Hey Evan, I was hoping you could help with some recommendations for lighting up the front of our house. There are so many different walls and planes, I dont know where to even start. I was thinking of lighting the top floor from the ground or mounting in the gutter and not using down lighting. Any help you can provide is appreciated.
Hey Craig, It can be a tad 'incomplete' when making recommendations for landscape lighting when no landscaping is present yet. Basically, there could be prime spots for tree, shrubs or a garden bed where lights would look beautiful but, we are unable to get this complete picture yet. But, basing it off of the architecture and design of the house, you could consider the following recommendation. For the uplighting on the ground floor, you could use spotlights or well lights. Both styles offer customization of the light, adjustability of the output, and they offer the uplighting that you are looking for. It would really come down to personal preference which you wanted to use. A spotlight is simple to install with a ground stake, offers easy adjustability for direct control of the light output, and could easily be adjusted as the shrubs may grow. A well light would take a little more effort for the in-ground install but, the results are just as beautiful and the fixtures are extremely low profile (essentially incognito when installed). For the tight spaces between the windows and on the columns, it would be best to keep the beam spreads narrow (15-24 degrees depending on the type/style of the fixture). I know you said you weren't keen on downlighting so, you could definitely consider using some gutter mounted spotlights once your gutter system is all installed. Narrow beam spreads would also be best up there as well. If you may need any more recommendations on maybe what types of fixture(s), or accessories to use, don't hesitate to shoot me another message.
Thanks, This is a huge help! The landscaping is in now but will be changing it up some anyways. I would like to light up a tree or two but would like to get the house going first. My only issue with down lighting is I prefer to only see the light beam and not the light itself. I see beam angle is easily changed by changing the optics out, so I can always play around with that. Do you have any recommendations on light output? Would the 30 G4's be enough at 350 lumens?
Always a pleasure! How bright your fixtures should be would come down to the size of the trees you mentioned and how lit up you wanted your house - essentially, whether you wanted the "airport runway" look or a subtle lighting design. The G4 Infiniti 30 is an excellent choice for the lighting on the house; it offers the adjustable beam spreads and I would say the output is ideal for subtle but, noticeably beautiful light on basically any home of this size. Depending on the size of the trees that will be installed or how large they will grow to be, you may consider bumping up to the Infiniti 40 or 60 as well.
