The best way to light the outside of your home really depends on where your home is located. If it’s an urban house, there likely aren’t a ton of trees and nearby streetlights are almost an inevitability. If your house is in the suburbs, however, that’s another story! There will typically be trees nearby, if not surrounding the house, and you’re likely to have some sort of a backyard. Because of the differences, some lighting concepts go better for one over the other.

Let’s take a closer look at exterior lighting ideas for the suburban home:

Pergola

Whether it’s in the front or back of your house, pergola lighting is a beautiful way to add some illumination to your outdoors.

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.13.45 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.14.31 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.15.11 AM

A fun addition to this type of lighting is to hang a light piece like a chandelier from the pergola. 

Tiki

Tiki torches come in all types of variations. You can put them on stakes that go right into your lawn, hang them from a fence or even simply set them on your steps. Tiki torches can be a really fun DIY project by the way!

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.16.05 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.16.34 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.17.08 AM

Lanterns

Eclectic lanterns lit with small candles are a fun way to add some color along with your lighting. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, try going to garage sales or second-hand stores to find lanterns, then fix them up with spray paint to tailor them to your color scheme.

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.17.59 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.18.29 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.19.04 AM

Planters

The fun part about using planters for lighting is that the newest trend is solar lit planters, like the one immediately below. You could even get so crafty as to paint the plant pot with glow-in-the-dark paint so that once the sun goes down, the light comes out.

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.19.44 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.20.18 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.20.57 AM

Outdoor Lamps

Finally, outdoor lamps can look very beautiful and you can definitely find any style to fit the vibe of your home. Here are some nice ones:

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.21.37 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.22.12 AM

Screen shot 2014-06-06 at 10.22.46 AM

Those of you who live in the suburbs – what’s your favorite kind of exterior lighting? I’d love to hear!