We are in the planning stage of our lighting project. I’ve seen several great posts with suggestion for placement / fixture types. We would like to add lighting to front and back of the home, as well as the sides since our home sits angled on a corner lot. Any suggestions welcomed!
Hey Michelle, Beautiful property! I would be happy to make some general recommendations. Referring to the photo I've attached, I would recommend uplighting to illuminate the front of your home. For this, you could use spotlights or in-ground fixtures. Spotlights are most commonly preferred as they are simple to stake into the ground and simple to adjust. In-ground lights take a little more effort to install but, also look beautiful and are essentially incognito. For any areas between windows, you want to be sure to use more narrow beam spreads (15-24 degrees depending on the type/style of the fixture). The opposite goes for wide areas of open wall space; wide beam angles would be ideal in these spots. To get light on your second story, you could mount spotlights to your gutters using gutter mounts and then run wires down the gutter system. Apologies as it is hard to make recommendations from the size and quality of the images but, for the sides of the house you could use spotlights in a similar fashion as the front layout. For the back yard, path and area lights are popular for providing patio lighting. Essentially, you could space them along the edge of the patio to provide subtle lighting for the entire area. Given the size of the pavement back there, some decorative bollards would also look gorgeous casting their patterns of light. If you had any small trees or other features back here, you could use spotlights here as well if desired. You could even install some path lights in garden beds along the sides of your house to connect the front and back yards with a continuous flow of light. Many homeowners do this for safety/security such as walking the dogs at night or if they had guests regularly walking around to the back patio. If you happen to have any more questions, don't hesitate to shoot me another message!
My pleasure! For a lamp-ready spotlight (uses a bulb), I would suggest using either the All-Star™ or the Lusitano. Some budget-friendly alternatives here would be the Fat Boy or the Top Dog. For an integrated LED spotlight, I would recommend a combination of the Infiniti 30 and the Infiniti 40 (possibly 40s for the larger areas of wall and 30s for lighting any smaller or second story features). The most commonly preferred color temperature for either style is 2700k; a soft warm, white light.
Would you recommend the fat boy fixture for use on our second story? I am considering the kit which has the 6 lights--and then adding a few more. Or should / can I add a different light for the second story? Thanks so much for your input and help!
You could certainly use a Fat Boy spotlight on a gutter mount for illuminating the 2nd story. It really comes down to personal preference which style of spotlight you wanted to use; any fixture with 1/2" NPSM threading on the knuckle could be attached to the gutter mount. Glad to be of help!
