Summer is here and with it those warm and relaxing summer nights. Most of us have to spend our days toiling away at a computer desk, so how we spend our time in the evenings is even more important. To truly enjoy the nice weather that summer brings, a well-designed and lit backyard is imperative. We’ll go over five ways to optimize your outdoor space for enjoying California’s legendary summer evenings.
1. Establish a Grand Entrance
An inviting entrance is important for both businesses and residential properties, as it sets the right tone for guests. If you plan to entertain this summer, a warm and inviting front yard is especially key. Install lights in your driveway to add interest to your space and ensure a safe trip from the car to the house. Use LED flood lights to uplight your vertical features, such as trees and columns. You’ll create stunning shadowing effects and highlight the inherent beauty of your architecture and landscape. When entering your home is a wow-experience, your guests will be impressed and excited for the evening to come.
2. Illuminate Your Patio and Pool
To enjoy all that summer has to offer – good weather, relaxing evenings, and quality time with family and friends – make your patio and pool the star of the show. Install hanging bistro lights to create parallel and intersecting lines of light. Your hanging bistros will mirror the night sky and cast beautiful reflections onto your pool. You’ll catch yourself repeating, “night never looked so good.”
3. Define Your Pathways and Walkways
No backyard is complete without bright, charming, and safe walkways. To ensure you’re sure-footed each step of the way, install accent lights surrounding your garden pathways. If you have steps, think about lights that go right into the foundation of each step. These step lights are elegant and discreet, resulting in safety without disturbance to your space’s aesthetic design. Your friends and family will relax and have fun well into the night, as they seamlessly move throughout your backyard.
4. Make Your Foliage Pop
As we all know, a great backyard is a perfect blend of architecture, foliage, and décor. To make the most of your backyard day and night, landscape lighting is a must. To get the most out of your greenery, highlight your trees with flood lights and your perennials with accent lights. With carefully placed landscape lighting, all the colors of your trees, plants, and flowers will shine throughout the night.
5. Turn Up the Volume with Outdoor Audio
No backyard is complete without a quality outdoor audio system. Our cutting-edge Sonarray system combines satellite speakers, subwoofers, and an amplifier to create uniform volume levels throughout your entire space. Plus, speakers are finished in a natural earth tone, so can be easily hidden within your plants. Whether you’re relaxing after a long day at the office or entertaining guests, you can connect wirelessly, stream music, and enjoy the sweet sounds of summer.
As always, if you need help perfecting your outdoor spaces for summer, we’re always happy to help. We aim to provide the tools needed to make your outdoor experiences bright, fun, and memorable. With strategic lighting and a bit of music, your California summer will feel endless.