Modern Bollard Lights
Designed to improve visibility and define outdoor spaces, bollard lights provide broad, low-level light for walkways, driveways, and open areas. Their column-style design delivers wider light distribution than traditional path lights while adding architectural appeal.
Bollard Lights Explore
Modern Bollard Lights
Designed to improve visibility and define outdoor spaces, bollard lights provide broad, low-level light for walkways, driveways, and open areas. Their column-style design delivers wider light distribution than traditional path lights while adding architectural appeal.
Why We Love Bollard Lights
Bollard lights provide an element of safety for outdoor spaces. They're often (though not always) understated landscape lights that offer more illumination than smaller accent or path lights. You can find both the actual fixture and all the parts and accessories for putting them together in this assortment, making it easy to refresh your landscape. From energy-efficient LED bollard lights to solar powered bollard lights, you'll find just what you need here.
Where Outdoor Bollard Lighting Works Best
Bollard lights are convenient at the beginning, end or junction of a path for added safety and direction. This type of landscape lighting is especially appreciated on walkways that are used often, aiding in directing guests where you wish them to go. Placing bollard lights near points of interest also draws visitors to gazebos, barbecue areas and certain entrances or doorways. Whatever kind of outdoor lighting you may already have, bollard light fixtures will positively complement the design of your home's exterior. Exterior bollard lighting occupies a practical middle ground in landscape design, taller and broader in output than low-profile path lights, yet more restrained than full-height post lights. This column-style form casts even, low-level illumination ideally suited for guiding movement without overpowering the surrounding environment.
A Bollard Light for Every Style
Bollard lighting can fit into multiple exterior decorative styles including craftsman, Asian-inspired, modern or contemporary and those outdoor spaces with traditional elements of decor. Look to Hinkley Lighting for a number of sleek, clean-lined and contemporary options that are sure to create a welcoming presence in your front or backyard. Hinkley even offers solar bollard lights to help you further conserve energy. WAC Lighting excels at bollard light design with a wide variety of modern and rustic-looking fixtures to accent your landscape. And if you love the benefits of energy efficiency, be sure to see the LED bollard lights from BEGA or Focus Industries.
How to Choose the Best Bollard Lights
As an outdoor accent light, you'll want to choose bollards that fit the existing style of your space and will complement other light fixtures in your landscape. Path lights or post lights lining your walkways or driveway are complemented by bollard lights and in the backyard, you'll find that these bollard light fixtures work well with in-ground and well lights. When choosing any type of outdoor light, you will need to verify it is UL listed with either a wet or damp location rating, making it safe for outdoor use. Lastly, you will need to determine the voltage of your landscape lighting. Most of these landscape bollard lights are line voltage, but you will find plenty of low voltage bollard lights too. For residential applications, bollards typically range from roughly 18 to 42 inches in height; spacing fixtures so their light pools overlap, often every 6 to 10 feet along a path, adjusted to the output of each fixture, ensures consistent illumination without dark gaps. If you have any questions about the bollard lights featured here, please call our lighting experts at 877.445.4486.
Other Considerations
If you love this selection of modern bollard lighting, you will want to see all of the other landscape lighting options available. Landscape lighting includes path lights, in-ground lights, well lights, deck and step lights, flood lights and all of the accessories you need to get your lighting design set up. And for something more decorative in your backyard, check out the selection of post lights. Unlike a bollard, post lights are a bit taller and have the ability to project more light in gardens, next to gazebos or next to the patio. Lastly, complement your new choices of lighting with well-designed patio furniture. Lumens' outdoor assortment reflects a curated selection of designer and artisan brands chosen for quality, craftsmanship, and design integrity. Lighting experts are available to help with fixture selection, spacing, and specification questions. Design professionals can access pricing, samples, and dedicated support through Lumens Trade.
Bollard LightsFrequently Asked Questions
What is a bollard light and how is it different from a path light?
A bollard light is a column-style outdoor fixture that provides broad, low-level illumination for walkways, driveways, and open areas. Compared to smaller accent or path lights, bollards are taller, offer more illumination, and distribute light more widely, while sitting lower and more restrained than full-height post lights.
Expert Tip: The real difference is in the optics, not just the height. Most quality bollards use a downward-facing or louvered reflector to push light onto the ground in a 360-degree or directional pool, which is why they're a "dark-sky" friendly choice—look for shielded or capped tops if you want to guide foot traffic without throwing glare into windows or neighbors' yards.
Where should I place bollard lights for the best effect?
Position them at the beginning, end, or junctions of a path for safety and direction, especially on frequently used walkways. Placing them near points of interest—gazebos, barbecue areas, and entrances or doorways—also draws visitors toward those spots.
Expert Tip: Stagger bollards from side to side along a path rather than lining them up like runway lights. A zig-zag layout eliminates the "airport" look, fills shadow gaps more efficiently, and lets you cover the same distance with fewer fixtures—saving on both hardware and transformer load.
How far apart should I space bollard lights?
Space fixtures so their light pools overlap, typically every 6 to 10 feet along a path, adjusting to the output of each fixture. This overlap ensures consistent illumination without dark gaps.
Expert Tip: Don't spec spacing off the wattage—spec it off the fixture's actual beam spread and mounting height, which the manufacturer's photometric (IES) file will tell you. A common field mistake is spacing bright fixtures too far apart, creating "hot spots" with dark valleys between; when in doubt, err tighter and dim the whole run rather than stretching the gaps.
What height of bollard should I choose?
For residential applications, bollards typically range from roughly 18 to 42 inches in height. The right height depends on what you're lighting and the scale of the surrounding landscape.
Expert Tip: Match bollard height to the plantings around it, not just the path. If your borders will mature into 24-inch shrubs, an 18-inch bollard will disappear behind foliage within a season or two—seasoned designers spec taller fixtures near growing beds and shorter ones along hardscape and open turf.
What safety ratings and certifications should bollard lights have?
Any outdoor light should be UL listed with either a wet or damp location rating, which confirms it's safe for outdoor use. You'll also need to determine the voltage of your landscape lighting.
Expert Tip: "Damp" and "wet" ratings are not interchangeable—damp-rated fixtures can fail if they sit in direct rain or sprinkler spray, so use wet-rated bollards anywhere exposed to irrigation. Also check that the rating covers the whole assembly, not just the housing; gaskets and lens seals are usually the first thing to degrade and let moisture in.
What's the difference between line voltage and low voltage bollards?
Most landscape bollard lights are line voltage, but there are plenty of low voltage options available. The voltage of your existing landscape lighting system will help determine which type you need.
Expert Tip: Low-voltage (12V) systems are typically DIY-friendly and don't require a licensed electrician for the run itself, but they're sensitive to "voltage drop" on long cable runs—if fixtures at the far end look dim, the fix is usually a heavier-gauge wire or a multi-tap transformer, not a brighter bulb. Line-voltage (120V) bollards generally require conduit and a permitted electrical connection.
Which bollard style works best with my home's exterior?
Bollard lighting fits many decorative styles, including craftsman, Asian-inspired, modern or contemporary, and spaces with traditional elements. Brands like Hinkley offer sleek, clean-lined contemporary options, WAC Lighting spans modern and rustic looks, and BEGA and Focus Industries offer energy-efficient LED designs.
Expert Tip: Pick your bollards to match your home's fixed metals and hardware finishes (door handles, house numbers, gutters) rather than the architectural "style" label. A finish that coordinates with existing exterior metals reads as intentional design, while a mismatched finish stands out even when the shape is right.
How do bollard lights fit into a broader landscape lighting plan?
Bollards complement other fixtures: path and post lights along walkways and driveways, and in-ground and well lights in the backyard. They work best as one layer within a coordinated outdoor lighting design that can also include deck and step lights and flood lights.
Expert Tip: Think of bollards as your "circulation" layer—lighting where people walk—and keep them on a separate switch or transformer tap from your "accent" layer (uplights on trees, wall washes). Zoning the layers separately lets you dim pathway lighting late at night for safety while turning off decorative accents, which extends fixture life and cuts energy use.