What to look for when shopping for outdoor lighting

Just as lighting can add warmth and beauty to the interior of your home, it can also help illuminate your outdoor spaces, and exterior lighting offers occupants and visitors a greater sense of safety. With options ranging from string lights and sconces to floodlights, there are many ways to brighten up your patio, deck, doorways, fence posts, and pathways. Here's what to look for when shopping for outdoor lighting.

Outdoor sconces

Fastened to an exterior wall, outdoor sconces offer a blend of style and function. Use them to brighten recessed walkways, pathways, and stairwells and to illuminate dining areas and darkened corners. When shopping for outdoor sconces, look for products with low-wattage bulbs to prevent harsh glare. For overall illumination, opt for lights with exposed bulbs, but for pathways and walkways, choose adjustable light fixtures that point downward.

Ceiling-mounted lights

Exterior lights that mount to a ceiling are a great option for brightening up a covered porch, entryway, or dining area. When choosing overhead lights, make sure the product fits in proportion to the size of the ceiling. For covered areas lower than 8 feet in height, pick lights that mount flush to the ceiling, and try pendant lights for ceilings that rise 8 feet or more from the ground. Ceiling fans with lights deliver a triple benefit: they offer lighting and cooling on warm evenings, and they help keep insects away. Purchase lighted ceiling fans for gazebos and covered porches, but make sure products are rated for outdoor use.

String lights

Creating an inviting, magical glimmer, string lights can be hung along fences, wrapped around trees, or suspended over a patio or deck. When purchasing string lights, choose smaller bulbs for a more decorative look and larger bulbs for more direct lighting. Before you buy, remember that products featuring LED and halogen bulbs offer bright, cool light, while Edison-style bulbs cast a warmer glow.

Landscape & deck lights

Landscape lighting goes a long way toward accentuating your home's exterior. With a variety of products, it's easy to find just the right look for your outdoor space. To brighten sidewalks and pathways, purchase stake lights that can be pushed into the lawn, garden, or flower beds. To illuminate outdoor decks or fences, choose cap lights that mount on exterior posts. For an eco-friendly and cost-effective source of lighting, look for solar-powered products or LED lights. Remember that solar powered lighting needs to be installed in areas that receive at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight during the daytime. For long-lasting use, choose landscape lights with weather-sealed bulbs as opposed to exposed bulbs.

Outdoor lanterns

Lanterns and hurricane lamps offer handy, portable options for lighting exterior spaces. To illuminate tabletops and still enjoy face-to-face conversations, choose products that measure no larger than eight inches in height. Brighten a buffet table or outdoor console with a larger lantern measuring 14 to 18 inches in height, and tuck even larger lanterns and lamps into dark deck or patio corners.

Security lights & flood lights

Equipped with high-intensity bulbs that offer a broad spectrum of light, security lights and flood lights are designed to bathe certain outdoor areas in bright light. Created for safety purposes, these lights are often used to deter criminal activity and illuminate pathways and doorways for quick and easy navigation and keyed entrance when returning home after dark.

When shopping for security lights and floodlights, look for those that have a motion sensor. This handy feature causes lights to turn on whenever there is movement nearby. Not only does a motion sensor save on electricity, but it offers an element of surprise to would-be burglars and wild animals. Choose products with high enough wattage to flood the desired area with light but low enough that light does not disturb your neighbors.

For more kinds of outdoor security lighting, consider dusk-to-dawn lights that keep your home illuminated at night but turn off automatically at sunrise. You might also choose security lights that you can operate manually with the flip of a switch.

Outdoor lighting accessories

Make sure your outdoor lights burn bright all year long with a few handy accessories. Products like powers cords, rechargeable batteries, replacement bulbs, wattage control boxes, stake outlets, remote control devices, and string light hooks help keep your outdoor lighting functioning well when needed.