Creative Garden Light Designs

One of the gifts of being a homeowner is the ability to create your home however you wish. 

Whether going for a classic look or a contemporary feel, there is an endless array of possibilities for home design. Homeowners however can sometimes forget that the ability to create timeless, classic, or otherworldly looks extends not just to your home but to your landscape as well! Gardens can become entryways to mysterious, intriguing destinations or to bright, loud explosions of color, based solely on the garden theme you choose!

English Cottage

This garden design evokes a classic, small-town romantic European look and feel. A simple pebbled path can give you so much to view! A straight path runs from your garden gate to front door, allowing you to pass through the landscape while protecting your herbs and shrubs from unwanted foot traffic. You can see your lawn on both sides, as well as the tall hedges that frame the edges of your property.

Additionally, English cottages are often dimpled with vines and rose bushes throughout the property, creating a classic, pastoral look and feel. Climbing roses can be especially decorative for your property when left wild; some of our clients have let them extend over their doors or gates. Overall, this is the perfect garden design for a rustic, classic, English-style home or cottage. At Northwest Outdoor Lighting, we’ve approached this garden design by going with a soft lit, understated lighting design, uplighting flowers from below to give a classic feel. If columns of firs are placed on the perimeter of the property, we’ll add lighting to enhance that stately look.

Seattle Seahawks

If you live in Seattle, it’s impossible to forget the love that many in our area have for our hometown football team. Some especially proud fans have taken their love of the team to their garden designs, incorporating blue flowers and green shrubs. The two colors naturally offset and provide a regal look and feel – expressing fandom for the Seahawks while being unique and distinctive enough on their own. As a result, when considering outdoor lighting design, this statement of pride might benefit from brighter lights for maximum effect! We’ve even incorporated colored lighting to show off team colors.

Children’s Garden

For homeowners with children, a garden can be a great place for young ones to run and play. Why not make your garden design a destination that allows them to practice tactile learning and hands-on fun? From rambling paths to a sand box area to a rock climbing wall, your garden can be designed as a place of exploration and joy. We’ve even lit up play houses or structures with lights for nighttime play! Other fun elements to incorporate into a garden design include tunnels, trickling brooks for boats, trees for swings, bird houses and butterfly- and bunny-friendly plants. Your children can spend hours setting aside those tablets and screens and getting lost in the world of their imagination right outside your back door, and you can take joy hearing their laughter as they make memories that will last a lifetime. You can view this project here where a trampoline was placed in-ground.

What makes these garden designs compelling are their unique approaches to landscape. As a result, we love creating a lighting design that can emphasize the unique nooks and crannies of a child’s playground, and make it a nighttime visual wonderland where play never has to end!

Healing Garden

Sometimes gardens are spaces for renewed energy and spiritual health or strength. There’s a reason why many hospitals implement healing gardens into their design. Why not craft a garden design where visitors, family, and even you can go to find some healing? A labyrinth path, for example, has been referred to as a meditation tool, allowing you to wander a real and metaphorical path to inner wholeness, and thus providing a holistic approach to mental and physical needs. Plants and vegetation that can further create this healing space include comfrey, marigold, ginger, and other medicinal and edible plants that can serve as a soothing balm to many of life’s ailments. You can then easily augment this peaceful, restful landscape design with an outdoor lighting design that is similarly soft and gentle – no harsh light here, just low light for maximum effect.

Japanese Garden

Japanese culture is built on the notion of bringing peace into architecture and landscape design; as a result, Japanese gardens have long held fascination for Westerners, who often find it challenging to find tranquility in a fast-paced world. Have you considered emulating Japanese concepts in your home garden design? Koi ponds and bridges over water installations can provide a soothing sense of relaxation as you fill your garden with the sounds of flowing water, while Japanese maples and cherry blossoms hang low, providing shade and protection from the outside world. Once again, Craig and I could craft a low-key and subdued lighting design that would focus the eye on the natural architectural elements that are often at the center of Japanese garden design while allowing the unique aspects of plants and trees to pop and make a statement.

Overall, these are just a handful of garden designs that we have seen and loved over the years. What design inspires you? At Northwest Outdoor Lighting, we would love to partner with you or your landscape designer to bring your creative garden designs to light and life!