Patio String Lights, By the Foot

String lights usually disappoint for one reason, which is that there aren’t enough of them. One thin line of bulbs along a railing leaves most of the patio in the dark, however pretty the bulbs are. So the first thing to decide is length.

String lights work like a length of rope. They light the path they follow and nothing beyond it, so measure the run, whether that is the railing, the perimeter, or the line overhead from the house to a post. A balcony or a small seating corner takes a short strand. Most patios take a medium one, and a large garden, or a crisscross canopy overhead, takes a long one. The length of each set is in its details.

Then choose the bulb. Round globes look festive, teardrop Edison shapes look vintage, and a warm white glow flatters a garden the way candlelight does. String lights are one layer of a patio’s lighting.

Brightown G40 LED Outdoor String Lights

Round globe bulbs give string lights a festive, cafe terrace look, and the Brightown set glows at a very warm, candle-like color. This is a short strand, the right amount for a balcony rail, a small pergola, or one side of a courtyard. Hung in a gentle swag above a bistro table for two, it turns a small corner of outdoor space into somewhere to sit after dark.

Enbrighten Vintage Outdoor String Lights (35631)

Enbrighten’s bulbs hang down from the cord on short drops, the classic look of a beer garden or an Italian street. The glow is a warm white, and the bulbs are acrylic, not glass, which is reassuring on a windy night. One strand runs around the edge of an average patio, and more can be linked on as the garden grows. String it between the house and a post, high enough to walk under.

Brightech Ambience Pro Solar Outdoor String Lights

Solar string lights go where no outlet reaches, the far fence, the shed, the pergola at the bottom of the garden. The Brightech set charges by day from a small panel and lights the evening with Edison-style bulbs in a warm white. With no cable to run back to the house, it is the easy way to light the corner you sit in least and would use more if it were lit.

DGE Outdoor LED String Lights

Big Edison-style bulbs with an amber tint give the DGE strand a warm, old-fashioned glow, and the bulbs themselves look pretty against a fence or a white wall before it gets dark. It is rated for rain and dust, so it suits a patio with no roof at all. Run it along the top of a fence or zigzag it over a dining table.

Brightever Outdoor String Lights

Long enough to cross a big garden several times, the Brightever strand is for the full canopy effect, lights crisscrossing overhead from the house to the trees and back. That takes some planning and a ladder, and the result is a ceiling of small warm lights that makes a lawn feel like a room. It dims, so the same lights can be bright for a party and low for a quiet evening.

addlon Outdoor String Lights ST38 LED With Remote

Edison-style teardrop bulbs give the addlon strand a vintage look, and it comes with a remote, so the lights go on and off from the sofa or the back door. A timer will switch them off for you at the end of the evening. This is a long strand, enough for a deck and a lawn together, and the amber bulbs look good in daylight too.

Govee S14 Bulb Outdoor String Lights 2

Most evenings the Govee bulbs glow a plain warm white like any other string light. On a birthday or at Halloween they can turn any color you like, set from a phone, or pulse along with the music. They are the choice for a household with children, or for anyone who decorates the garden for every holiday, and the rest of the year nobody need know.

Why Bulb Color Changes How Much Light Feels Like Enough

Warm white bulbs make a patio feel like a place to sit, the same reason they suit a living room’s layered lighting. Cooler, bluer bulbs can make even a well lit patio look like a parking lot. Alongside the rest of what furnishes a well planned patio, the right length and a warm bulb finish the job.