Last year was probably one of the most stressful on record with a major pandemic. We’re still in a time where social distancing and working from home is the norm. That’s why, in 2021, homeowners should consider setting aside an outside space in their yard or garden to help them relax and de-stress any time of the day.

How can you set up your backyard or garden as a Zen oasis?

The first step is to set up gathering spots with plenty of shade, comfortable furniture, water features or art pieces that create a serene and comfortable atmosphere during the day. Adding outdoor lighting to the area can create an entirely different mood at night by adding a pop of color to surrounding bushes or trees with up lighting, illuminating outdoor sculptures or water features, or creating a serene, moonlighting effect using down lighting in surrounding trees or hanging from your pergola. Lighting softens a space, pulling guests in and offering a worry-free, peaceful spot in which you can both entertain guests or escape from the stresses of your day with meditation or a good book.

At Coastal Outdoor Lighting, we specialize in outdoor lighting projects. We can turn any drab spot in your yard into a festive gathering place or take dark uninviting corners and offset them with mood lighting. There really is no set Zen outdoor lighting design. With our many different styles of outdoor lighting, we can help you create a peaceful nighttime oasis in even the smallest space using path lighting, ledge lighting, up lighting, down lighting, back lighting, silhouette lighting, underwater lighting, or focal point safety lighting.

How do you know what outdoor lighting techniques to use?

The first step is to figure out why you want to add lighting to your yard. Is it to enhance your outdoor entertainment options or to create a secluded spot just for you? Do you want to illuminate pathways, water features or dark corners for safety reasons? Once you have figured out why you want outdoor lighting, then you need to choose the styles of lighting that will help you create the overall look you are going for.

The designers at Coastal Outdoor Lighting can help you devise a plan that is right for you. We recommend using LED lights because even though they cost a bit more upfront, they last a long time and use very little power.

When you think of Zen spaces, you think of softer lights that cast an indirect glow over an area. They can serve a safety purpose but also add to the overall calming effect.

Pathway lights can be embedded in the walkway or placed alongside it, angled down so that visitors to your backyard oasis don’t have glaring white lights shining in their faces while they enjoy your backyard living space.

Back lighting on the sides of your home or walls can illuminate certain features of your yard from behind, like a bush or flowering plant sculpted to look like a bonsai tree in a Japanese garden.

Underwater lights can emphasize a small backyard pond and small spotlights can highlight a beautiful water feature, palm tree, flowers, or sculpture. The possibilities are endless.

Color your outdoor world

As a preferred vendor for FX Luminaire, one of the top-rated manufacturers of LED landscape lighting and outdoor lighting, Coastal Outdoor Lighting has many options to choose from when it comes to outdoor LED lights, including the ability to digitally change the color of those lights to more than 30,000 colors depending on your mood, the changing of the seasons or to support your favorite football team.

Homeowners and businesses can easily personalize and store up to 250 colors in FX Luminaire’s Color Changing LED Landscape Lighting & Outdoor Lighting Technology app that can be controlled from a smartphone. The controller also determines the brightness of the lights in different parts of your yard based on how you want to utilize them. For nights when you want solitude in your lovely outdoor living spaces, you can choose softer and more muted colors. For outdoor gatherings, you can up the brightness levels and create a mood throughout your outdoor landscaping.

Life in Southwest Florida will be even better with your own place of Zen. Give us a call and let us help you turn your outdoor landscaping vision into a reality.