exterior house lighting can make your home a beautiful place to be after dark. It can also improve your safety and increase the curb appeal of your property.
Choose lights that are large enough to provide adequate illumination without making the spaces look cluttered. Avoid using too many small lights, as this can create a chaotic effect and even be dangerous.
Consider the Size and Layout of the Space
Aside from serving a functional purpose, exterior lighting also adds visual appeal to outdoor spaces. It can be as simple as a beautiful pendant that welcomes visitors to the front porch or sconces flanking or above a door. For large areas, a combination of wall- and ceiling-mount fixtures can be used to properly illuminate entrances.
Lighting experts can create a unique ambiance with the right combination of lights. They can highlight architectural features, draw attention to plantings and trees, or create dramatic effects with shadowing and contrast.
There are a wide variety of outdoor lighting fixtures to choose from. Some, like flood lights, can highlight large surfaces such as walls and paving stones while others, such as up/downlights, can highlight statues or other structures. Some, such as directional spotlights, can cast narrow beams of light on specific items to make them stand out. They can even be used to highlight safety railings so that people don’t trip on them at night.
The Architectural Features of the Building
A large part of designing the lighting for a space is choosing the types of fixtures to use. There are many options, from flood lights that illuminate large areas with their powerful lumen output to wall-mounted sconces that provide more focused light for reading or accenting a specific architectural feature.
You may also choose to use uplighting or downlighting, depending on the needs of the area. Uplighting involves installing a fixture that shines mainly upward, such as a light installed underneath a flagpole to keep it lit throughout the night. Downlighting, on the other hand, involves using fixtures that mainly shine downward, such as a roof light that lines a walkway.
You can also use lighting to highlight features of your building that wouldn’t stand out in daylight, such as safety railings or benches. However, it’s important to avoid over-highlighting these areas, as doing so can draw too much attention to them and make them look tacky or unattractive.
The Type of Activities that Will Take Place in the Area
Illuminating exterior spaces after dark provides obvious safety and security benefits. However, it can also add a dramatic effect to building facades and outdoor spaces, creating a sense of mystery that is accentuated by shadows and light.
The type of activities that take place in an exterior space are another important consideration when designing a lighting system. For example, if there are seating areas in an outdoor space, highlighting these with lighting can encourage people to stay and enjoy the scenery after dark. Similarly, lighting can be used to highlight railings and other functional features of outdoor spaces.
When it comes to lighting fixtures, the most important thing is that they be able to withstand the weather and other elements that can cause them to break down over time. Additionally, it is important to make sure that all wiring is properly buried, as exposed wires can be a fire or electrical hazard. Most reputable lighting designers use tin-coated marine grade wire for this purpose, which is durable and protected from the elements.
The Color Temperature of the Light
The color of a light fixture is referred to as its color temperature and is typically characterized by degrees Kelvin. The higher the number, the ‘cooler’ or bluer the light. Over the course of the day, the sun produces a range of colors with the early morning and late evening sunlight falling closer to the warm end of the spectrum while midday sun produces a very bright bluish-white light.
The most common light fixtures used in residential and commercial settings are in the 2000K to 3500K range. Warmer fixtures produce more orange or yellow tints and are generally used in areas where a relaxing, warm atmosphere is desired.
Cooler light fixtures typically use more blue tints and are best used in areas where people will be working, studying or exercising. A good analogy is to consider the way a strip of black metal glows as it gets heated, beginning with red and moving through orange and yellow before turning blue at the highest temperatures.