Outdoor living is so great for the heart and the soul but what do you do once it gets dark? Have you ever admired pub garden lights and thought how inviting the space looks? Are you looking for ideas for a garden party, an event or a wedding?
A festoon of lights makes great garden lighting and bring twinkle to your outdoor space once the sun sets so you can spend even more time outside. It is also great to look out on these pretty lights when you are snuggled up inside to create a romantic atmosphere.
So this is a complete guide to the best way to use festoon string lights in your garden and explains the choice of festoon items that we have available including various lengths, styles and type of bulbs.
Which festoon outdoor lights should I purchase?
So firstly you need to decide where you are going to put them and if there is a plug available. This will allow you to make the decision between plug in or battery festoon lights. Extension cables can always be used to reach your power source.
You then need to decide what colour light you want if you want multi- coloured, cool white or warm white festoon lighting.
Best Outdoor Festoon Lighting for your space
There are lots of different festoon light options to illuminate your garden but what would be the best festoon lighting to use in your outdoor space:
Outdoor Festoon lights are great for if you are looking for a standard set of festoon lights to use overhead on a patio or along a fence or a wall to light up a space. These come in various lengths including 5m and 10m illuminated.
Drop bulb festoon lights are perfect to hang from a pergola but also can be used over head in a seating area and create a lovely atmosphere.
Connectable festoon lights are great for when you want to cover a larger area as you can add on extra sets to create the perfect length for your space.
White Connectable Festoon Lights
How to arrange festoon lighting?
You can arrange your festoon lights along a wall or fence in a straight line or above a seating area or your complete garden in a V, X or Z shape.
How many festoon lights do I need?
To decide how many festoon lights that you need to decide you need to decide where you are going to use the festoon lights in your outdoor space and what shape you want them in.
Then you lay out string exactly where you want them in order to work out the length that you need. This needs to be directly on the floor to get the exact measurements.
How to hang festoon garden lights in the garden?
Festoon string lights are great decoration for a garden and are easy to install so brilliant for DIY garden projects. Here are some of the best ways to use festoon string lights in an outdoor area:
Festoon string lights on Pergola
Hanging festoon lights from a pergola is the easiest way to install them in a garden. First you need to decide where the power plug is and how to safely bring the lights towards the pergola. You then need to attach and run the cable up the nearest leg of the pergola. Most of Sparkle's festoon lights have a 10m lead giving plenty of cable between the power socket and the pergola.
The easiest way to then display the pergola festoon lights is to use the existing line of the beans but you can create any pattern you fancy. You can use cup hooks, zip ties, velcro or even strong string and place whatever you chose to use every meter along your structure and then attach the festoon lights. The other option is that you
Drop bulb festoon lights & copper cluster fairy lights @pandora.maxton
How to hang festoon lights on a fence or wall
If you want to hang garden festoon lights on a fence, attach some cup hooks or cable ties -depending on the style of fence every meter and then attach your lights. This will light your garden up beautifully. You can either hang them the full length of a fence or around a seating area as shown below.
If you would like to hang your garden festoon lights on a wall, you need to have something like a trellis to attach them to or to drill in cup hooks at regular intervals to attach them along the wall.
Edison Bulb Connectable Festoon Lights @thehouseofdickenstocks
How to hang outdoor festoon lights above a table
Festoon lights look beautiful hung above a table, to be able to do this you need festoon light posts at each end of the table to be used to hang the festoon lights from.
Globe Connectable Festoon Lights
How to hang garden festoon lights above a patio or decking
This is more complicated than hanging festoon lights on fences or on pergolas. You first need to work out where your power socket is and in what shape you want to use your festoon lights in. Are there any structures already in place that you can use in your plan? This may be the wall of your house or a tree in your garden.
If there are not enough structures to attach your lights to you can also use poles for festoon lights to create the look you want.
If you’re working on a hard surface area and can’t break it up, get some of those buckets filled with concrete and space them out to match your design.
The good part about arranging festoon lighting this way is that you have almost total freedom for your poles’ placement and you can use as many festoon light poles as you want, which means you can create some truly intricate designs.
Visit the festoon lights collection to decide which festoon lighting you are going to use in your outdoor space.