I mentioned in a previous post that my new BBQ area occupies the space where our hot tub once resided. I'm finding that the area is a bit dark since the house floodlights don't illuminate it. There are lights off the back of the garage but they don't light it up sufficiently either.
I tacked a string of LED Christmas lights to the BBQ shed, which looked pretty but didn't do the job. I thought of putting up solar LED motion lights on the shed, but these got lousy reviews and I dislike the "as seen on TV" nature of them.
Yankee ingenuity and frugality to the rescue.
After the Trex deck remodel, I had plenty of PVC trim boards left over which the contractor agreed I could keep. They were only headed to a dumpster. I've been making ghost decorations for Halloween out of some of it and am starting on some Christmas stuff as well.
My initial thought was a closet rod inserted into an umbrella stand with LED rope lights wrapped around it. Functional but kinda ugly.
In keeping with the style of the railing posts on the new deck, I assembled a 7 ft tall post, put together a round base and legs and a post cap. Around the post I strung an LED rope light, hoping it would provide enough illumination to work at any of the grills and see into the BBQ shed.
Success! The main goals of this were:
(a) it had to be light enough to move. With the exception of some lumber in the bottom 2 feet of the post, it's hollow and lightweight.
(b) inexpensive. All the PVC material was "free" (yeah, I paid for it with the cost of the deck remodels) but all I had to buy was the string of rope lights.
(c) weatherproof and maintenance free. It's PVC.
A day or two in the shop and it's done. It plugs into an outlet, doesn't need permanent wiring and performs as intended. It lights up my grill area. I think it actually looks pretty darn good, I might make another for mood lighting on our upper deck.
Some pics -
Thanks for reading through to the end of this post (pun intended).
Regards,
-lunchman
I tacked a string of LED Christmas lights to the BBQ shed, which looked pretty but didn't do the job. I thought of putting up solar LED motion lights on the shed, but these got lousy reviews and I dislike the "as seen on TV" nature of them.
Yankee ingenuity and frugality to the rescue.
After the Trex deck remodel, I had plenty of PVC trim boards left over which the contractor agreed I could keep. They were only headed to a dumpster. I've been making ghost decorations for Halloween out of some of it and am starting on some Christmas stuff as well.
My initial thought was a closet rod inserted into an umbrella stand with LED rope lights wrapped around it. Functional but kinda ugly.
In keeping with the style of the railing posts on the new deck, I assembled a 7 ft tall post, put together a round base and legs and a post cap. Around the post I strung an LED rope light, hoping it would provide enough illumination to work at any of the grills and see into the BBQ shed.
Success! The main goals of this were:
(a) it had to be light enough to move. With the exception of some lumber in the bottom 2 feet of the post, it's hollow and lightweight.
(b) inexpensive. All the PVC material was "free" (yeah, I paid for it with the cost of the deck remodels) but all I had to buy was the string of rope lights.
(c) weatherproof and maintenance free. It's PVC.
A day or two in the shop and it's done. It plugs into an outlet, doesn't need permanent wiring and performs as intended. It lights up my grill area. I think it actually looks pretty darn good, I might make another for mood lighting on our upper deck.
Some pics -
Thanks for reading through to the end of this post (pun intended).
Regards,
-lunchman
