Features of decorative lighting of a country house

A country house for urban residents is the place where you can escape from the daily bustle, work problems, noisy neighbors. And everyone is trying to make it as comfortable, cozy and beautiful as possible. Decorative lighting can help in solving these problems.

The basics of designing decorative lighting

Before proceeding directly to the design of a personal plot, it is recommended to draw up a schematic drawing of decorative lighting. In this case, you need to remember the rules:

1. Thanks to lighting, you can divide the space of the site into functional zones, as well as visually change the size of the territory. Remember that cold shades can move the illuminated object, and warm shades can make it closer.
   

   With the help of decorative lighting, you can divide the site into zones

2. In the recreation area (at the location of the gazebo, hammock, swing) it is recommended to use soft diffused light, and with warm colors. Add comfort to this area will help fixtures with imitation of live fire.
   

   Soft illumination of the recreation area creates additional comfort

3. You can not mix all the colors at once. One shade should be the main, and the rest should only complement it. However, in no case should one choose a dazzling white shade as the main one, since it will bring a sense of lifelessness and unnaturalness to the territory.
   

   Lighting allows you to focus on a specific detail

4. Some elements on the site can be made festive, and it is not necessary to wait for this New Year. Garlands of miniature flickering lights can be placed on several trees in the garden.
   

   It is not necessary to wait for the New Year to decorate the trees with luminous garlands

What is important to know when buying lamps for decorative lighting

It is possible to use several different lighting sources at a personal plot at once, which will allow to emphasize the architecture of the plot.

What are the lights

There are several types of decorative lamps that can be found on a personal plot:

1. LED lamp in the form of a column or any other figure.It works from the network, while its power does not exceed 2 watts. Used for local lighting of building elements. The main advantages are reliability, protection from environmental influences, the performance of several functions, a large assortment.
   

   Column light used for local lighting

2. LED spotlights. They are used to illuminate large architectural objects, such as columns, bridges and for indoor lighting. Characterized by a directed beam of light. Able to illuminate the territory up to 20 m in front of you. They can be equipped with a function of alternating colors, so that you can create whole color performances. For mounting, volumetric brackets are used, which can spoil the appearance of the architecture.
   

   Large LED spotlight can be installed at the gate

3. LED neon cords. Used to highlight specific elements or the contour of a building. They are characterized by a long service life, resistance to temperature differences, wide color range.
   

   Neon cords are ideal for contour lighting

LEDs are the most popular type of lighting due to their long-term use, economy and compactness.

You need to choose a lamp, and depending on what effect in the end you want to get:

1. Soft lighting with the formation of shadows. This type of lighting is optimal for the eyes. For this purpose, opaque lamps in the form of a ball or hemisphere are used. This form allows you to break the direct rays from the bulb around the perimeter of the infield. They can be placed throughout.
   

   Optimal lighting is ambient light.

2. Reflective lighting. Wall lights are used for this. They are able to reflect part of the light from the wall, as a result of which the rays are scattered throughout the area.
   

   Wall lights reflect light from the wall

3. Designer lighting for certain elements. This effect is created due to the installation of lamps on special ledges along the walls.
   

   The original lamp is a decoration of the site and highlights the area below it

In the garden, it is recommended to use decorative and functional lighting at the same time. This will allow not only to illuminate the area in the evening, but also to adjust the geometry of the space and create a three-dimensional effect.

Choice of wiring for decorative lighting

It is not enough to choose and buy a lamp that is ideally suited to the developed lighting design, you need to connect it correctly.

Network development should be carried out only from the outside, using a KR cable with rubber insulation for this. It is necessary to lay wires in flexible metal sleeves. The sleeves themselves are laid in such a way that moisture cannot accumulate in them, which can lead to a short circuit.

Attention should be paid to the design of switchboards. They should be placed outside, on the street, so it is worthwhile to provide a sufficient level of moisture and dust resistance.

Video: how to organize lighting in a summer cottage

Lighting a country house inside

Lighting inside allows you to move around the house without obstacles.

Attic lighting

Each owner of a house with an attic needs to know the rules for lighting it:

1. The attic floor should be very bright, so there should be a lot of lamps.
2. Lighting will help to increase the space of the room. For example, in a large floor mirror, you can make a frame with built-in lights. The mirror itself should be placed opposite the window.
3. For the attic it is better to use halogen lamps. They will make the lighting as natural as possible.
4. The interior of the room can be given a certain blur.This effect is achieved by installing a bracket with lamps whose light is directed to the wall.

Before buying fixtures, it is recommended to make sure of their quality. The seller can require all the documents, certificates. This will make sure that the lamp does not deteriorate during operation.

Staircase lighting

Lighting a staircase performs two functions at once: it shows where the next step is located and decorates the staircase itself. To do this, it is recommended to use lamps of low power. LED strips and cords that are mounted on steps are best suited. The proper organization of lighting will allow you to favorably highlight the architectural element, make the personal plot cozy and unique.

Another option for lighting stairs is the installation of floor lamps at the edges. They will decorate the stairs in the afternoon. As a switch, it is recommended to choose a special staircase system - the top and bottom in this case will be independent of each other.

Options for decorative lighting outside

Outdoor lighting at home allows you to focus on certain parts of the territory in the evening. It is very important to put these accents correctly. This will make the exterior mysterious, unique, make it bright and modern.

Home lighting

There are several methods of external lighting of country houses:

1. Conceptual lighting. Such a technique implies the use of a special concept when choosing fixtures, their placement and brightness. For example, the lighting that was used for ancient castles.
   

   Properly selected lighting gives the house a special atmosphere.

2. Accent lighting. Its main purpose is fragmentary illumination for highlighting a certain part of the house or territory. Most often, stucco molding, niche, statues, family coats of arms are highlighted. In this case, the use of colored lamps is allowed, so that you can change the color of the decorative element itself.
   

   Accent lighting highlights the main fragments of the building

3. Contour lighting. This technique involves the use of LED strips, cords and pipes. They allow, as it were, to outline the contour of the cottage, while highlighting some of its parts, for example, doors, windows, stairs.
   

   In contour lighting, various LED strips are used.

4. Hidden backlight. With this type of outdoor lighting fixtures are located only on the protruding parts of the facade, so you can emphasize its architecture. Most often, the eaves of the roof, the lower part of the balcony, are highlighted.
   

   Hidden lighting to highlight the facade architecture

Regardless of the technique used, logic should be present in the arrangement of the fixtures.

Gazebo lighting

The lighting of the gazebo should be functional and decorative at the same time. That is, the backlight should illuminate the resting place and decorate it.

In this case, you must adhere to certain rules:

• place lighting devices at a height of 2-3 m;
• it is better to choose hanging lamps;
• light sources should be equipped with special controls that will be used to select the direction of light, brightness, multi-level.

Photo gallery: decorative lighting options for gazebos

Backlight

The main purpose of highlighting a personal plot is to ensure the safety and comfort of the owner. Because of this, special attention should be paid to lighting:

• gate;
• main walking paths;
• porch;
• perimeter of the house plot.

Lighting elements of landscape design are also given attention, especially those elements where you can easily hide in the evening.

Decorative lighting involves the use of such lamps that do not have a visible source. That is why it is not recommended to choose garden lamps to illuminate the infield, as they attract too much attention and also obscure the space around them.

Garden lights can play the role of functional lighting, for example, to highlight garden paths, utility areas. However, the backlight should be such that the selected area becomes part of the lighting design.

It is recommended to combine several types of lighting at once.

Remember that in the winter season, the performance of fluorescent lamps is significantly reduced, so it is recommended to choose them exclusively for highlighting the architectural elements of the facade.

To highlight the paths, it is best to choose low landscape lights that run on solar panels. They look very beautiful, but can work unstably. If you are not ready for this, then you can choose similar options that work from the mains.

There are models that allow you to complement the landscape design with light patterns, or those that can easily be mounted in a stone wall. Remember that they are able to illuminate a small area around them, so they are unlikely to be used as functional lighting. The latter option can also be used to illuminate plants by mounting them directly in the fence.

Video: outdoor decorative lighting of a personal plot

Lighting of reservoirs and pools

Lighting a pond can create an amazing effect on a personal plot. Thanks to the competent arrangement of the fixtures, the pond can be made fabulous, especially if the lighting will combine several colors at once. Moreover, there are certain rules, compliance with which will optimally use the space of the reservoir:

• muddy water is recommended to give a warm yellow tint;
• purity of water will help emphasize the blue color.

To illuminate the pools, it is recommended to use special LED lights in the form of ribbons, cords. They are characterized by moisture resistance and tightness, which means that they are not afraid of water.

Photo gallery: lighting ponds and pools - design ideas

Festive decorative lighting

The advantage of the infield is that you can give it a festive mood only by using decorative lighting.For example, to give a New Year look to a house will help not only a dressed-up Christmas tree, which may not be on the site, but also the original New Year illumination. Its main elements are light bulbs of all colors of the rainbow, which can be placed around the perimeter of the facade of the house, plot, reservoir and other elements of landscape design.

Video: Christmas decoration of country houses

Decorative lighting will help make the homestead and the house itself a fabulous palace at night. The main thing is to choose high-quality lamps, arrange them, guided by the advice of specialists, not to save on wiring and switches.