The right outdoor lighting turns a backyard from a space you look at into a space you live in. The trick is to plan area by area: what works over an alfresco dining table is not what a pool fence or a balcony rail needs. Below are our favourite outdoor lighting ideas for every part of an Australian home, drawn from thousands of real customer installations.
Patios and alfresco entertaining areas
The patio is where most people start, and it is the area that rewards good lighting the most. Run outdoor string lights in parallel rows above the table, or zig-zag them between posts to fill the whole space with an even glow. Warm white is the colour to use here: it flatters food, furniture and faces in a way cool white never does.
Hang at around 2.4 to 2.7 m so the light sits above head height but still feels like a ceiling. For a deeper look at layouts, see our patio lighting guide.
Pergolas and verandahs
A pergola gives you fixing points most spaces do not have. Follow the beams with a festoon run for structure, then wrap the posts with fairy lights for depth. Verandahs suit a single run along the railing or under the roof line, kept low and warm so it reads as ambience rather than floodlighting.
Both areas benefit from a dimmer. Bright while people are eating, low once the plates are cleared. See our dedicated pergola lighting ideas and verandah lighting ideas, or add a dimmer to any 240V run.
Deck lighting ideas
Decks have an edge problem: you want to see where the boards stop without turning the whole thing into a stage. The answer is usually two layers. Run festoon lights overhead off the house line or a pair of posts, then mark the perimeter with low solar stake lights or step lights so the edges read clearly at night.
If the deck is open with nothing to hang from, a catenary wire between two posts carries a festoon run beautifully and keeps the cable taut in wind. Coastal decks need genuine outdoor rated gear: a high IP rating, UV stable cable and shatterproof globes, not indoor lights pressed into service.
Gazebo lighting
A gazebo is essentially a small room waiting for a ceiling of light. Follow the eave line with festoon lights for a clean architectural edge, or bring the strings into the centre point and let them radiate outwards for a softer, tented feel. Wrapping the frame with fairy lights suits smaller structures where big globes would overwhelm the scale.
Gazebos are often sited away from the house, and therefore away from power. Solar festoon lights solve that with no cabling at all, and low voltage 24V systems let you run a single lead out to the structure and power a long circuit from it.
Pool area lighting
Lighting around water needs a little more thought, and the safe answer is low voltage. Our low voltage 24V kits run through a transformer, which is the sensible specification anywhere people are wet, barefoot and close to the lights.
Visually, the win is reflection. String lights suspended above the pool line double themselves in the surface of the water, so a single run does the work of two. Keep every run well above the water and clear of reach from inside the pool, and read our notes on outdoor lighting safety before you install.
Balcony lighting
Small does not mean boring. On an apartment balcony, a short run of balcony string lights along the rail or across the overhead beam is usually the entire job. Fairy lights woven through a balustrade give the same effect with an even lighter footprint.
Two things matter more on a balcony than anywhere else: length and fixing. Our modular system starts at compact lengths, so you are not coiling ten spare metres of cable on a three metre rail, and you can extend the run later if you move. Renters should look at solar and plug-in options, both of which install without drilling.
Garden beds and trees
Trees are the most rewarding thing to light in any garden because they give you height and movement for free. Wrap trunks and lower limbs with fairy lights for a sculpted look, or throw a festoon run between two trees to create an outdoor room where there was only lawn. Uplighting the canopy from below with warm solar spots gives a completely different, more dramatic result.
For step by step technique see how to put fairy lights on a tree, and for planting-led schemes our garden lighting ideas.
Pathways, steps and edges
Path lighting is the one area where restraint wins. You are not trying to light the garden, only to show people where the ground changes. Solar stakes spaced roughly every 1.5 to 2 m give a rhythm of light without glare, and low markers on steps prevent the trip hazard that fully lit paths often still miss. Aim for pools of light with darkness between them: continuous brightness flattens a garden completely.
Front of house
The front of the house is the part you see least and visitors see first. A single run of festoon lights along the eave line lifts a facade year round, and doubles as your Christmas lighting without the annual untangling ritual. Warm white keeps it looking architectural rather than seasonal.
How to plan your outdoor lighting
Most lighting disappointments trace back to planning, not product. Work through it in this order.
- Map your power first. Mark every outdoor power point before you choose anything. Where there is no power, solar and low voltage decide the scheme for you.
- Measure the actual runs. Measure the path the cable will take, including the sag and the drop back to the power point, not the straight line across the space. Our guide on working out how many lights you need walks through it.
- Pick one colour temperature. Warm white throughout. Mixing warm and cool across a garden is the single most common mistake.
- Choose a connectable system. Spaces change. Being able to add ten metres next summer without replacing everything is worth more than any upfront saving.
- Check the IP rating before you buy. Genuinely outdoor rated lighting stays up all year. Everything in our range is built for permanent outdoor installation and backed by a 2 year warranty.
Not sure whether you need festoon or fairy lights? The two do quite different jobs. Our guide to festoon vs fairy lights compares them side by side and tells you which suits your space.
Outdoor lighting questions, answered
What is the best lighting for an alfresco area?
Festoon lights overhead in warm white, hung at around 2.4 to 2.7 m and ideally on a dimmer. They give enough light to eat by and enough atmosphere to stay out for hours.
How do I light a balcony without a power point?
Solar fairy lights or solar festoon lights. Mount the panel where it gets several hours of direct sun and you need no cabling and no fixed installation, which also suits renters.
What order should I plan outdoor lighting in?
Power, then areas, then style. Find your power points, decide which zones actually need lighting, and only then choose the product. Doing it the other way around is how people end up with a beautiful set of lights and nowhere to plug them in.
