Hello all! I did my best to install uplighting on our home however I still feel like something is missing. I am not sure how to get rid of the shadows due to the overhangs above the windows, and feel like the lighting may not be consistent across the entire house. There are lanterns on the front entrance which help light up the doorway (third photo). Currently installed are 6 Fat Boys & 4 Max Spread Path lights. I have a couple extra small brass spotlights, thinking of lighting up a small tree that stands alone on the right-hand side, which is out of frame on these photos. Any help on placement and/or additions would be appreciated!
Hi, mistormike. Fellow lighting enthusiast here. Looking pretty good so far. I diagrammed one of your photos to highlight some techniques I might use to illuminate your house. The awnings present a challenge but nothing insurmountable, imo. Obviously, if you illuminated the areas above the awnings, the shadows would be minimized significantly. In my view, lighting your home in a coherent way is more important than making sure there's no shadows or dark sections. In a nutshell, my advice is to uplight the sections where your wall sconces are as well as the small windows with awning above your garage and front steps. Then, rather than trying to uplight the rest of the house proper, consider lighting the house indirectly by uplighting some of those tall shrubs in your foundation garden. IOW, project the shadows of your shrubs onto the facade of your house either by uplighting them or front lighting them. If you do that strategically enough, you're introducing light to those areas in a coherent way without lighting them directly. Having said all that, I think you might be able to mute the shadowing by tweaking some of your fixtures and bulbs. For instance, I recommend that you go with much narrower beam spreads (the 20/40/60 beam spread bulbs might be a good investment) and also consider going with lower lumens (no more than 3W) in some of your fixtures. Narrower beam spreads will enable highlight your house as opposed to illuminating the full facade. On a white house with other light surfaces adjacent, imo, you really don't need lots of lights or particularly bright lights. That's especially true if your house is sited in an area with very low ambient light. If your wall sconces will be part of your lighting plan, consider matching their brightness and color temperature to that of your landscape lighting. And if you're not in love with those fixtures, consider replacing them with either barn type down lights (where the light source is shielded) or down or up/down light fixtures. If you have clear bulbs in those fixtures consider switching to frosted bulbs (which will are softer). Your front doors are striking. If you have an overhead light there, consider including that area in your lighting plan. Again, barring any security concerns, try to match your landscape lighting brightness and color temp. Hope this helps to get you started.
Thank you very much! Going to be testing your suggestions out. I have two hub junction boxes, one box feeds the next. What would be the proper voltage needed? Currently running 12V but wondering if 15v would be better given the distance.
