When the sun goes down, a little lighting can go a long way. Outdoor uplights add a beautiful touch to landscaping and give an otherwise simple setting that extra oomph. Plus, the right lights do more than you think, like setting the tone from cozy to dramatic to even magical. You can use outdoor uplights in several areas, including walkways, foliage, patios, and walls.

We’ll explore beautiful ways to enhance the exterior of your home with uplights (along with a few design tips and tricks).

What Are Outdoor Uplights?

Uplights are an outdoor lighting feature which includes fixtures designs to cast light upward. These lights are typically found in the ground, either by superficially adding them or building them into surfaces (like a recessed area or low base structure). These lights are more focused and directional, making them a great addition for illuminating trees, architectual elements, walls and even scultpures.

So, why should you add uplights? If you’re on the fence, here are few reasons to explore.

• Add drama. Use uplights to add dimension, texture, and contrast to otherwise flat spaces without needing to redesign or update other landscape elements.
• Boost safety. Light the path to your entryway, stairs, garage, or yard with strategically placed uplights.
• Enhance curb appeal. Highlight details of the outside of your home that you love the most.
• Elevate other lights. Complement flood lights, path lights, wall sconces, and even string lights.

Uplights come in a variety of sleek designs, and many offer energy-efficient LED options at an affordable price, so you can give your home a design boost on a budget.

1. Highlight Your Home’s Best Features

Maybe you’re wondering if the outside of your home needs “something,” but you don’t quite know what to update. Keep it simple (and budget-friendly) with uplighting. Highlight key features of your home like archways, high windows or even textured walls. This is also very effective for stone or brick exteriors because it adds drama without minimal effort.

2. Illuminate Your Entryway

Light the path leading up to your front door with in-ground uplights. Soft lights are great for welcoming guests and elevating curb appeal. You can also install built-in up lights (like the example below) for a sleeker finish. Pathway/entrway uplights are functional and add beauty to the entrance of your home.

3. Uplight Trees

Need an easy outdoor element to highlight? Use existing trees in your back or front yard. Uplighting the base of the trunk and canopy casts beautiful shadows and depth. Use color temperature and shadowing to your advantage to evoke different feels from whimsical to relaxed.

4. Mix it Up with Downlighting

Uplighting pairs really well with downlighting to add dimension. Mount fixtures with light facing down directly or close above uplights below to intentionally feature different aspects of your home (like tall windows or large entryways).

5. Define Walkways

Consider incorporating subtle uplights at the edges of walkways to add definition. Not only will this make walkways easier to navigate, but uplights can highlight greenery or stonework. Mix and match different lighting with uplights for a polished and elevated feel.

6. Add Grazing to Walls or Fences

Mounting uplights near the base of a wall is a technique called grazing. It brings out surface texture and architectural details by creating highlights and shadows. Grazing is one of the easiest ways to elevate basic landscaping.

7. Give Patios and Decks Some Extra Light

Uplights around patios or decks can enhance seating areas and transition spaces. You can pair them well with outdoor wall lights, string lights, or even step lights for extra ambiance.

8. Create Focal Points Outdoor Uplights

Have a garden statue or fountain that you love? Make it stand out with uplights placed below to make it the perfect nighttime centerpiece. Consider playing with different beam sizes, like narrow beams for tall sculptures and wider beams for broad pieces.

9. Backlight Shrubs or Foliage

Shrubs and foliage need attention, too. While trees are a great option for uplight placement, it’s also just as important to highlight plants that either light pathways and outline front or backyards. Place lights behind plants to create a silhouetting effect that’s especially stunning with large tropical leaves or ornamental grasses.

10. Mix Uplights with Spot Lights

Mixing flood lights or spot lights with uplights can create a soft balance in areas that already have strong architectural features. Try a layered lighting design to help your landscaping shine from multiple angles.

11. Play with Color Temperature

Bulb colors can create a warm and cozy vibe or offer a cooler, energizing feel. Warmer bulbs (around 2700k) are great near entryways, while cooler tones (4000k+) make white trim and stonework pop. Varying color with uplights lets you fine-tune your outdoor space to match your mood.

12. Choose Stylish Finishes

Brass uplights are as beautiful as they are classic. Plus, they can handle different types of weather (making them a win-win year-round). Powder-coated aluminum is another finish go-to for a sleek look that pairs well with other outdoor design features.

13. Go In-Ground for a Clean Look

In-ground uplights can create a minimalist feel. They sit flush with your lawn or pavers, virtually disappearing during the day, but making a big statement at night.

14. Use Uplighting to Improve Security

The right lighting plan can offer beauty and safety. Strategically placed uplights around dark corners, fences, or entries can help increase visibility and deter intruders. Consider pairing uplights with security or smart home systems for even more peace of mind.

15. Uplight Outdoor Art or Murals

If your home features an exterior mural or mounted art piece, uplighting can help it shine. Choose wide-beam fixtures with adjustable angles and use a dimmer or smart controller to fine-tune brightness depending on the mood.

16. Use Path Uplights to Frame Garden Beds

Highlight your garden by installing uplights at low angles beside garden beds. This creates a cozy glow that helps flowers and foliage pop after sunset.

Tips and Tricks for the Best Outdoor Uplighting

DIY Installation

Uplighting is very DIY-friendly. Follow the outdoor lighting installation tips from the brand you purchased and check that the transformers and wiring match the fixture load.

Best Lightbulbs

LED lightbulbs are our top choice for uplighting because they’re long-lasting, energy-efficient, and available in various beam widths and temperatures.

Places to Purchase

Most local retailers, both in person and online, will carry a range of options. Large home improvement stores often have the widest selection.

Avoid Light Pollution or Glare

Keep beam spreads narrow to avoid washing out nearby areas (or annoying your neighbors). Test fixture angles at night and adjust as needed.

Uplighting is all about stylishly illuminating landscaping to highlight the most beautiful aspects of your home. They are a great way to easily add dimension, artistry, and mood to your outdoor space. No matter what your current landscaping looks like, you can take it to the next level with uplights.

More Backyard Inspiration

How to hang patio lights over your patio, deck or yard.

The ultimate guide on how to hang outdoor patio lights and all of the products you’ll need!

There’s nothing quite as charming as beautiful cafe lights draped over a deck or patio — they add so much character and ambience to outdoor living spaces in the evening. 

Now that we’ve had them at two homes, these outdoor string lights are a staple for our outdoor spaces. 

There are a lot of things to consider if you’re planning to install these exterior lights yourself. You’ll need a few tools in order to hang them so that they withstand the elements. 

You’ll also need to consider where you are hanging them from to ensure they will be sturdy over time. I’ve compiled all of the methods — whether you have mature trees, a solid wood fence…or nothing at all in your backyard!

The best string lights that will last!

I tried a few options when we first installed patio cafe lights at our first house years ago. I felt like Goldilocks — some were too wimpy and the bulbs broke easily. A lot of them weren’t nearly long enough for what we needed. 

Many of my readers suggested these way back then — thank you! You can usually find these light strands at Costco too. 

That installation was fairly easy, as each bulb has a spot where you can hang from a nail or screw: 

These industrial string lights are heavy, so I recommend removing the bulbs while you install just to be safe. 

How to connect patio lights to electricity. 

At both of our homes we had a wall plug run specifically for the lights. At our first home, we had an electrician run a dedicated outlet and an exterior switch so we could operate the lights from our pergola. 

When we built our current home, I had a plug installed into our covered patio ceiling. I hung an extension cord along the ceiling of our patio (and covered it because a hate cords) and now you barely notice it: 

BUT you don’t need to have electricity to hang outdoor lights! Thankfully Feit also offers a solar-powered version in the same length. 

These solar lights would be a great option over a pool or water feature.

Hanging lights from trees or structures.

We were lucky to have some mature trees in our previous backyard. Keep in mind some trees work better than others because lights are commercial grade — our river birch trees weren’t strong enough for these heavy lights.

You want to make sure the tree can withstand the weight of the lights in wind or snow.

Also, the key to making sure your strands will stand the test of time is to use guide wires — using a wire takes the weight off of the light strands and gives them solid support.

We got wire and large eye hooks like this for our old pergola:

They allow you to tighten the wires by twisting if needed. Even better, this patio light kit comes with everything you could need — 150 feet of wire, turnbuckles and various hooks. 

After your wire is secure, attach the light strands with zip ties — run them through the hole at the top (pictured above) and around the wire. As long as you get them tight the lights won’t move anywhere. 

You can also run the wire through the lights before installing, but that seems like a pain and would make it way harder to move or take them down later on. 

Here’s how the wires and lights look between trees when hung: 

I find the best, most pleasing string lights layout is to hang them in a zig zag pattern. So for example if it’s between the house and trees, start at the house, then out to a tree, back to the house, etc.:

At our previous home, we took them back and forth from the pergola to the trees:

How to hang patio string lights when you don’t have mature trees.

There are a lot of tutorials out there for very basic light installations using these extendable light poles. These will work great if you are using lightweight cafe lights (not the industrial type we prefer), only have a short span to cover or you don’t get a lot of wind or intense weather. 

If you don’t plan to keep them up year-round, those would be a great option as well. Those light posts would work well for a temporary situation like a wedding reception or outdoor party.

You can hang patio lights around the top of a fence or deck railing using these wood-mounted poles that vary in height. If your fence posts are installed well, these would be a great option for a smaller yard with a fence. 

This lasted for a long time, through storms and crazy snow, until last year when we had tornado level winds that nearly pulled one out of the ground. 

Because our backyard can be a literal wind tunnel, recently we had posts cemented into the ground: 

I’ll share more about those in an upcoming backyard garden tour. If you don’t have extreme winds or weather, our cement/staked planter method will work great! 

No matter how you hang them, the work is worth it! The soft light in the evenings is hard to beat: