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Bring your garden to life with lights

Outdoor entertaining area with plants, table and chairs, and water feature.
When the sun goes down, your garden can still look fantastic with the right lighting. Follow our guide to make your plants, landscaping and outdoor entertaining area shine.

Lighting design 101

The first step is to make a plan of where you will place your lights. Work out all the features you want to highlight, then what type of lighting is going to have the best effect. Some areas might need to be brighter and others softer; for example, floodlights are perfect for large areas while paths only need subtle, diffuse lights.

Add some colour

Coloured lights are a simple but effective way to create different effects in your garden. Yellows and reds add warmth, green boosts the colour of your plants, and white or blue can make an area seem fresh and cool.

Where you can, try to make use of lighter coloured, reflective surfaces like walls to extend and spread light.

Task, ambient and accent lighting

You'll want to make sure all your security and task lighting is fairly bright, but with accent or ambient lighting, less is definitely more. The idea is to make your garden look its best, not shine a light on every little corner.

Bollard lights along garden path.

Make it a feature

All the best features of your garden, like pergolas, arches, trees, pools or statues, can really come to life after dark with spotlights. Or for something different you could try wrapping a tree in fairy lights.

Call in the experts

Always get a qualified electrician to complete any electrical work. If you are not a qualified electrician, then performing electrical work is not only illegal but very dangerous.

We can help you organise a licensed electrician to replace your outdoor lights with our Outdoor Lighting Installation service.

Our top tips

  • Make sure your switches are in easy reach, near doors or windows, so you can switch them on or off without stepping outside
  • If you need to light a pathway, avoid putting lights on both sides as it can look like a landing strip
  • Always set up your lights so they don't shine in your eyes
  • Using timers can save you having to remember to switch them off
  • If you want to light up a large garden bed, try using a series of overlapping spotlights for a softer effect
  • Solid objects work best for your feature lighting, rather than thin spindly ones like open trellises or bare trees
  • You may want to move your lights around, as the seasons change and your garden matures, so leave enough slack in your cables
  • Make sure all the wiring is tucked away to avoid anyone tripping over or pets chewing them
  • Never use indoor lights that aren't designed for outdoors

    • Shine a light

    We've got a great range of outdoor lighting in a huge array of styles that are perfect for any garden.

     

    Health & Safety

    Please make sure you use all equipment appropriately and safely when following the advice in these D.I.Y. videos. You need to be familiar with how to use equipment safely and follow the instructions that came with the equipment. If you are unsure, you may feel it is safest to consult an expert, such as the manufacturer or an expert Bunnings Team Member.

    Grave health hazards are linked to asbestos, which may be in homes built up to 1990. Health hazards may result from exposure to lead-based paints in older materials and copper chromium arsenic (CCA) treated timber. For information on the dangers of asbestos, lead-based paint and CCA treated timber and tips for dealing with these materials contact your local council's Environmental Health Officer. You can also use a simple test kit from Bunnings to indicate the presence of lead-based paint.