I am looking to light up the front of my house and my Live Oak trees and would like some suggestions. (After taking the pictures I realize how the three trees overpower the yard and cover the house but that is what the builder was required to install.) The house is one story. There are a lot of windows but the rooms on the front are a dining room in the center and the office to the right. When the lights are on those rooms seldom will be in use and the shutters will be closed. I would also like to light the wall over the garage. I am open to any and all suggestions. I want a warm glow but not overpowering so I was thinking low wattage LED 2700k spots. If you think a wall wash would be appropriate I would be interested in the suggested wattage for that also. Thanks!
Hey Jim, I took the liberty of attaching some photos to illustrate some recommendations. Essentially, I would recommend a combination of uplights and path lights for illuminating the front of your house. In addition to illuminating those oak trees, I would recommend the columns on either side of the front door, and the open spaces on the outer sides of those two front windows (as shown in the first picture). You could also consider installing some path lights for illumination along the path and subtle lighting on those plants. For the garage, I myself love the look of downlights on soffits (such as a puck light or hardscape light). But, this install does take some more effort. So, if you wanted to use spotlights for this as well the best solution would be to place them further away from the wall than the recommend 12" and angle them so that the light shines diagonally up this open area (more so then my picture illustrates). For uplighting the trees, I would recommend either spotlights or in-ground lights for a low-profile, stealthy option in the front yard; regardless of the fixture, wider beam spreads would be ideal to account for the canopies on these trees. 2700k is the most commonly preferred color temperature. If you had any more questions or fixture specific questions, don't hesitate to ask!
