Light up your deck or patio

The neighbours are over for dinner, admiring your new deck while you fire up the barbecue. As dusk falls, the solar-powered lights underneath the patio umbrella begin to glow. “Where’d you get that?” your neighbour asks. You flick the switch on the low-voltage spot lighting and your favourite CD starts to play over the outdoor speakers. “That would look great on our deck,” your pal whispers to his wife. As the evening grows chilly, you throw a few logs in the firebowl. “We really have to get one of those,” your friend says aloud.

Ornamental post caps

What’s cool about this low-voltage spotlight (shown left) is it has its own transformer, so it will run on household current, great for your driveway, with no fade in brightness at the end (Hadco, Sescolite, $166)

It’s OK to lead guests down the garden path when it’s illuminated by solar-powered LED landscape lighting that’s a cinch to install (Malibu, Home Depot, $18 for two)

Watch your step with 2′-long copper low-voltage lighting that goes under steps or railings (Hadco, Sescolite, $190)

Light it up and let it burn, with a 24″ gas-powered firebowl that’s not as heavy as it looks because it’s made of fibreglass and concrete (LiteCast Celtic Gas Log Fire Pit, Canadian Tire, $300)

Are you ready to rock? These high-fidelity weatherproof speakers will blast the tunes at your next get-together (Rockustics, Kevro, 905-428-2800, $2,100)

Cap off your deck-building efforts with a post cap (6″ x 6″ copper and western red cedar, Maine Ornamental, Home Depot, $20; 4″ x 4″ copper and pressure-treated, PuirWood, Home Hardware, $10; 4″ x 4″ stainless steel and pressure-treated, Maine Ornamental, Home Depot, $13)