Good afternoon, I am new here and looking for some advice on how to layout my landscape lights. The biggest issue I am having is how to handle these columns on the left of the porch stairs. Putting a spotlight on each column adds up quickly, so how can I do the best bang for my buck? I also have two trees in the front yard (not pictured) that are going to get spotlights. What advice would you give me with lights 1 and 2? Should I use a topdog, fatboy, or fatboy mini? And should I go with a narrow beam angle so the light doesn't shine past the column and blind you on the porch? Or would you change the layout altogether? Should I just bite the bullet and light each column? Light 3 is trying to shine both in the corner and the flag. Light 4 and 5 are normal spot lights, those seem easy. Then I am doing 4 pathways lights. This is phase 1 and looking to just dip my feet in for now as I have a budget I am trying to maintain. Eventually I'd like to do the second level as well. Thanks for all the help!
Welcome, Joe. I’m a lighting enthusiast like yourself and I diagrammed your photo to suggest a slightly different approach to creating your lighting plan. Overall, your plan is just fine and there’s nothing wrong with initially lighting only the columns you indicated. Having said that, I do have some suggestions for tweaking your plan that I think are worth considering. In my photo, I’m indicating the exact location where I would install a fixture. I don’t have a clear sense of where your shrubs are relative to the foundation but that might oblige you to move some of your shrubs. The blue graphics represent locations I would put path lights (I don’t know that you’d necessarily need four to light that area). In terms of fixtures, if you can catch a sale on top dog fixtures, I recommend it slightly over Fat Boys for their versatility. If it’s really important to have your fixtures be as discreet as possible, go with the top dog mini. Top dogs are also my recommendation for you other trees. Trees upward of 35 feet or so will likely require a more robust (higher wattage). Hth
Thank you! That is very helpful. Do you think I’ll need a skinnier beam angle on the columns vs the trees or lights on the right side?
I’m not sure which trees you’re referring to on the right. The columns won’t need a beam spread wider than about 20 degrees. I think you’ll need a minimum of 20 degrees to illuminate those sections of your siding.
Glad to help, Joe. I could make more meaningful recommendations if I can actually see what it is you’re attempting to light. Very tall trees, trees with thick leaves, conifers, narrow trees, etc—I might make different recommendations depending on the characteristics of the trees and where they’re planted.
Looks like a lot of lights but its hard to judge the scale and depth of the bushes from the pics. I don't like to line up path lights so I like what Mesodude2 did by randomizing the blue ones a bit. I might even get rid of the middle one if the spread covers the footpath. You might start with a small kit that contains samples of the lights you will use and then go out at night with long cords and move them around, getting opinions from family members. You can always order more. This is good stuff so it is expensive!
I think Joe could have a perfectly coherent lighting plan with spot fixtures at 1, 2, 3, and 5. And I agree about the path lights (a couple of Max spreads alone would probably do the trick). In fact, depending on the overall brightness level created by the lights illuminating the house, I think it’s conceivable that he could initially backburner the path lights entirely (and use the other fixtures within his budget to illuminate other areas of the house or other landscape features).
