With summer now on the way and we see the return of outdoor celebrations, barbecues and family gatherings, I am often asked for gazebo and pergola lighting ideas to help create the perfect entertaining space.
With a little thought and creativity, pergolas and gazebos can make a stunning focal point when dressed with an outdoor pendant light, festoon lights, solar lanterns, and or other string lighting ideas.
All our pergola lighting is easy to install so can be used for DIY garden projects and there is no budget needed for an electrician. So here are 5 ways of lighting a pergola or gazebo this summer.
1. Hang an Outdoor Pendant Light
Looking for modern pergola string lights? Perfect for suspending over a table or outdoor seating area, hanging a pendant light creates a dramatic centrepiece for your pergola, bringing all the style and function of indoors, to your garden.
Looking for inspiration? Our Sparkle outdoor pendant lights in mesh metal really are a statement piece to hang from your gazebo, and our outdoor sphere fairy lights are the perfect lighting choice for bringing some extra sparkle to your patio all year round.
2. Use Outdoor Festoon Bulb Lights
Garden festoon bulb lighting offers a modern and versatile way to bring a warm atmosphere to your pergola space and create a fun festival vibe. These string of lights are perfect for dressing an outdoor entertaining space, as they are simple to hang around the perimeter of your gazebo or pergola, creating a cosy and inviting glow and lighting up to your garden space. You can also add them along each of the beams of your structure if you want to introduce even more lights.
Sparkle's Connectable Edison Festoon Lights are ideal for this and can either be used as a single set or connect 4 sets together to create a 30 meter string that can be criss-crossed over a larger area.
Connectable Edison Festoon Lights
3. Hang Drop Festoon Bulb Lights
For something a little different to the traditional festoon light, SPARKLE also offers the Drop Festoon Bulb Lights that you can use in the same way. When suspended from a pergola, this string of lights has separate drop-down bulbs, giving the appearance of lots individual hanging bulbs lighting up an outdoor space. They give a more luxe feel than traditional festoon lights and really set the mood for a lovely evening alfresco.
4. Display Pergola Solar Lanterns
For a fun splash of colour to your pergola, our outdoor solar lights bring a modern boho look to any garden space. These lanterns can be used singularly around your pergola, as a solar table decoration, or the lights can be clustered together to create a striking centrepiece when suspended above your seating area.
They feature a delicate paper-like finish but are made using a unique lightweight and durable material so you don’t have to worry about them ruining in the rain. When dressing your pergola we think the more the better with these solar lights as they really do look great together in sets..
5. Drape Garden String Lights
To help create an intimate and romantic pergola ambience, intertwine a string of fairy lights into the pergola alongside the outdoor festoon lights. It will feel like you're sitting out under a starry sky, no matter how cloudy it is over head.
Add garden fairy lights like Sparkle's copper & silver wire cluster fairy lights, these are perfect for creating a stunning pergola style and have been used in the image below.
Drop bulb Festoon Lights & silver fairy lights 📷 @pandora.maxton
6. Use LED Candles
To create even more of a romantic look, add a group of LED candles to your dining table or coffee table. The candlelight will really bring atmosphere to the space and set the scene for a lovely evening.
Sparkle's LED outdoor candles are perfect as they can be left outside but any of the LED candles can be taken out to use while entertaining friends.
7. Outdoor Battery Fairy Lights
Sparkle has a selection of outdoor battery lighting which is perfect for using in pergolas or gazebos but outdoor battery operated fairy lights are particularly useful for bringing a bit of extra twinkle and sparkle to your pergola space.
Add Sparkle's orchid fairy lights or fern gold fairy lights to a table to make a statement or hang the battery operated version of the starburst outdoor silver fairy lights overhead.
Silver starburst outdoor fairy lights
8. Hang Outdoor Starburst Lights
Bring an extra special look to your pergola with these stunning hanging starburst lights from the beams of your pergola. You can use a couple or add a gang to create even more impact.
Outdoor hanging starburst lights
What lights should you use on a pergola?
What is the best way to hang lights on a pergola?
There are a few ways that you can hang lights on your pergola. You can use hooks, zip ties, or even the beams are perfect for draping lights over. It comes down what will work best for your space and the look that you are going for.
Shop our full range of pergola lights or gazebo lights, or why not browse our garden lighting collection which has so many ideas to bring a warm glow and ambience to your outdoor space.
You can also have a read of our blog to get more ideas of how to use lighting in your outdoor space- Garden Lighting Ideas- 5 places to use lighting around your garden.