Summer is just around the corner. The swimming pool at your home will take center stage once again. As a proud pool owner, you want to find ways to make your area a place you can relax. During the day, you won't have to do anything. What majestic body of water doesn't already catch the eye in an outdoor living space (or indoor one), after all?
When the sun sets, though, you need to consider how to light your pool area. In other words, you need to light up that pool, and the area around the pool, to make it the center of attention once again.
Benefits of Lighting Your Swimming Pool
The primary benefits of lighting your swimming pool are aesthetic and practical. Tasteful lighting can make your pool area a place to gather with friends and family. You can also use your lighting to create an ambiance. Lighting, after all, affects mood. Soft light, in particular, makes the environment more relaxing.
The secondary benefit of lighting your pool area is the health and safety element. People are less likely to fall from the pool deck into the water when they can see where they’re going.
With this in mind, let’s look at six ways to light up your swimming pool this summer.
1. Shine lights from above
Lighting your swimming pool from above is the most practical way to illuminate your pool and the surrounding area. For example, you can attach our bronze CAST classic niche light under the eaves of a building or another surface. You can use our CAST LED mini wash lights in a similar way.
Directional lights allow you to highlight select parts of your pool and the surrounding area. You can play around with the positioning of the lights to create the perfect effect for your pool area.
2. Light up your pool deck
A pool is rarely a standalone feature. In many homes, the pool is surrounded by decking, where you gather, relax and enjoy the day. Lighting up your pool decking will mean you can relax around the pool, even if you decide not to swim.
There are various ways you can illuminate your pool decking. We discussed ten ways you can light up your decking in this post. For example, you can use niche lighting over your deck. Consider also using dimmers so you can set the ambiance for the evening.
3. Illuminate your path
The location of your pool will impact the type of lighting you use to illuminate the area. You should take advantage of tall objects around the pool for illumination.
For example, you can tactfully use outdoor lights to highlight the path or area surrounding your pool. Recessed floor lighting, like our recessed mini narrow spot up light, can be used to illuminate your yard.
4. Highlight your stairs
If you have a raised pool area, you should consider installing ground lights to illuminate those stairs. With this approach, you won't just nail the aesthetics. You'll ensure the safety of your visitors, too.
How many times have we all tripped over a step we didn't see, after all? Probably more times than we can all count.
5. Use underwater lighting for your water features
You may be lucky and have other water features surrounding your pool. For example, if you have a natural pool, you might have a stream running close to the pool. These natural water features can become a highlight of your garden at night.
Our CAST underwater lights can be placed in water features to illuminate the water from below. With these lighting fixtures, you can make the color of your water stand out. These lights are not suitable for swimming pools.
6. Illuminate the surrounding trees
One of the pool lighting ideas we talked about involved installing lights in trees adjacent to your pool to illuminate your pool from above. In this case, though, you don’t install light in the trees but turn your trees into a nocturnal feature by illuminating them from below. Illuminating the trees surrounding your pool will help create an inviting ambiance.
You can use a soft flood of light that makes the trees seem bigger than they are. That's a great strategy for portraying grandeur. So, when your visitors reach the pool, that calmness and serenity that come with seeing a still body of water will make them feel relaxed.
Wrapping up
Your swimming pool is an important fixture of your home, especially during those hot summer months. Light up your swimming pool to give it the attention it deserves. Good lighting will make the pool aesthetically pleasing and ensure your visitors' safety.
This article shared six pool lighting ideas. Shine those lights from above to highlight your pool. Light up your pool deck, the path leading to the structure, the nearby stairs, or even illuminate the trees surrounding your pool from below.
Choose one or two from these tips I shared, and you won't be the only one smiling once the lights are installed. Even your visitors will be impressed. The downside (or upside?): expect more self-invitations from friends and family.
