Some prestigious London Interior Design companies refer to urban garden concepts as “outdoor rooms.” If you are considering employing an interior design company to renovate both your indoor and your outdoor spaces, this four-part series of articles will help you understand how lighting can be used to create a sense of garden drama. I draw on my experience working with some of London’s best interior design companies to reveal the secrets of this fascinating speciality design area.

Roof terraces are becoming increasingly popular in London today. Often these will be accessed through a set of French windows. Decorative wall lights to either side of these windows will generate a soft, general light. Your interior design company may select recessed or slimline low-voltage spiked up-lighters, which are particularly stunning when reflected off pale adjacent walls. This option will guarantee a gentle, beautifying illumination throughout the seating area. If your roof terrace has adjacent walls, your interior design company may take advantage of this architecture to mount a spotlight with a tight, 5-degree beam about five metres up to focus on the table. This mirrors the traditional approach used by many London interior design companies for focus lighting in a dining room. In the absence of a wall or similar tall mounting point for your roof garden, your interior design company may recommend electric candles or storm lamps to achieve the same goal.

Some of the newest London roof terraces are large enough to allow for balanced lighting, which is the preferred illumination method when feasible. Your interior design company will work to balance the lighting on the roof terrace with illumination a few metres away, perhaps using a lit grille or illumination through bushes to avoid a sensation of exposure. Illuminating a single feature in the distance can also generate visual focus and enhance the interest level of the entire scheme.

An interior design company in London normally relies on lighting from below to illuminate your roof terrace. Up-lighting through Perspex cubes implanted within wooden crates can be used to generate a theatrical radiance, and illumination that is cast up through skylights from indoors can be used to great effect with shrubs and flowering plants. If you are based in a London borough that permits barbecues on roof terraces, your interior design company may deliberately position grilling equipment such that the glowing charcoal embers will contribute another type of comforting, self-contained light that perfectly complements the rest of the scheme.