Backyard Stargazing: Lights That Won’t Drown Out the Sky
The best view in your yard after dark may be straight up. Most people never see it, and the reason…
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Solar Lights for Rainy and Cloudy Climates: What to Buy
Not every yard gets reliable sun. If you live somewhere the sky is gray more days than not, you have…
Getting Your Yard Ready for Summer with Solar Lighting
Winter is hard on outdoor lighting. Panels sit under snow, batteries go sluggish in the cold, and half the yard…
Safer Outdoor Lighting for Older Family Members
My mother-in-law tripped on her own back step two Octobers ago, in the gap between the porch light’s reach and…
Solar Christmas Lights and Holiday Decor: A Practical Guide
Christmas lights turn a house into the one people slow down to look at. The problem has always been the…
Outdoor Dining Lighting: Keep the Table Usable Past Sunset
I learned outdoor dining lighting from a restaurant, not a magazine. The place had six tables under strings of warm…
Fall Porch Lighting: Layered Glow for Cool Evenings
Somewhere around the third week of September, the porch changes jobs. All summer it was a place you walked through.…
Do Solar Lights Work in Winter? How to Keep Them Shining
If you installed solar lights in the spring and watched them glow bright every night, December can feel like a…
Lighting a Dark Side Yard (Without Turning It Into a Runway)
Nobody hangs out in a side yard. You haul trash cans through it at 6 a.m., you walk the dog…
Solar Projection and Mandala Lights: How They Work and Where to Use Them
A plain fence, a bare garage wall, or an empty stretch of patio can make a backyard feel unfinished no…
Do Solar Fountains Actually Work? What to Know Before You Buy
A fountain turns a birdbath or a small pond from a still dish of water into a moving, lively centerpiece,…
Halloween Solar Light Ideas That Cost Nothing to Run
Halloween is the one holiday where bad lighting is still on theme, which is probably why I overspend on it…
Solar Torch Lights: How the Dancing Flame Effect Works
There is something about a row of flickering flames along a patio that makes an evening feel finished, and until…
7 Garden Lighting Mistakes That Make a Yard Look Cheap
Some yards have expensive lighting and still look cheap. The fixtures cost plenty, the lights come on at dusk, and…
Patio String Light Layouts: Zigzag, Parallel or Canopy?
The best-lit patio I ever sat on belonged to a taco truck, three strings and a folding table. The worst…
