How to transform your terrace into a calming garden sanctuary in five easy steps - Step 4 - Lighting Design
In the last three posts, we’ve taken you through the essential early stages of transforming your terrace into a garden sanctuary. In Step 1, we looked at how to create a garden design that works with the architecture of your home. In Step 2, we explored how to tailor the design to your specific lifestyle and needs. And in Step 3, we discussed how to select plants that are not only beautiful but suited to your terrace’s unique conditions.
This week, we’re moving on to Step 4: Lighting – one of the most transformative elements in any outdoor space.
🌳 STEP 1 Create a garden design that works with the architecture of your home
🌳 STEP 2 Creating a terrace tailored to your needs
🌳 STEP 3 Select the right plants
🌳 STEP 4 Create the perfect lighting design
🌳 STEP 5 Building and project managing your garden project
STEP 4: What lighting do you need? ✨
Lighting can entirely change how your terrace feels, both after dark and when viewed from inside the house. A thoughtfully designed lighting scheme will extend the use of your terrace beyond daylight hours and create a garden that feels magical and welcoming at night.
For this particular project, our goal was twofold:
To make the terrace feel like an extension of the living room at night, creating a soft, inviting atmosphere visible from inside during the colder months.
To provide a space for outdoor living in the warmer months, where the terrace becomes a softly lit, intimate setting for alfresco dining and entertaining after sunset.
Layers of light
Just like inside the home, outdoor lighting works best when it’s layered. We use a combination of ambient and accent lighting to create depth, contrast, and mood.
For this terrace, we combined several types of discreet lighting to highlight the planting, add texture, and provide functional light where needed.
The lighting scheme we designed:
Our Chelsea Mews project, at night
💡 Integrated bench lighting
Subtle LED strips are set into the backs of the bespoke benches. These provide a soft wash of light at low level, which gently defines the seating areas without being overpowering. When viewed from the house at night, these lights create a warm glow that invites you out into the space and subtly frames the terrace’s geometry.
💡 Spike lights for the planting
Spike spotlights are used throughout the planting beds to pick up the forms of the evergreen shrubs and the sculptural shapes of the Japanese maple trees. By positioning these carefully at the base of key plants, we were able to create dramatic uplighting effects, with shadows and highlights that give the garden structure and depth in the evening.
💡 Water feature lighting
At the base of the contemporary water feature, we set small, focused uplights. These create rippling reflections on the surrounding surfaces as the water moves gently in the evening breeze. The result is a calming, sensory focal point that draws the eye and enhances the tranquil atmosphere of the terrace after dark.
Considering how you’ll use the space
Lighting isn’t just about aesthetics – it’s about how you live in the space. When we design terrace lighting schemes, we always start with two key questions:
How will you use your terrace in the evening?
Is it mainly for entertaining, for quiet evenings reading or dining outdoors, or simply to provide a beautiful view from inside your home?What mood do you want to create?
Do you want a warm, romantic feel with gentle pools of light? Or a brighter, more functional space for larger gatherings?
For this project, the clients wanted the terrace to work as both a beautiful backdrop from inside the house during the colder months and as a liveable outdoor room in the summer.
Balancing light and shadow
A common mistake in garden lighting is to overdo it. Too many lights can leave the space feeling flat or too bright, losing the sense of calm and depth. The trick is to light selectively – highlighting certain features, while allowing other areas to fall into soft shadow. Also, to use dimmer modules so that the whole scheme can be brought down to a level that works for your needs and requirements.
In this terrace, we carefully placed spike lights to highlight the architectural planting – such as the silver-blue eucalyptus trees and the dramatic Japanese maples – while allowing other areas to remain gently in the dark. This contrast creates a sense of mystery and intimacy.
Why lighting design is as important as planting
Outdoor lighting isn’t just functional – it’s part of the experience of the garden. A well-lit terrace invites you out even when the days grow shorter. It brings the garden into your home, extending your enjoyment of the space throughout the year.
In this project, the lighting works hand in hand with the planting design. The sculptural shapes of the evergreens, the soft textures of trailing plants, and the striking branches of the maples all come alive at night under carefully positioned lights.
Extra touches
For those who enjoy entertaining, we often add portable lanterns or candles to the scheme. These can be moved around the terrace depending on the occasion, adding another layer of ambient light and warmth.
Smart technology can also be introduced, allowing clients to control the lighting from inside the home or via an app. In this case, we incorporated a simple dimmable system, so the mood could be adjusted depending on the event – from a quiet evening to a summer dinner party.
Looking ahead to Step 5…
Next week, we’ll bring the series to a close with Step 5: Building and project managing your garden project, where we’ll share insights into how we deliver terrace projects smoothly, coordinating every element from construction to planting and lighting installation.