LANDSCAPE LIGHTING WORLD® FORUMS

exterior light suggestions needed.

Discussion in 'Ask the Landscape Lighting Experts' started by Mike T, Mar 23, 2022.

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  1. Mike T

    Mike T New Member

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    Needs suggestions for lighting exterior .


    house front.JPG house side.JPG
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2022
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  2. Community Admin

    Community Admin Community Admin Staff Member

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    Some general recommendations you could consider:
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    Marked in blue - Any of our classic LED path lights could look beautiful along the front pathway and highlight the garden bed(s) nicely. Ideal spacing would mainly be dependent on the style you chose (the different hats/shades have different diameters of illumination). For the bulbs, 2W and 3W are most common with 2700K color temperature (warm white).

    Marked in yellow - Uplighting is typically the most convenient approach and offers beautiful results. Lamp-ready spotlights are the most popular and offer versatile adjustability, in-ground lights could also be used if you desired more low-profile fixtures. For your home, I'd likely stick to 2W or 3W for the MR16 bulbs - preferential depending on how much illumination you're looking for. 3W may be more ideal for the larger areas near the front door, where 2W could be ideal for the remaining areas. For the areas near the front door, placing the fixtures within 12in of the wall would create a "grazing" effect which could highlight the texture of the brick nicely while not focusing too much illumination on the windows. For the remaining areas, (considering spotlights being used) you could place the fixtures in front of the shrubs to apply a decorative "shadowing" effect on the portions of wall behind, or place the fixtures behind the shrubs for a "silhouetting" effect (largely preferential).

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    Marked in blue - Swapping out those solar path lights for some low-voltage versions could look beautiful and provide functional illumination in this area. Ideally, using same styles you chose for the front area.

    Marked in yellow - Applying a shadowing effect with an LED flood light could look beautiful to add some illumination to this wall. Either of the Gentle Splash flood lights could look beautiful and they also offer interchangeable lenses (clear, frosted, hex/louvered) so you could adjust/customize the illumination if desired. You could likely use 1 or 2 fixtures in this area.
     
  3. Robert Mason

    Robert Mason Active Member

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    Mike: Lighting the area around the front door as Evan has described has the potential to create a "cave" effect around the recessed door. You can compensate by using a dimmable smart bulb in the fixture over the door (assuming there is such a fixture) or installing a smart dimmer switch on the circuit and timing the light to come on at the same time as the landscape lights and adjusting the brightness to match the MR16s. Just a thought. Bob