Hello! I've been doing a lot of research and trying to figure out how to best light the front of my house and landscape. This was a picture from last fall, with what I've attempted to put what my sketch might look like. The yellow V are spotlights, while the orange V might be a wider wash for the wider area (still not sure if I really want to tackle that 2nd story, but I think its probably worth doing it!) Where I'm struggling the most is the right side where I have a blue ? to indicate should I do something here or is it too close to a spotlight already on the column? Also between the two right side windows where I currently have the oragne V, I think a spotlight on each window would also be overkill, but would a spotlight alone between the two be too narrow? The outer most window is set a little farther forward than the second window so its not a flush wall that concerns me from a design standpoint. Lastly, in the landscape, on the left side, the yellow V there I'm considering a well light vs a spotlight, as we have a small hydrangea tree accenting the corner of the landscape there. Any thoughts or feedback would be much appreciated!
Lovely home, Jay. I've diagrammed your photo to show some tweaks I might make. I see three columns on stone pillars and what looks like a fourth column (immediately to the right of the third column, if you're facing the house). I think I would just focus on the sections of siding on the facade rather than lighting it as if it were a fourth column. I'd also light up the left side (if you're facing the house) of the house to give your plan a bit more dimension. And judging from your photo, there's one more section of facade on the far right that's not visible. I'd light that as well. Would be great If you can get fixtures up to light those gables I've indicated in my diagram. Overall, you've got a decent plan.
Thank you for that feedback! How would you recommend lighting up that left side of the house? what about the gables? What kind of light works best up there and is there a best practice for running wire up there inconspicuously? To the right of that third column is not another column, it’s the corner of siding plus a downspout. lastly, interesting you talk about the right side bc I really need some light there. I purchased a ring floodlight cam I want to mount but not sure where I’d do that and would be interested in any feedback where to put that with any other combination for the driveway area. Here’s a pic over there. The driveway is wide enough for a car as far back as the house and where a car is in this pic is very dark at night so light here would be super helpful!
Numerous possibilities for lighting the left side of the house. You could light the far right and far left sections or light all three. You could have some fun and use that wall as "projection screen" for front lighting a statue or a fountain or other water feature or some ornamental grass or other plants or trees. You don't necessarily have to light it but if it's a vantage point that people will be viewing it from often, lighting it will give your plan more dimension. I highly recommend that you check out some of the project galleries and recommendations discussed in previous threads for some guidance on approaches to lighting your gables. I'm a lighting enthusiast like yourself. When it comes to attaching things to my roof or gutters, I'm inclined to hire a pro like a landscaper, roofer, or electrician. If you feel confident in your handiness, I would recommend looking at some of the how to videos on VOLT's side and also some of the online videos out there that discuss gable lighting. What I'm saying is, I don't have the expertise to advise you the best way to mount lights on your home. Someone like a roofer or the person who built your home would be able to guide you in terms of ways you can safely hide wiring and mount fixtures to your home. If you do a search on this forum, you will find that gutter mounting lights is discussed fairly often, though.
Howd I do? I have one more spotlight w gutter mount to put on the peak above the porch and one more path light likely to go on the left side of the walk in front of that far left column any advice for any adjustments before I start burying in the next day or two? they’re all 2700 bulbs and the pic makes the lights look hotter than in person. the columns/shadows cast from the top of the stone make me think I should pull those 6-12” further from the columns? I’ll never have zero shadow from them, or am I overthinking that? thanks for any input !
Off to a good start, Jay. What are your beam spread and wattages on your spots? Wondering if you might want to go a little narrower. Try to make sure all your spots on the house are aligned, the same distance from the house, aimed at the same angle, and with their glare guards in the same position. When uplighting, a column that sits atop a pillar like that, you’ll always have that shadow. One way to compensate is to light from above with a puck light. Pulling the spots back might help but then you lose some of the detail you see with the light grazing the stone from a closer distance.
Thanks! The spotlights are all fat boys with 40D except the 3 columns are all top dog with 20D. I put top dogs thinking I can slide that glare guard up a bit to narrow the beam as well. Not sure if that achieved the desired result or not. Distance from the house are all consistent ~14” and face straight up. I can double check those again to be sure im not against the shadow on the pillar, but wasn’t something I had expected and agree it would only be solved with a down light. As it is I think I’ve got plenty of light so wouldn’t add more and the shadows will be just fine
With a light colored house in a setting like yours (with low ambient light), I’d be more inclined to go with lower lumens. I think you could achieve impressive results with 3W or even 2W lamps. As it is, the facade of your house is flooded with light. Similarly, the 5W lamps light up those young trees entirely. Dialing back the brightness level and/or narrowing your beam spreads would highlight different sections and features of your house and landscape rather than show them off entirely. There is nothing “wrong” with your approach. I’m recommending a more conservative and painterly approach that I think creates a little more drama and add some mystery to your lighting scene. Ultimately it’s what you like that matters most.
Appreciate all the feedback. Unfortunately, I already have all these 5W bulbs, and purchasing different ones now would be quite costly while I then sit on 16 5W bulbs so I think I'm stuck with them. I did say to my wife, while looking out the front door, how the tree trunk isn't illuminated from our view, just the branches/leaves, and I wondered if I should move the light to behind the tree. I think it would look okay now, but once the leaves come in that probably wouldn't work so well. I might try to move it further from the tree though to have less light hitting directly (or at least not as hot) on the trunk.
I'm just one opinion and I don't have the perspective on your house that you do. Again, what's most important is that you like it. If you're satisfied with the lighting level, then go with what you have. I installed the lighting for my front yard, driveway and front of the house over the course of several months and I ended up moving lights around and adding lenses to some fixtures and changing some fixtures entirely. My point is, there's definitely a fair amount of trial and error as you live with your lighting plan for a while and discover what you like and don't like. If you end up lighting some more mature trees elsewhere on your property (which I plan to do later this spring in our back yard), you may find that those 5w are just perfect. One last thing I'll recommend for now is that when you're ready to expand your plan, budget for the All Star or Top Dog fixtures if possible. The Fatboys are a good solid choice but the other spotlights are more versatile in that the glare guards can be raised and lowered in addition to being rotatable. HTH
Jay, if you decide you want to lower the intensity of the 5W bulbs, try experimenting with lenses, separately or in combinations. The frosted and wide spread lenses will somewhat diffuse the light and thus lower the brightness. Hex lenses won't change the light intensity, but they will enhance the grazing effect of the 20 degree bulb setting, thus adding more texture to the wall grazing effect. Overall house brightness can also be reduced by using dimmable LEDs bulbs in the house fixtures - wall sconces, overhead lights and any recessed lights in the porch, thus enhancing the effects of the landscape lights. Lenses are cheap. Experiment and have fun testing out various options until you get the look you find most pleasing (if you haven't already done so). Bob
Thanks Bob! I've found that leaving the recessed light on the porch off has a better overall feel. That was a lot of light when it was on, and only having the light above the front door with the landscape lights look much better. I will look into the lens suggestion, that could be a nice way to go about reducing the intensity slightly. Its interesting that with all the research I did, the intensity of the light doesn't come up much via wattage of the bulb (if at all). Most of the discussion is around 2700 v 3000 for brightness!
