You don’t spend much time in your holiday home as you do with your first home, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use summer house lighting ideas to make it sparkle. In the UK, summer homes are treasured, as the 2021 report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicated that there were approximately 70,000 second addresses (holiday homes) in England and Wales. So, giving your holiday home a lively look could also uplift its image when it's time to sell.
Outdoor living spaces in the UK are increasingly becoming popular, as AMA Research indicates there has been an increase in garden building sales in recent years. Maintaining and lighting your summer house can therefore catch the eyes of potential buyers other than making your stay more magical. And there are plenty of ways to give your holiday home a polished look, from using fairy lights that twinkle like fireflies to sleek wall sconces to create functional and aesthetic appeal.
Here, we discuss various summer house interior lighting ideas to bring your holiday home back to life ahead of the warmer months in June.
Top 10 Summer House Lighting Ideas That Enliven Your Holiday Home
Choosing the right lighting for your summer house can seem like a no-brainer since you only step foot there a few weeks in a year. But don’t take it lightly – the right lighting can transform your holiday home into a cosy retreat you’d be looking forward to spending time in. Let’s explore these top 10 garden summer house lighting ideas that can brighten and add elegance to your getaway home.
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Let In More Natural Light
We’re always inclined to install more light bulbs while forgetting natural light around us. Before installing any lights, assess your holiday home and see how you can maximise the entry of natural light. If it already has large windows and skylights, then it’s a good idea to install only complementary accent lights.
Natural light makes the space feel bigger, airy, and brighter while also reducing lighting costs. Also note that your summer house doesn’t need the same brightness as your home since it's smaller. When installing accent lighting, consider 450-800 lumens brightness. However, outdoor lighting should be brighter to illuminate the space at night.
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Install Wall Sconces – Classic and Functional
Wall sconces, although often associated with traditional décor themes, make great lighting fixtures to add charm and practicality to a holiday home. It doesn’t matter which décor style arouses your senses (from vintage-style lanterns and rustic farmhouse sconces to sleek modern fixtures), wall sconces are great for targeted lighting without occupying lots of floor space.
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Drape Fairy Lights Along the Walls
We all have experienced that uplifting feeling from staring at a cascade of fairy lights. You can drape fairy lights along your summer house walls or wrap them around exposed beams. Their twinkling effect adds a soft, dreamy ambience that makes your holiday home feel cosy and welcoming.
Go for warm white LEDs if you want a golden glow, or mix coloured bulbs to achieve a quirky appeal. And if you want to enjoy the magic created, choose solar-powered or battery-operated lighting options. They’re simple but effective ways to illuminate your holiday home.
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Install Pendant Lights as Statement Lighting
Using pendant lights is yet another powerful summer house lighting idea that can uplift your getaway home. If you have a central seating or dining area, use pendant lights as a focal point. Add a coastal vibe by choosing woven rattan shades, or go for industrial-style metal pendants if you want a modern look. If you’re aiming for a sleek finish, choose glass designs.
Summer houses must also have dimmable lights for those occasions when you don’t need the light too bright, such as when hanging out with your significant other, under skylight. Dimming the lights adds depth and height to your space, making even the smallest summer house feel airy.
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LED Strip Lighting
Your summer house also deserves some class and elegance. Lighting it up with LED strips installed beneath the shelves, behind furniture, or along baseboards is a great idea for adding a contemporary look. These lights often give off a soft, calming glow that can enhance the space’s overall appeal without being overpowering.
But don’t just go for ordinary LED strips; consider smart type with a colour-changing feature so you can switch from warm hues during a relaxed evening to vibrant colours when hosting a party. LED strip lights are also energy-efficient and don’t need special skills to install, and that’s what makes them a stress-free upgrade that can instantly modernise your holiday home. For a more contemporary feel, consider sprucing up your ambience with a neon sign mounted on the wall. Pick one with a cheeky phrase like “Sip, Relax, Repeat” hoisted above the bar area or this Love Lives Here neon sign.
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Light Up the Pathways to Your Summer House
Want summer house outdoor lighting ideas to illuminate the paths leading to your holiday home? There are plenty of options to light up the outdoors and enhance safety at night. One of these is using solar-powered path lights. They’re eco-friendly options that harness and store the sun’s energy during the day for use at night. Solar path lights often don’t need special skills to install, making them an excellent choice for anyone who wants an affordable lighting solution.
Flush-mount lights also make excellent outdoor lights by adding a sleek, modern appeal. They adhere to the edges of pathways to provide low-profile illumination. If you haven’t installed motion sensor lights, you should because they provide an extra layer of security and safety. These lights turn on upon detecting movement and are suitable for pathways to let you know when someone is approaching the house.
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Put More Emphasis on Landscape Features
Summer house lighting ideas are not just about installing lighting fixtures, but it can also include landscaping hacks. For instance, you can use garden spotlights to highlight attractive flora such as ornamental plants, trees, or beautiful flowers around the summer house. This can create an outstanding appeal at night and give your summer house an extra aesthetic upgrade. Some holiday homes have water features like ponds. If that’s the case, use underwater lights to craft a calming ambience and enhance the natural appeal of the surrounding waters.
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Get Innovative with Smart Lighting
It doesn’t hurt to add a little bit of innovative lights to your setup. Use smart lights controlled using apps to conveniently adjust brightness, timing or colour from anywhere. The beauty of smart lights is that they’re programmable to simulate occupancy status when you’re not indoors. These smart light systems may also have security features that can be integrated with your smart home systems for seamless control.
Another innovative lighting feature that you can use is glow-in-the-dark or bioluminescent materials. If you feel young and adventurous, add luminous materials on the decking and steps, such as tiles, paint, or stones.
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Install Skylights
Earlier on, we talked about taking advantage of natural light to lower lighting costs. In the same way, you can install skylights on the roof and make use of the night stars and the moon’s brightness. You won't need to cover bigger ongoing electricity costs or replace the batteries to your battery-powered lighting fixtures. When the moon is bright enough, you can harness sufficient ambient light for reading or moving around your summer house.
Skylights can also help with airflow within the holiday home, therefore eliminating the need to leave the door open frequently. The only downside to this summer house lighting idea is that, although there’s plenty of light during summer, daylight is more limited during winter. So, don’t rely entirely on the skylights; have another source of lighting for when conditions become unfavourable.
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Use Candles for Mood Lighting
Summer houses are great for relaxing on a quiet evening, but with the right type of lighting, the feeling is even more rejuvenating. Use candles to create a perfect atmosphere for relaxation or when you have a date night with your significant other. Candles and tea lights are suitable when you want to generate soft diffused light but aren’t the best for tasks like reading, knitting, or solving crosswords.
Even with as many candles as you need, added at different spots or heights, they might not give the comfortable ambient light you need. So, only rely on candles when you need to craft a relaxing ambience, but have another source of ambient lighting.
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Summer House Ceiling Lights
Ceiling lights for summerhouses are just as vital because they do much of the bulk work to make sure your holiday home is well-lit, whether inside or outside. When picking the ceiling lights, make sure the brightness matches the size of your summer house. You wont need a gigantic chandelier if you have a pokey small holiday home, neither will a single ceiling downlighter serve the purpose right for a large garden room. The most ideal options for ceiling lights include pendants, recessed downlights, spotlights, and chandeliers.
Final Thoughts
These 11 summer house lighting ideas make an important part of your garden room’s lighting scheme because without them, your holiday home might be nothing more than a glorified shed. Summer house lighting transforms that shed into a cosy, fun, and atmospheric space you yearn to relax in.
It doesn’t matter whether your garden house has an electricity supply or not; just pick the right garden summer house lighting ideas that meet your circumstances and create something phenomenal with it. Consider battery or solar-powered options or take advantage of natural light using skylights and large windows. More importantly, don’t limit yourself to a single lighting idea; feel free to combine different summer house lighting ideas for the best outcome.