The Year of Magical Lighting (or How I Nailed My Outdoor Lighting Scheme)
Editor’s note: Sally Kohn— journalist and CNN political commentator, TED talk giver, and design aficionado—has been chronicling her adventures in remodeling for our sister site Remodelista.
These particular solar lights cast an icy blue tinted light with the faraway glimmer of a wrongly convicted prisoner losing hope.
And from my informal survey of the Instagram home design posts I endlessly scroll through everyday during my morning procrastination, the popular aesthetics of the day don’t like cold light either.
Our backyard, lit up with rechargeable hanging globe lights by FatBoy and new string lights by Brightown. Dim warm light is better than dim cold light in my book, but it’s still dim.
Photograph by Tom Kubik for Gardenista, from Garden Visit: Starry Nights and String Lights in Northern California.
String lights don’t have to be relegated to the backyard. Here, they create a starry arch over a front walk.
So the sun/moon are the general lighting, I guess, and in our yard, the string lights are ambient lighting and somewhat task lighting (though I still need a headlamp when the coals die down on my beloved Nuke Delta Grill).
Photograph by Sally Kohn.
Our mini mushroom lights lighting the way up stone steps. We landed on placing two of these Ballard Designs solar lanterns on the table in our little seating vignette and then a couple of super fun Bolleke rechargeable hanging lights from FatBoy dangling from the trees around that focal point.
Photograph by Joe Schmelzer, from Steal This Look: Starry Night Outdoor Dining.
String lights draped over a dining table can provide enough light to see what you’re eating. Of course, everything is waterproof, though some we certainly bring inside during the winter months and strong storms.
Photograph by Brooke Fitts, courtesy of Ravenwood, from The Indoor/Outdoor Holiday: 11 Ideas to Steal from the Hudson Valley.
An open fire adds drama and encourages convening. They even make pizza ovens and other adapters to cook right over your Solo, which I’m hoping to try.