Indoor, Outdoor, Landscape & Recessed Lighting in South Tampa, FL

Lanai, Pool Cage and Outdoor Living Lighting

In Tampa Bay the lanai is a room, and it deserves to be lit like one. A screened pool cage or covered lanai used for dinners, television and evenings by the pool needs the same layered approach as an interior space, executed with wet-rated fixtures and GFCI-protected circuits. We install wet-rated recessed lights in the lanai ceiling, outdoor-rated ceiling fans with lights on fan-rated boxes, wall sconces beside doors, and low-voltage LED tape along the cage frame or under a bar counter. Everything goes on dimmers so the space can go from bright enough to cook to soft enough to sit by the water. Outdoor televisions and sound systems get dedicated, protected outlets placed where the cords disappear.

Pool cages have a particular lighting challenge, because the screen structure itself casts shadows and because fixtures inside a cage get wet every time it rains sideways, which in summer is daily. We specify fixtures rated for wet locations rather than damp, run wiring in conduit along the cage frame where it is protected, and use warm white or amber LED where bugs are a concern, since insects are far less attracted to light below 3000K. Cage-mounted string lights, the kind that make a backyard feel like a restaurant patio, get a proper dedicated switched outlet rather than an extension cord to the nearest plug.

Beyond the lanai, outdoor kitchens need circuits for the grill igniter, refrigerator, ice maker and outlets, and anything near the pool falls under the clearance and GFCI rules covered on our pool electrical page. Docks and seawalls get their own lighting rules. Planning all of it together, ideally before a cage or lanai is built or rescreened, is cheaper and cleaner than adding pieces one at a time, and we are happy to work from your pool builder's or contractor's plans.

Let's Light Your Home

Bring us a photo of the room or the yard and a description of what you want, and we can usually sketch a plan and price quickly. Lightning Bay Electric serves all of Tampa Bay; find your city on the service areas page and see what homeowners say on the reviews page. Call (813) 897-2665 or use the contact form to get started.

Lighting Is the Upgrade You Notice Every Single Day

Of all the improvements a homeowner can make, lighting delivers the most change per dollar. A kitchen with a single dated flush-mount fixture and a dark island becomes a different room with six well-placed recessed lights, three pendants and under-cabinet strips on dimmers. A front yard that disappears at dusk becomes a welcoming entry with path lights and uplights on the palms. A lanai that nobody uses after dark becomes the best room in the house. Lightning Bay Electric designs and installs interior, exterior and landscape lighting for homes across Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Manatee counties.

We are a family owned and operated electrical contractor, licensed by the Florida DBPR under EC13013571, and lighting is some of our favorite work because it is visible and the homeowner gets to enjoy it immediately. The kitchen remodel lighting in our gallery, the pendants and recessed cans in Riverview and the globe pendants with under-cabinet lighting in a white Tampa kitchen, are real projects we completed. We also handle the commercial side, including the restaurant and venue accent lighting in Tampa shown on our commercial page.

Recessed Lighting Done Right

Recessed lighting is the backbone of modern interior lighting, and the details matter more than people expect. Spacing is the first one: a general rule is to divide the ceiling height by two to get the spacing between lights, so an 8 foot ceiling wants lights about 4 feet apart, and lights should sit 2 to 3 feet off the walls to avoid scalloping. Too few lights leaves dark pockets; too many looks like an airport runway. The second detail is the fixture itself. We install slim, canless LED wafer lights that fit between trusses and in shallow ceilings, and IC-rated housings where there is insulation contact, which is almost everywhere in a Florida attic.

Color temperature is the detail that makes or breaks the look. For living spaces and kitchens with warm wood tones we recommend 2700K to 3000K; for white kitchens and bathrooms 3000K to 3500K reads clean and bright without feeling clinical. Whatever you choose, keep it consistent across a room and adjoining rooms. Selectable-temperature fixtures let us dial this in on site. We put every group of lights on a quality LED-compatible dimmer, because the ability to take a kitchen from bright work light to soft dinner light is what makes the room feel finished. For remodels we coordinate with your cabinet and drywall trades; see our remodel electrical page for how that sequencing works.