Adding outdoor lighting when you don't have an outlet

As the temperatures get warmer I seem to only find myself on the balcony in the early morning before work, or late at night. My early excursions aren't so much to just enjoy the space as they are to water, pick off dead flowers, and harvest a few strawberries.

At night I've found myself wanting to go out to read or relax with the hubby. We have a porch light that illuminates the space rather well. It's very…functional, but not so inviting. And it attracts bugs. Not nice.

So I want to add some nice ambient lighting. But I don't have an outdoor outlet.

First I thought of solar-powered lighting. I saw some at Target, but they look chintzy and haven't had very good reviews. They don't seem to keep a charge after a few months, or the don't let out a lot of light.







Other online retailers seem to have good products, but I'm not really fond of online shopping – I like to see a product and take it home with me there and then.








Then I saw this post on using candles in jars on AT. Very pretty.











And even more recently they had an article on hanging jars with candles as lighting.


I have a dozen glass jars under my sink that I saved from the trash. They're really handy for saving leftovers, pre-sprouting seeds, and mixing up (shaking up) stuff for recipes. And I have tons of little tea lights.

So, I tried it out last night. Set up was a breeze. I just dropped a tea light in each jar and arranged them in a little area where I thought they'd be visible enough to not get knocked over.

 

 

It's not bright enough to read by, but it gives off enough ambient light to make it worthwhile. I think I'll need add a couple citronella candles – I noticed a couple mosquito bites on my legs this morning. :(