Patio Lighting
decor crafts -> yard
Add Lighting To Your Patio
The problem: no posts to attach lights to
The solution: create decorative posts in pots
My challenge: I wanted the same type of beautiful patio lighting that I had seen around my neighborhood. Most people had strung lights around the underside of a patio roof. We, however, did not have a cover over our patio. What would we attach the strings of lights to? I thought about attaching them to posts, because we had a grass area around the patio, but that didn't sound very decorative. Plus it would mean pounding posts into our lawn. I knew my husband would not like mowing around posts.
My daughter and husband came up with a brilliant idea, and this became another family project - create beautiful pots to sink the the posts into! The pots, with posts, would sit on the patio. They could be moved around as needed. Perfect solution!
The lights were strung between the posts, in our beautiful new pots, and our porch roof that ran along the back of the house. The strings of lights zig-zagged between the posts and house, and it looked so lovely when lit.
Monsoon winds can be extreme in Phoenix (which is where we lived during this project), so my husband filled plastic pots with concrete. He then sunk the posts into the concrete. The plastic pots were placed inside decorative clay pots. My daughter decorated the posts with vines, and added silk flowers to the pots. The flowers can be changed out with the seasons.
The posts have withstood many storms, and we have enjoyed many evenings entertaining guests on our patio.
Now, we live in the Pacific Northwest - and need patio lighting on our wood deck. Stay tuned for that project.
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PHOTO: previous site: CraftAndFabricLinks.com
SUPPLIES
Quikrete (use your favorite mix)
inexpensive plastic pots - size for your project - we used 1 gallon size
posts
tarp
rake (for mixing concrete)
cup (for holding water)
concrete mixing container
short boards/weights (to hold the posts while the concrete dries)
dried and artificial florals
decorative pots (to place the concrete-filled pots into when finished)
DIRECTIONS
Follow the instruction on the Quikrete bag for mixing (or product of your choice).
Place the short boards in pairs, weighted down with rocks. The board pairs will hold the posts upright while the concrete dries.
Run a line of masking tape around the pot, along the bottom edge. This will be a guide, later in the process.
Fill the pots with the concrete. Add water as necessary and mix per directions on Quikrete package.
We had placed the short boards along the edge of our outdoor countertop (around the grill area). The ends hung over a bit - perfect for holding the posts. The heavy rocks held the boards in place.
The system worked perfectly! We washed our equipment and cleaned up while the posts dried.
Be sure to check your posts to ensure that they are level! Leaning posts would not look nice :-)
Finally -the fun part. Once the concrete is dry, place the pot into a decorative pot. We filled the bottom of the decorative, outer pot, with dirt - just up to the tape line. You can fill all the way to the top and over the concrete if you wish.
We placed moss over the top, and pushed the silk flower stems and plants down into the gap between the two pots. They held quite well in wind and rain. After a couple years, we replaced the flowers.
The decorative posts and new lighting looked so beautiful in our yard - blending perfectly with our gardens.
Yard Crafts
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