Today’s landscape lighting gives you the opportunity to completely transform your outdoor living area into one of the most delightful places you’ll want to spend time. Make a bold design statement. Add to the ambience with soft lighting. Highlight important features. Keep your property safe. And most of all, accentuate your brick paving features with these 7 outdoor lighting ideas in the Trenton, MI area.
Related: 3 BRICK PAVING TRENDS IN 2021 FOR THE TRENTON AND BROWNSTOWN CHARTER TOWNSHIP, MI, AREAS
Sculptural Elements
Freestanding outdoor lighting fixtures can be placed strategically throughout your brick patio. While they become dramatic focal points themselves, the ambient light they give off will also cast interesting shadows on the brick paver surface beneath them.
For example, free-form outdoor light fixtures that emulate natural elements such as reeds, flowers, or stones can complement the brick (or offer a fun juxtaposition) during the day, and create interesting shadows that bring attention to the textures of the brick at night.
Add fun in the form of cubes, rock-shaped fixtures, orbs, outdoor floor lamps, or even streetlight-style outdoor lamps. The whimsical touch lightens the mood, while the light itself adds a dimensional effect to a brick patio.
Amping Up the Drama
Placing landscape light fixtures close to the ground and angling them across the brick paver surface is another way to accentuate the wonderful textures underfoot. This technique also creates safe passage at night by creating an evenly distributed light source without creating a blinding glare.
Lighting from Above
Lighting directly from above won’t bring attention to a brick paver surface. But as the light from overhead fixtures diffuses to the sides, the textures of the bricks will become more evident the further you go from the space.
Go for a fun effect with a glamorous outdoor chandelier suspended from the rafters of a pergola; and enjoy gazing outward onto the patio, as the light creates dimensional interest.
Disguise Lighting in Masonry Features
If you’re carrying the look of brick paving stones into vertical elements, use lighting to make them “pop” at night. Placing light fixtures at the base of any masonry fixture and creating a spotlight effect will bring attention to the wonderful textures. Likewise, installing light fixtures just under the capstone of a fire pit or retaining wall will shine directly downward to highlight the vertical textures and to some degree, add dimension to the horizontal textures.
Moonlighting Adds Romance
Moonlighting is a wonderful landscape lighting technique that adds romance and beauty to a patio after dark. Even on the darkest moonless nights, you can mimic the effect of a full moon filtering through the trees by installing a single bright bluish-white fixture high in a tree canopy and pointing it downward. As the light filters down through the branches, the beautiful dancing shadows will create a romantic atmosphere. For best results, turn off the rest of the landscape lights and enjoy a quiet evening in the light of the “moon.”
Echo the Symmetry
Echo the symmetry of a paver surface with a series of lights. Path lights, wall sconces, or a series of outdoor pendants will add to the structured look of a paver pattern.
Use a Layered Effect
At the patio itself, use low-lying lights to highlight the brick textures. Further away from the patio, use spotlights and wash techniques to highlight taller features. And, add overhead lights to create a highly dimensional lightscape.
