7 Unique DIY Outdoor Lighting Ideas
Fall is the perfect time to sit on your patio and drink wine with your favorite candy while surrounded by your best friends—especially if you want to show off your latest outdoor lighting. These outdoor lighting ideas are pretty, but more importantly, they’re incredibly easy to make yourself.
1. Outdoor Lighting for Pathways
What you’ll need: Lighting EVER 33ft LED Dimmable Rope Lights + Easy Gardener Fabric & Garden Staples
Tutorial: Christmas Lights Etc.
A dark pathway is dangerous, but it’s also a blank canvas for a ton of lighting ideas. One of my favorites, found on Christmas Lights Etc., involves using a rope light to light pathways. This design can go with a regular sidewalk but looks best with a gravel walkway and stepping stones. All you need is a rope light and garden staples. The rope light we found is battery powered, so you don’t have to worry about an outlet, and even has a timer so you can set it to go on and off when you want.
2. Flameless Fire Pit
What you’ll need: CrazyFire 33ft 100 LEDs Wire String Light
Tutorial: October June
One of my favorite things to do is to light a bonfire, but this can be dangerous around small children. Plus, fires aren’t allowed in most apartment buildings. Thankfully, you can use string lights to simulate a fire. This idea is great because you don’t have to go running for wood, and there isn’t excess heat. The easiest way to do this is to throw outdoor string lights in a fire pit. If you want to create an even better ambiance, you can throw a few pieces of wood or sticks in the fire pit and surround it with sticks. We found some outdoor lighting that uses batteries, so you don’t have to worry about an outlet. October June has a similar idea with steps.
3. Moroccan Wonderland String Lighting
What you’ll need: Goodia 30 LED Gold Moroccan Solar String Lights
These are some of the coolest string lights that I’ve found on Amazon. I love the little metal details and the design they create on other surfaces. These lights could go literally anywhere – around a table, wrapped around a porch, or draped over stairs to light them during especially dark nights. The biggest benefit of these lights is that they’re solar-powered, so you don’t have to worry about batteries or finding an outlet. They’re also waterproof, so you can hang them over a little water fixture with floating flowers.
4. Twine Globes with Twinkle Lights
What you’ll need: MineTom Pack of 6 LED Moon Starry String Lights
Tutorial: Ruffled
DIY projects can turn into a mess, but this project is easy enough. DIY String chandeliers can create beautiful orbs out of twine. This idea for twine globes comes from Ruffled, which has a step-by-step DIY. After you’re finished, string some outdoor string lights through the twine carefully and hang them using fishing line for a floating look. We found some light LED string lights that shouldn’t wrap your globes and are also battery powered.
5. Fairy Light Mason Jar
What you’ll need: Homeleo 3-Pack Solar Mason Jar Lantern
Don’t kits just make everything easier? Homeleo made a kit that allows you to create three mason jars with solar-powered fairy lights. Projects are my thing, so I instantly wanted to buy this kit. It’s incredibly easy, and even children can put them together. Homeleo makes different colors including purple, blue, red, orange, warm white, and more. You can also upgrade to five mason jars. Because they have handles, you can hang them from twine (maybe the same twine as the DIY above), or just place them on a table.
6. Tree Outdoor Bulb Lights
What you’ll need: CMYK Solar-Powered Globe String Lights or CMYK Battery-Operated 40 LED String Lights
Decorating trees can be fun (hello, Christmas!), so why not decorate trees in your yard? You can string them down and have them slack against a tree to put off a little extra light where you and your friends will be sitting. You may need a step ladder, but you won’t need an outlet! I found battery-powered and solar globe string lights. While the balls are waterproof, the battery box of the battery-powered string lights isn’t waterproof, so you’ll still have to pull them down if it’s going to rain.
7. Waterproof Outdoor Lighting Lanterns
What you’ll need: LVJING Solar Outdoor Light Lanterns + AshmanOnline 10-Pack Shepherd’s Hooks
Lanterns are elegant. It’s a fact. These little lamps are perfect for someone who wants a candlelit light without all the work, and I’m all for that. Lvjing created a pack of six lanterns that have a little solar-powered flameless candle. They have an on-off sensor that can automatically charge itself during the day and turn itself on when it gets dark. All you need to do is put it somewhere the sun can charge it. They come with little clips, so you can easily hang them. If it were me, I’d grab some Shepherd’s Hooks and place them around a walking path or sitting area.
This article originally appeared on Earn Spend Live.
