Easy Outdoor Solar Lights Projects

“Solar lights” has become an extremely popular buzzword in the home improvement circles as an easy and inexpensive way to go “green” when looking to add a touch of personality to your home.  That said, many people are not quite sure where to start implementing solar landscape lighting into their design plans.  If you read my last post on Tips for Designing your Solar Garden, you may have some ideas, but I decided it might help to give you some examples of where to start.  These are really simple methods that you can use to enhance your property with solar lighting in as little as about 15 minutes or so.

Let’s start with what I think is by far the easiest of all outdoor solar lights projects:

Pathway Lights

Let’s say that you have a walk way that goes from the public sidewalk (or your driveway) to your front porch.  On each side of the porch there is either dirt or some bushes or planters or lawn – anything “soft” that is bordering the walkway on both sides.  You can get a set of solar pathway lights like these from amazon.com:

Homebrite Copper Garden Landscape Solar Light with Natural Warm Light, 30867, Small, Belmont, Set of 12, Copper

Once they arrive, you basically just take them out of the box and push them into the soft substrate on each side of your walkway, and you are done.  I personally recommend putting one on each side of the walk way where it meets the sidewalk or driveway, where the walkway meets your front porch or stair landing and as many as needed between them to light the entire walkway.  The set I mentioned above comes with 12 light fixtures, so if you do not use them all, you can use the rest for the next project.

Corner lights

Just about every house I have ever seen has dark corners at night.  A good idea might be to take a few of the lights I mentioned above and place one in each of those dark corners.  You will be amazed at how those corners look once they are lit up.  Just make sure that the solar panels can get direct sunlight during the day.

Patio Lights

Often, people don’t consider their patio when planning their landscape lighting projects.  Placing some of the leftover pathway lights along your patio fence line will do a lot to liven up your patio area for evening get-togethers.  They also work well when put in raised planters and other areas of your patio.

Globe Lights

Solar globe lights are also a very easy way to add some really nice lighting effects to your front or back yard.  These are mostly decorative lights that have a softer glow than the pathway lights, so can be better suited when a “glow” is what you are aiming for.  An example of a good solar globe light is this set:

4 PCS Garden Solar Lights

Moonrays also sells a good quality globe light that is very inexpensive:

Moonrays 99924 Color-Changing Glass Ball Fixture

These lights fall under the category of “accent lights”, because they are meant to give just that – accent lighting.  These are great to put among bushes or in flower gardens that need nothing more than a soft glow to have the effect that you are looking for.  While many types of accent lighting require a separate solar panel be placed remotely, solar globe lights do not.  This makes them just as easy to install as the pathway lights.

String Lights

Of all the types of solar lights we have discussed so far in this article, my favorite, by far, are solar string lights.  There are actually many different types of solar string lights on the market today, and more varieties seem to be popping up on the market almost daily.  An example of a good quality string lights set is:

Aurora Glow – Glass Solar String Lights – Sea Glass (Sea Glass)

These are very beautiful lights.  I have actually discussed these lights before on this site (and own a set).  They are very easy to install and add a really beautiful effect at night.  They are not quite as easy to install as the pathway or globe lights, but if you have ever successfully hung a string of Christmas lights, you can install these.

Most people tend to want to hang these overhead, along eves or awnings, and while this is not a bad idea, do not limit yourself to just that.  If you have a deck attached to your home, try hanging these lights along the deck railing.  They are also nicely suited for hanging along a fence line or a variety of other places.  Use your imagination and you will be surprised at the results.

Other Uses

There are, of course many other ways to incorporate solar lighting into your home design.  Some of them are extremely easy, and some a little more difficult.  I hope that this article will give you some ideas to start with until I get the chance to introduce some more ideas into the mix.  In the mean time, there are lots of articles on this site that may be able to give you some more ideas and tips for finding creative ways to use solar lights.  I also recommend checking out the articles in the “Required Reading” section on the sidebar. ->

See you next time.

1. Outdoor Solar Lights
2. How to Choose Outdoor Solar Lights
3. Installing Your Solar Garden Lights: Not As Easy As You Think!
4. Tips for Designing Your Solar Garden
5. Solar Patio Lights