During the warm summer evenings and nights, we Brits like to make the most of the weather, staying out until long beyond sunset with tables packed full of salads and BBQ goodies. While the weather's right, we want to spend as much time as possible in our gardens; designing your lighting to create an atmospheric space that both relaxes and impresses is very important for when the sun goes down. Indoor and outdoor lighting company, Festive Lights, have produced a list of garden lighting trends and tips for summer 2017 to see you through to the first frost.

Bring the inside out

It's always been about bringing the outside in, but how about changing things up this summer and making your garden an extension of your indoor living space? Hygge was all the rage this winter – making your interiors warm and snug. Whilst it's more difficult to make exterior spaces cosy and inviting, due to being wide open, using the right furniture, accessories and lighting can create an alluring ambience.
Fairy lights and festoon lighting are key features in making your garden space more enticing this season. They perfectly illuminate any space, not giving off a stark and bright light, but a soft warm glow. Wrap string lights around trees or drape along fences, or string festoon lights across open areas to create a cosy café atmosphere.
Lanterns, whether Moroccan style, lit by wax or LED candles, or even colourful hanging lanterns on string lights, have proved very popular throughout the winter, a trend which will continue into the summer; able to be taken out onto patios and lawned areas for a decorative feature that will not only brighten the space but will be a fantastic talking point.
Garden rugs and throws have been a popular trend on sites like Pinterest recently. These are perfect for when the evening turns to night and it starts to get a little chilly.

Enhance features

Every garden needs a focal point, whether that's a vast tree, an interesting rockery, or even the brick face of a building. The way to really bring your garden together is to enhance that key feature using strategic lighting. With well-placed lighting, you can accentuate the parts of your garden that give it character whilst drawing it all together seamlessly.

Highlight borders

Borders are often forgotten, seeming old fashioned and out of date now, but drawing attention to them can create a comprehensive scheme to your modern garden. You can create this effect by installing strips of waterproof LED rope lighting around the bottom edge of your border. This also makes a great statement for any patios, decking or terraced areas too, to illuminate pathways as well as creating a feature.

Solar lighting

In a similar way to highlighting borders and pathways, solar lights are a fantastic option for lighting that can act as both functional and decorative. Not only are they far more energy efficient, saving you money in the long run, but they're also easy to install and can be left in place for a long time.

Layer your lighting

We've all heard about layering our clothes in winter, but any interior designer or garden landscaper can talk for hours on the importance of layers in your garden. Bringing together all the above ideas in a thoughtful and well-planned way will allow you to carefully manipulate the atmosphere in your outdoor space. Make sure to create contrast between light and dark to define wide spaces or give the illusion of more space with reflective elements in small gardens.

Draw attention to texture on the ground with low level cross lighting, combine it with uplights and downlights on features, define pathways and borders with strip LEDs, then give the space some ambience with fairy lights, lanterns and candles. Be careful to keep balance in your garden though, you don't want to be lit up like Blackpool illuminations!

-ENDS-

Notes to editor:

Established in 1999, Festive Lights is a lighting specialist with a product portfolio spanning indoor, outdoor, functional and decorative products.

Predominantly an online business, the firm has a store in Wigan.

Founded by Mark Higginson, inventor of vehicle theft steering wheel deterrent, Disklok, the family run firm is headed up by Mark and his wife, Margaret, along with sons Matthew, Martin and Mark, and son-in-law, Stephen Alty.

In November 2015 Festive Lights was named a 'Google Certified Shop' and in February 2016, the business received 'Feefo Gold Trusted Merchant Accreditation', recognising excellent and consistent customer service. 

With a number of celebrity fans, the company has also supplied many well-known retail, hotel, leisure operations, such as Hollister, Pitcher & Piano, The Ritz, Holiday Inn and Chester Zoo.

List of products

https://www.festive-lights.com/outdoor-led-string-lights-connectable-black-rubber-cable#217=1648

https://www.festive-lights.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=BL006WW-W

https://www.festive-lights.com/4-5m-clear-cap-battery-party-festoon-lights-10-warm-white-leds

https://www.festive-lights.com/outdoor-festoon-lights-connectable-warm-white-clear-leds-black-cable

https://www.festive-lights.com/indoor-moroccan-metal-lantern-with-led-plastic-candle

https://www.festive-lights.com/outdoor-battery-flickering-candle-lantern-24cm#217=509

https://www.festive-lights.com/solar-lantern-party-fairy-lights-10-multi-colour-led-2-7m

https://www.festive-lights.com/fairy-led-lights-connectable-green-cable#217=124

https://www.festive-lights.com/outdoor-metal-diamond-string-lights

https://www.festive-lights.com/outdoor-led-rope-light#217=158

https://www.festive-lights.com/d180-super-solar-pir-lamp-stake-light-2pk

https://www.festive-lights.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=SL013

https://www.festive-lights.com/stainless-steel-solar-deck-lights-4-pack