Your swimming pool is the centerpiece of your backyard oasis. And no doubt, it’s already an exciting complement to idyllic West Bloomfield, MI, summers with hours of enjoyment, entertainment, and fun for adults and children alike. But a key factor that will help bring your pool to the next level—especially when it comes to safety and beauty—is outdoor lighting. Here are four outdoor lighting ideas that will help turn your backyard poolscape into a dreamscape.
Walkway and Pool Deck Lights
Walkways leading to your pool represent an ideal place for creating the right balance of form and function. Proper lighting along the route to your pool is essential to providing visibility and safety. Placement and direction of light help guide people along, while creating a tranquil, inviting environment that sets the scene. Lighting around the pool decking accentuates that resort-like feel and ensures an unobtrusive source for sightlines, depth, and definition that truly bring the best out in your pool and poolscape. When it comes to pool deck lighting, two options you may want to consider are in-ground lights or above-ground directional lights.
Structural Lighting
Just as walkway and pool decking lights foster safety, beauty, and definition in and around your poolscape, you don’t want to miss out on eye-level and vertical definition that come from well-placed structural lighting. You know that pergola you love to sit under to dry off after a daytime swim, perhaps with a cool drink in hand? It’s also a perfect place for some outdoor lighting at night that makes your pergola even more inviting after the sun goes down. And if you have an outdoor kitchen, there are lots of possibilities for task lighting around your grill, fridge, and more. These are areas where people tend to congregate and so, all the more reason, to showcase them and increase their visibility and ensure proper safety.
Highlighting Trees and Plants
Trees, plants, shrubs, and flowers offer enormous opportunities for adding accents and ambience that will transform your poolscape into a piece of paradise that’s equal parts serene and festive. There is a moonlight effect that outdoor lighting can foster with well-positioned lights, shining in and through the trees. An evening that’s enjoyable becomes magical. An occasion that’s already a highlight becomes a memorable moment in time talked about for weeks and months to come. Shrubs and flowers that are so integral to your landscape during the daytime no longer have to wait until the sun rises again to be noticed and appreciated. Their beauty and color add to your poolscape that is fast becoming the dreamscape you’ve always wanted.
Add LED Color Bulbs and Make Your Poolscape Stand Out Even More
As you plan out your calendar for special occasions, birthday parties, or seasonal holidays, why not consider adding LED color bulbs as part of your lighting scheme, not only to make your poolscape pop with color but also to make it more versatile, increasing its utility and purpose throughout the year? You’ll have the added benefit of the longevity that LED lights provide.
Of course, as you think about all the ways you can bring your poolscape to life with outdoor lighting, you’ll also want alignment with the rest of your landscape design. This is where your landscape contractor’s expertise is invaluable.