integrity and the safety of the content. The intensity of the light must be sufficient to see what is happening around them.

It is customary to combine such local lighting with perimeter lighting, and if the latter is usually on constantly during the night, then the local light is turned on only as needed.

There are several ways to turn the light on and off: manually by installing a relay on the switch and using infrared sensors.

With manual lighting control, switches for all points are installed inside the house, and the control of the illumination of the porch, main path and gate is regulated at the entrance to the yard. It works like this:

• leaving the house in the evening, you turn on the lighting around the perimeter and illuminate the way to the exit;
• having closed the doors, before leaving the gate, you turn off the local light with one movement, and the perimeter will act as general lighting;
• when you return home, you turn on the light on the way to the house, and turn it off only when you enter the room.

Lighting of outbuildings is best controlled from the house and switches located inside them.

Motion sensors will help replace manual activation. There is no need to flip the switch: as soon as the door or gate opens and the movement around the yard begins, the infrared device will work and turn on the desired lamp. The sensitivity of the sensors can be adjusted, so fears about cats and dogs in the yard are in vain. With a well-adjusted adjustment, you can exclude them from the "list of incoming".

And for general illumination of the perimeter, the installation of an automatic relay is suitable. It works when the level of daylight decreases and turns on the necessary lighting, and extinguishes it in the morning.

The choice of the type of lamps for functional lighting of the yard and garden will be discussed later.

Light on the site is not only a necessity caused by security, but also a luxurious element of decorating the yard, garden and building facade.

The complexity of decorative lighting lies in its design solution: the compatibility of the style of the lamp and its location.

A garden bench can be illuminated with a garland of small lamps (by no means an LED tape - here it will look cold and uncomfortable), wrapped around a nearby deciduous tree and sometimes hanging from the branches. Leaves will mask light bulbs and mysteriously shimmer in the dark with flickering light.

Lanterns are hung on a tree by wrapping an electric cable in a thick winding around a branch or trunk. The other end of the cable is connected to the wiring (read later in the article).

Ground lamps-balls with matte shades look luxurious and modern. Their light will not hurt the eyes and favorably illuminate the surrounding area.

To illuminate the water surface, floating and underwater lamps are suitable, built into the bottom of the pond even at the stage of its laying. Water gratefully accepts the color change, so you can safely experiment with the evening coloring of the surface of the pond.

In my opinion, floating lamps most effectively illuminate the calm expanse of the pond.

Underwater lighting is especially good at illuminating a waterfall. It is directed from bottom to top along the line of falling water or behind a water screen.

The pool or bathing pond is illuminated so that its edges (outdoor lighting) and the bottom of the reservoir (underwater lights) are clearly visible.

You can entrust the installation of such lighting only to specialists involved in this type of activity.

A separate story is the lighting of plants. There is no point in singling out each. In the garden, several of the most spectacular trees, shrubs, tall grasses are selected and illuminated from below.

The easiest way is to illuminate the garden paths: ceiling lamps on the posts will look beautiful and natural in this role, they are made either from frosted glass, or they direct the light down so as not to blind the eyes. Patios and terraces are decorated with the same lamps.

Solar-powered lamps will help to avoid electrical work in the garden - their light is not bright, but sufficient for decorative purposes and lasts until the morning.

Small lamps with low power scattered around the garden look charming, tearing fragments of a mixborder from the paws of darkness, garden sculptures, stone placers.

LAMP TYPES

It goes without saying that only street lamps in a waterproof case are suitable for outdoor lighting. Any initiative in this regard is punishable by accidents.

Incandescent lamps have long passed into the category of endangered specimens, since their use is completely uneconomical. The best indicators of rationality for LED (light-emitting diode) lamps. Despite their high cost, they are the lowest energy-consuming and practically eternal (11-15 years of operation - such an indicator cannot but cause respect).

LED tapes are hidden under the lower part of benches, gazebos, road decking. When the light is turned on, the effect of soaring and weightlessness of the structure appears.

If LEDs seem expensive to you, opt for less economical, but optimally priced compact fluorescent lamps. Their place is where there are doors and a very good degree of illumination is required.

But halogen lamps have reflectors, which is only appropriate when illuminating the porch, steps, facade and tall objects - where you need to give a long light beam.

Avoid placing lamps with reflectors around the perimeter of the site, especially if their light can be directed into the eyes. You are not guarding a food warehouse, but decorating your beloved yard with light!

The convenience of solar-powered lamps has already been described above, but they have another indisputable advantage - you do not need complex verified calculations of the power supply location. You can improvise with their location as long as you like until you find the best placements. By the way, this is a great tool for learning the tricks of light decoration. Minus - fragility.

So, the supply of electricity on the site can be ground and underground. In the first case, it is mandatory to hide it in an insulated and impact-resistant box and lead it to those places where walking is excluded.

In order to be practical and aesthetic, it is necessary to provide lighting for the garden. Highlighting trees, shrubs, artificial ponds and paths looks very beautiful.

Moreover, you will be able to admire your garden even after dark. The lighting of the site should be approached no less responsibly than the lighting of the room. A room equipped not only with a chandelier, but also with additional lighting fixtures looks much more comfortable. However, it is necessary to observe the sense of proportion, otherwise you can get the opposite effect.

To conduct electrical wires to illuminate the garden plot, it is necessary to lay them underground, in a previously dug trench.

The trench is made with a minimum depth of 45 cm and has a hard coating on top in the form of paths or platforms. Wiring under flower beds, flower beds and lawns should be carried out at a depth of 60 cm. To protect electrical wiring, a flexible hose is used that is not afraid of temperature changes, decay and mechanical stress.

Do not forget to prepare a place for installing the machine with switches.

If you have not previously encountered the conduct of electricity, it is advisable to seek help from professionals, thereby protecting yourself.

Outdoor lighting fixtures must be waterproof, frost-resistant and rust-free.

Varieties of garden lights:

• Suspended, fixed on the surface of the ceiling gazebos, patios or terraces.
• Floodlights with directional luminous flux.
• Wall lamps designed to illuminate places for recreation.
• Floor (bollards) with a height of 30 to 60 cm.

To illuminate a small area, it is worth opting for compact lamps with a soft, pleasant light. Lamps with a height of more than 60 cm will cause discomfort, since the light flux will be located at eye level and act blinding.

By purchasing lamps with a pointed tip, you can move them until you find the optimal location.

Pay attention not only to the decor, but also to the functionality of the lantern, otherwise it will please the eye only during the daytime, and give an unpleasant light at night.

Pay attention to outdoor garlands, which look very impressive on a tree, arch or patio. Thus, you will create a permanent presence of the holiday on the site.

Solar-powered appliances will free you from working with electricity and help save money. Their light is not enough to illuminate the area, but they are quite suitable for highlighting beautiful plants or decorative elements.

They are ideal for a small area that you visit only in the summer. In addition, they can be easily removed if necessary.

We invite you to watch a video that will tell you how to make an unusual garden lantern with your own hands.

Rules

An upward stream of light will illuminate tall bushes, buildings and tree crowns. Downward beam illuminates smaller plants. Preference should be given to warm and not very bright lighting.

When planning the lighting of the garden plot, you need to think carefully about everything. Each lantern should not only fulfill its direct function, but also be an element of decor, appropriately located between plants and decorative elements on the site.

To illuminate the path, provide small lanterns in the form of fungi, otherwise it will be light everywhere except on the paths themselves.

If the garden plot has a special seating area, highlight it with soft, warm diffused light.

With a little creative thinking, you can turn a boring garden area into a real masterpiece.

With the onset of the warm season, many people prefer to spend their free time in the country, surrounded by nature and clean air. In addition to country affairs during daylight hours, the lighting of a suburban area becomes important after dark. Some think that you can limit yourself to ordinary incandescent bulbs and primitive lamps installed only in the most necessary places. But if there is a desire to create a beautiful, worthy and even more high-quality lighting, you will have to spend money. There are many options for how to illuminate the area in the country.

Requirements

Do-it-yourself country lighting should be as functional as possible, save energy and meet all safety requirements. It is also important to connect it to autonomous sources of electricity. This is due to the fact that the dacha is characterized by frequent power outages and therefore alternative sources are needed.

There are certain requirements according to which it is necessary to organize lighting at their summer cottage. These include the following:

• The electrical wiring used for lighting must be installed in accordance with the installation rules and not pose a danger to others. Be sure to install circuit breakers and RCDs, with which you can protect the line from the occurrence and consequences of a short circuit, as well as de-energize the network in case of overloads in automatic mode. It will be important to carry out the grounding of a country house.
• The laying of the supply cable must be carried out in metal or plastic pipes, as well as in corrugation. This is necessary to avoid mechanical damage to the wiring. Switching devices are used in the form of sockets and switches of a moisture-proof type.

• Do-it-yourself lighting of a summer cottage should be arranged in such a way that there is free access to the revision of all its elements. Used luminaires must be switched so that it is possible to turn them off locally, as well as emergency.
• If the site lighting will be carried out around the entire perimeter and in places of the future lawn, it will need to be designed and installed before the start of landscape work. This is due to the fact that the cable is laid in pipes and underground, and this leads to a violation of the garden decor.
• To illuminate the territory on the site, it is better to use lamps that save electricity. The best option is LED lighting or solar-powered light sources. This solution saves about 70% of electrical energy.

Organization of the street lighting plan

Simply choosing lighting fixtures to illuminate the area at night is not enough. Before starting installation work, it will be necessary to draw up a plan for placing lampposts and poles around the entire perimeter of the site, as well as laying out routes for laying cables in the ground.

First of all, it will be necessary to determine the zones of the necessary illumination, the places of connection and connection of the electrical lines of each lighting device. This can be done using waterproof sockets hidden from direct exposure to moisture, or junction boxes buried in the ground or located on lampposts. The marking of the location of the switches is organized at the discretion of the owner of the site, based on the convenience of their use.

For convenient drawing of the scheme, with which the lighting of the territory will be equipped, you can use a photocopy of the plan of your site. In its absence, you will need to draw a plan on a scale of 1:100, which will indicate all the existing buildings. The lighting scheme is created taking into account the future landscape design. You should take into account the places where recreation areas will be located, such as gazebos, terraces, ponds, and also take into account the presence of country paths.

The diagram indicates the location of future fixtures. Usually, each point on the map is denoted by the letter L. In addition to the light sources, the location of the switches is indicated - B; sockets - R; if necessary, you can specify motion sensors, a bell, surveillance cameras, etc. on the map.

When designing, special attention should be paid to lighting the entrance to the house, the most dangerous places on the site, the gate. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the height of the installation of fixtures, since in winter they can be covered with snow. Illumination on fences is not recommended. This is due to the blinding effect of the lamps.

In any case, the decision on how to make lighting for a summer residence depends on the personal preferences of the owner of the site, his imagination and the money that he is ready to invest in it. If you are unable to properly organize the illumination of the territory, it is better to contact specialists who will do this quickly and efficiently.

The main options for lighting a summer residence

It should be borne in mind that the lighting of a summer cottage can carry various functions, and therefore, depending on one or another option, it is necessary to select all the lamps according to the type of their purpose. There are several types of lighting for a suburban area:

• General. The main function of this lighting is the organization of visible zones on the territory of the site for safe movement at night, as well as the implementation of various works and spending free time. Lamps designed for this purpose should be mounted near the entrance to the house, along garden paths and near the entrance to the territory.
• Marking. This type of lighting is usually used to emphasize any elements of decor and landscape of a summer cottage. These can be steps, benches, the boundaries of a parking space for a car, etc. Most often, lanterns on small legs, “glowing stones”, and pendant lamps are used for such lighting. It is better to use lamps in which LEDs are installed. This will save on electricity and choose the right color for the backlight.

• Security. The main task of such lighting of a country house and the surrounding area is to protect the site from intruders. Such lamps are installed so that all main areas are illuminated: the threshold of the house, garage and entrance gates, and a parking space. You can use general-purpose lights, but for the effect of surprise, motion sensors are used, which give the impression of a person in the house. It is possible to adjust the operation of the lighting system or its individual elements in automatic mode. This is possible due to the installation of a time relay, which will turn on specific lighting groups at a given time.
• Decorative. This type of lighting includes lamps, lamps and lanterns, which are installed mainly in places where it is necessary to emphasize landscape design, near water bodies, in areas where people spend their leisure time. Such lighting devices are not aimed at illuminating the territory, but only serve as illumination and decor. Currently, there are many lamps of this type, for every taste and color.

Luminaire types

Illumination of the summer cottage area should carry not only the functions of decor and protection, but also have economic efficiency. Many have already begun to abandon incandescent lamps, as they consume a large amount of electricity and often burn out. Today, there are many options for their replacement. These include the following types of lamps:

• halogen and fluorescent - have a long service life and consume less electricity compared to incandescent lamps;
• lamps with LEDs and LED strips - their main advantage is a bright glow and low electricity consumption, and the service life is the longest among competitors. Some types of lamps have the ability to adjust their brightness;
• fiber optic systems - appeared on sale recently and are already in great demand. They can be used in almost every lighting option.

All luminaires can be classified according to certain criteria, such as where they are installed and powered.

The installation is divided into the following categories:

• Wall lights;
• outdoor light sources;
• pendant lights;
• spotlights that shine with a scattering beam;
• fiber optic systems.

According to the power source, lamps can be divided into the following types:

• electric - the main type of street lighting for a summer cottage;
• solar-powered lamps - easy to install, move, do not consume electrical energy, but are quite expensive;
• candles in decorative jars are part of a romantic design and require constant attention.

Due to the constant impact of weather on street lighting, it is necessary to choose luminaires that are designed for outdoor use and have a sealed housing that does not get moisture inside.

How to make an original backlight with your own hands?

The cost of most garden lamps becomes for many an obstacle in arranging a summer residence with decorative lighting. Do not be upset, because you can make a little effort, turn on your imagination and, with the help of improvised means, perform interesting design solutions for street lamps. Consider the main ways to create decorative lighting with your own hands.

A fairly common option is a lamp from a bottle that has an interesting shape and a garland inserted into it. The void in the bottle is filled with exotic material, you can use beads or some beautiful balls. In the absence of a garland, use a small flashlight that can be inserted into the neck.

Very simple and beautiful is the version of the lamp from the original glass jar. Any interesting material is suitable for filling its contents, whether it be sand, stones of different colors or even pebbles. A candle is installed inside the jar, and for greater decor, it can be tied outside with a rope or lace material.

There is another option for using cans. To obtain a beautiful effect, it is necessary to paint it from the inside with luminescent-based paints. You can make a variety of patterns. In the dark, an original glow is obtained.

Quite interesting are the lanterns made of tin cans. To create them, you will need the banks themselves, garlands or candles. To create original lighting, you will need to make holes or patterns on such a lamp with a nail so that light seeps through them.

A dacha is a kind of outlet for a city dweller, a breath of fresh air, relaxation for body and soul. It is for this simple reason that a city dweller pays so much attention to the design of a summer cottage - he creates beautiful flower beds, lawns, installs various kinds of decor and pays a lot of attention to highlighting all this beauty at night. After all, it is the evening coolness after a hot and sultry day that allows you to fully enjoy the beauties of man-made nature. Garden lighting will be discussed in this article, in which, together with the website, we will talk about the principles of its self-production.

Do-it-yourself garden plot lighting photo

Garden Lighting: Five Rules for Optimal Garden Lighting

Modern people put forward only two main requirements for garden lighting - this is efficiency in operation and efficiency in perception. In order for the backlight to meet these requirements 100%, five basic rules should be followed.

To learn how to make decorative lighting in the garden yourself, see this video.

And the last, most important rule says that the location of each individual must be reasonable and carefully thought out. It should be understood that the decorative lighting of the garden plot is not a random pile of lighting fixtures, but a full-fledged composition of them, in which, together and separately, the lamps should have a semantic load.

DIY garden lighting: manufacturing principle

As a rule, in the summer cottage there is a lot of all sorts of things that one way or another can be highlighted - this is the house itself, and, and, and, connecting the whole thing into a single composition, and even trees and so on. All this is highlighted in various ways and using various lighting devices - a lot depends on the correct choice of light source, and special attention should be paid to this point.

Summing up, we can only say one thing - by and large, with the exception of various kinds of design intrigues, the choice of lighting fixtures for the garden is very meager. In global terms, these are various kinds of network and solar lamps, still fluorescent stones. There is not much to choose from, which is why it is best to focus your attention on the design of lamps. Naturally, one should not lose sight of the smaller nuances, which we will discuss later.

Do-it-yourself garden plot lighting: choice is everything

In addition to the main nuances of choosing lighting fixtures for illuminating the garden, there are a lot of small ones, ignoring which leads to nothing. It should be understood that there are no trifles in such matters, and it is they (minor nuances) that together create a complete picture of the garden. When choosing lighting fixtures, it is advisable to pay attention to the following points.

What else do you need to know about garden lighting? There is no doubt that almost any type of lighting fixture for a summer residence can be quite simply made with your own hands from improvised materials. Almost anything can be used, but among the most common items of human life, a special place is given to various jars, flasks and. These are almost ready-made shades that provide reliable protection of the light source from rain. Naturally, you will have to try a little to give such a lighting fixture a more or less attractive look. In principle, this is the creative process, without which this business cannot be dispensed with.