20 Cool Backyard Lighting Ideas For Magical Decors

It’s finally nice outside which means we can finally spend more time outdoors than we do indoors. The backyard takes the place of the living room for a lot of activities and not just during the day but also in the evening or at night. As the sun sets we’re presented with a wonderful opportunity to turn the backyard into a magical place. But how…you might wonder. We’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s all about the backyard lights and all the cool things you can do with them.

A lot of times the backyard lights are just decorative, although they do help to also create a cozy ambiance. That being said, a cool idea can be to hang a few cafe lights around the sitting area and to make them look pretty and funky by decorating them with embroidery thread and macrame cord, just as suggested on Jojotastic. We absolutely love those cute little bells that were added here. They really cheer up the space.

Since we’re talking about an outdoor space, solar lanterns would make perfect sense. Aren’t these ones lovely? They’re actually custom made and the whole process is pretty easy. This are the supplies required for this, according to Everydaydishes: solar lights and spice jars (6 of each in this particular case), painter’s tape, glass frost paint in several colors (or only one, depending on the look you prefer), a sponge brush, strong glue and twine.

If you’d like to add some mood lighting to a garden lounge area but there’s no pergola or roof to hang the lights from, you can make some poles. The idea comes from Idaklipperochklistrar and was in turn inspired by some posts on Pinterest. Basically the  goal is to frame the space with poles which you can then decorate in all sorts of cool ways. In order to do that you need a few buckets (or some other type of containers), concrete mix and poles (these can be thin tree trunks, branches or actual poles made of wood, metal, PVC, etc).

These glowing spheres are really really cool and we’ve actually seen them being used in all sorts of beautiful landscapes but it never really occurred to us that we can actually craft them ourselves. But then we stumbled upon a post from Theartofdoingstuff and all of a sudden it all made sense. This would have to be one of the best backyard lighting ideas ever simply because it’s so simple and so elegant. Believe it or not, all you need to make these beautiful spheres is some old glass shades and some old Christmas string lights. There is, however, a tricky part. You’ll most likely need to bring an extension cord out into the garden and burry it in the dirt unless of course you can find some battery-operated lights you can use.

Solar lights are very accessible but getting them is actually the easy part. Displaying them in a way that makes them stand out is the tricky part. We have an idea in that sense that you might like. It comes from Build-basic and it’s a low-cost and relatively simple project which you can complete in an hour or so. The idea is to build a wooden pole and to have the solar light built into it.

The Stump and the entire Cracked Log Light Range for that matter is designed to be suitable for both indoor and outdoor although it’s clearly an amazing choice for gardens, yards and patios in particular. These lamps are so wonderful because they look like things you’d actually encounter outdoors. Recently the designer, Duncan Meerding, added new pieces to the collection, expanding the series with stumps that are almost double the size of the initial ones.

Aren’t these backyard lights just magical? No wonder they’re called Fairy Dust Balls. They’re solar powered and they turn on automatically at dust which means all you have to do is find a good place to hang them and then just forget about them. You don’t need to charge them or worry about the on/off switch. Add these globes to your porch, patio, garden or backyard and turn these spaces into magical wonderlands.

Another way in which you can set up a nice mood in the backyard is with torches. The really cool thing about this is that you can make the torches yourself out of recycled wine bottles. The project is not that complicated but you do need a few things for it. According to Designsponge, the list of supplies for one torch includes an empty wine bottle (or any bottle with a 1” neck), teflon tape, a copper top plate connector, a 1” split ring hanger, copper coupling (1/2” x 3/8” ), two hex nuts, two screws, tiki wick and torch fuel.

Remember the poles we mentioned earlier? Here’s a version of that project adapted to suit an al-fresco dining area out in the garden. Two poles are enough to frame the area and their role in this case is actually to hold the string lights. It’s sort of like having a chandelier outdoors. You can also creatively customize the project from Homedepot and for instance also wrap the poles in fairy lights.

If you want to create a romantic vibe, candles are usually better than light fixtures although fairy lights are pretty cute too. As far as candles go, you could use several in different sizes and you can spread them across the backyard either inside jars, votives or grouped in trays. Perhaps you could be inspired by this charming backyard terrace which we found on Cutemaison. We love how the candle light highlights the texture of the stone and wood walls.

A pergola presents a wonderful opportunity because you can hang string lights to create a truly magical ambiance. It would all be even more magical if you had vines and climbing plants growing on the pergola or on trellis walls, framing the space like a secret garden. A bunch of planters made out of repurposed containers such as buckets or baskets would be charming as well. We got some of these ideas from Fixaodona and we really like them.

Fire pits are pretty cool too and if you’re worried about having an open fire in your back yard then maybe you’d enjoy more to have a faux fire. What we’re suggesting is to have a bunch of wood logs lit by fairy lights. It’s so simple and yet so charming. This is the type of fire pit anyone can make and safely use even indoors. It’s inspiring ideas like this one that result in great transformations. You can find this idea and several others on Fipstickandmuffingirl.

And speaking of logs and fairy lights, what if you were to wrap some string lights around the trees in your backyard or your garden. The result would be similar to what you see here. Just wrap the lights around the tree trunks and go as high as you want.

We’ve already described a list of things you need if you want to make torches but in that case wine bottles were used so now we’ll also check out these mason jar tiki torches that we found on Thefrugalhomemaker. Mason jar torches are more versatile because they can be moved around and placed on tables, shelves or hanged on walls and fences. Check out the easy instructions and make your own tiki backyard lights.

Have you ever worked with rope lights? They’re really cool and also very versatile. You can use them to outline a pathway in your backyard or garden or you can attach them to the railings or guard rails. Actually, you can basically wrap them around anything in your backyard including trees or furniture and they’ll look awesome every time. Check out three inspiring ideas in this sense on Christmaslightsetc.

Maybe you’ve already heard about cupcake liner lights back when we showed you some cool ways to customize your Christmas tree. Well they’re actually great no matter what the season is. Check out Cfabbridesigns to see how you can make cute backyard lights using cupcake liners and how you can then use them to decorate your outdoor spaces. Feel free to mix and match patterns and colors.

It’s amazing what you can do with a few simple things like for example some string lights and a bunch of small party hats. This funky idea comes from Cremedelacraft and the project is something anyone can do. All you need besides the lights and the hats is some tape and scissors. Cut the hats to make small cones that fit around each tiny lightbulb. You can cover up the pattern or the graphics if you don’t like them and if you don’t have any party hats then just make some cones out of cardboard.

Another cool backyard lighting idea comes from Eliseenghstudios. The tutorial found here shows you how to make lanterns out of old tin cans. Basically you just clean the can and remove the label,then you fill it with water and you put it in the freezer. When the water is frozen, use a hammer and a nail to perforate the can, creating any pattern you want. Remove the ice and then put a candle inside the can. You can also add a handle.

There’s another type of lanterns which you can make and these ones involve balloons and twine/ string. To make these you also need glue, cornstarch, petroleum jelly, spray paint and string lights. You can find out how to use all of these things in the tutorial shades on Splashofsomething. Once you have these lovely lanterns, you can hang them in groups or in any other way you want in your backyard or on the patio. Don’t they look charming under this umbrella?

All of the backyard lighting ideas we presented so far are really nice and charming but we’ve missing something: a chandelier. That’s right, you can actually make an outdoor chandelier. There’s a tutorial showing you how to make one out of chicken wire on Consumercrafts. You also need a tomato cage to use as a frame for this project.