The Importance of Illuminating Your Pool Area

When you think about pool lighting, do you think beyond the functional to the aesthetic? Pool lighting design doesn’t have to be dull; with the right lighting you can completely transform the look of your outdoor space. Not only does lighting make the pool area safer, but it also enhances the beauty of the area. Here, we look at the essential elements involved in designing the perfect pool lighting, and how you can create a backyard pool area that is both welcoming and exciting.

Safety and Beauty: The Dual Purposes of Lighting Your Space

Pool safety is an extremely important aspect of pool ownership. As any responsible pool owner knows, it is crucial to prevent accidents in and around the pool. During the night, appropriate lighting lights paths and clearly marks the pool, its decking, and other areas. In decades past, that was about as far as pool lighting went, but today, advanced technology allows us to create imaginative and beautiful outdoor spaces. In addition to promoting safety, lighting creates an ambiance that makes your pool a stunning space, even in the darkest hours of night. Whether you are throwing an evening party, having a peaceful solo swim, or want to create a romantic atmosphere, you can use pool lighting to fashion an environment that tells the story you want to tell.

Choosing the Right Lighting

There are different types of lighting that can make an enormous difference in the function and appearance of your outdoor space.

• Ambient lighting sets the mood for your outdoor space. To establish a warm, inviting atmosphere, use soft, diffused light to extend the functionality of your pool and the surrounding area, making it a welcoming space, even after dark. You can choose to place light fixtures around the pool, on walls, in the garden, on umbrellas; integrate them into your existing space to enhance its natural beauty. Keeping the lights soft prevents them from overwhelming the area.
• Path lighting helps people navigate around the pool safely. Typically aimed downward and placed low to the ground, pathway lights illuminate walkways to improve safety. This is particularly important around a pool, where water can make things slippery, and seeing where you are walking can prevent slips, falls, and other accidents. You can also use pathway lights, including LED strip lights, to enhance the aesthetic appeal of your pool area. These lights can be customized in terms of brightness and color temperature, and you can even use smart lighting that can be controlled remotely.
• Underwater lighting is for seeing in the pool and adds visual appeal. Ensuring that swimmers can see clearly at night is important, but underwater lighting accomplishes more than simply illuminating the pool water. Strategically placed, underwater lights can showcase the pool’s depth and the beauty of the water. Choose lights in different colors, and you can easily transform the look of your pool.
• Feature lighting highlights specific aspects of your yard and pool. Uplighting, in particular, is a dramatic way to draw attention to an architectural element of your home, or a beautiful tree. This is not the only feature lighting option, and you can incorporate into your landscape lighting anywhere you want to draw attention to something interesting or attractive.

Color and Control Options

It is well known that different colors promote different moods, with cool blues and greens being peaceful, warmer reds and oranges exciting, and purples bringing a sense of mystery and inspiring imagination. Embrace this concept as you design the lighting for your outdoor space, planning your color scheme to create the ambiance you want. It is easy to do with modern lighting systems. There are pool lighting systems ranging from manual switches to advanced systems that can be integrated into smart home systems. Some lighting systems have programmable timers and remote controls, so that you can conveniently and easily control when the lights turn on or change colors. Smart lighting lets you control these lights through an app on a smartphone or tablet, turning them on or off, dimming them, or changing their colors. You might choose a soft, soothing glow for a quiet night, or festive colors for a lively event. Colored lighting can be used around the pool or in the pool itself, to create your desired effect. LED lighting fixtures are becoming ever more popular, because they have superior energy efficiency and durability, and come in an astonishing array of colors and styles.

Placing Your Lights

For the sake of safety, it is important to place lights strategically, in a way that lights paths to and from the house, and clearly defines the pool deck area and pool entry points. An added benefit of these lights it the way they help contribute to the overall beauty of your outdoor space. Along paths, light should be cast downward, to minimize shadows and reduce glare, while highlighting featured areas is a good use for lights that point upward.  Wall lights can add depth and dimension to the area, underwater lighting can highlight the pool’s unique features and create interesting patterns on the surface of the water, and by using lights correctly, you can turn an ordinary back yard into a visually stunning space.

Creating Ambiance

• Put on an underwater light show. LED or fiber optic lights can be used to make your pool into a magical place, lighting the water up from the inside, with changing colors to set the mood. Some lighting systems can even be integrated with a sound system, so that you can use music to further create a party atmosphere or dreamy ambiance.
• Add a fairy-tale look with floating pool lights. Portable and easy to place, floating lights come in different shapes, sizes, and designs, and are meant to be used in the water. They can make a poolside dinner feel romantic and cozy, add excitement to a party, or give an inviting glow to an evening chat by the pool.
• Make the most of your pool’s special features. Do you have a waterfall or fountain in your pool? Enhance its look using special lighting. Spotlights can make these features look larger and more impressive, while underwater lights shining up at the waterfall or fountain can highlight the moving water. You can even incorporate color and smart controls into your feature lighting.
• Embrace the magic of moonlight. Choose soft lights, perhaps shining through grills to make the shadows more interesting, and take advantage of the pool’s reflective properties to enhance the effect of moonlight. Using effects that mimic the look of moonlight, in and around the pool, can make your pool area feel at once peaceful and magical.

Let Aaron Pools & Spas Help You Plan Your Perfect Outdoor Space

When you are ready to create a lighting plan that takes your outdoor space to the next level, there’s no better company to help you design your pool space than Aaron Pools and Spas. We’ve installed countless swimming pools and hot tubs since our company was established in 1972, and this family-owned-and-operated business has a dedicated, award-winning team with over 400 years of combined experience. We love to help improve the quality time that families spend together at home, which is why we provide pools and spas with exceptional craft, bringing your vision to life with the best, materials, layouts, and styles available. We also offer pool cleaning products to make sure your pool looks beautiful, feels amazing, and is safe. For the best possible service from our highly experienced installation team, contact us today.