DENVER, CO — If the livin’ is easy in the summertime, well-designed lighting makes it even more pleasurable—and safer, too. Making your backyard functional and safe for summer living and entertaining doesn’t mean it has to be lit up like a night game at Coors Field. Spotlights are fine for security, but no one wants to need sunglasses while munching a bratwurst on the patio on a warm summer night.

Outdoor living spaces are a great way to take advantage of Colorado’s beautiful summer evenings and add value to your home in the process. One of the hottest trends in remodeling today is expanding into the great outdoors with bigger decks, outdoor spas, and outdoor kitchens. And with one of the several weatherproof televisions now available, you can even watch “Dancing with the Stars” under the stars in your favorite chaise longue or hammock.

If you’re expanding a deck or patio or building a new one, that’s the perfect time to reconsider your lighting and electrical needs. Several well-placed low-wattage lights make a more pleasant setting than a couple of bright flood lamps. Your eyes adjust nicely to lower light, and it’s much more relaxing than trying to eat or lounge in an area that’s bright as a white sand beach at high noon. Besides, high light levels at night make it difficult, if not impossible, to see the stars in the sky above you. Throwing a spotlight across the yard to light up a tree or fountain is not nearly as esthetically pleasing as highlighting them subtly in place with softer accents, especially when it hides that spot of dead grass the dog destroyed.

Steps and walkways are a particular area to carefully plan lighting for, both in the back yard and along the pathway leading to your entryway. Nothing ruins a nice yard party quicker than calling 911 because you or a guest took a header coming off the deck or stumbled on a paving stone.

And while you’re lighting the area, consider the other modern uses for the great outdoors of your backyard, like cooking. Today’s backyard chefs are ratcheting grilling steaks and burgers up a notch with fully-functioning outdoor kitchens. Prep areas with built-in sinks and refrigerators and convenient task lighting take outdoor cooking to a new level.

Of course, beyond expanding the outdoor living space for a fully functional summer-evening playroom, don’t forget the standard areas of outdoor lighting that probably need to be addressed. Porch lights, front and back, and lights on the garage add safety year round, and most newly built homes are featuring both decorative and security lighting that give your home great curb appeal while thwarting would-be thieves. Retrofitting existing home with these features, in a variety of energy-saving modes, is also always a good idea.

The choices of outdoor lighting and electrical fixtures have expanded greatly in recent years, and as the trend toward outdoors has grown, so has the number of poor quality and potentially unsafe products on the market. Just because it’s outside doesn’t mean it can’t be safe, up to code – and as attractive as all of the indoor living areas.

So when it’s time to replace that jelly-jar fixture next to the back door with more functional and decorative lighting, or you’re ready to build an outdoor kitchen, spa or living room, the pros at Allstar Electrical are here to provide you with designs and installations that will not only highlight your outdoor experience, but will safely stand the test of time and the extremes of Colorado weather.

Just give us a call at (303) 399-7420 and we’ll shed some light on the subject for you.