Outdoor lighting is an important thing to keep an eye on.
It helps expose any movement on your property while eliminating dark areas to avoid hidden intruders. But do you know that overly bright outdoor lighting will put a reverse effect? Yeah, they create an even deeper shadow in your area.
So, proper lighting is key for the highest security as well as aesthetics aspects of your front house. Here are some tips for you:
6 Best outdoor lighting ideas for the front of your house
Downlights
Remember, you can use the same downlights for indoor space for the outdoor because, at such wide light distribution, it just levels up glare, making your guests squint when visiting your house.
The best type of downlights for outdoor usage is the deeply recessed models with light source installed in the ceiling or the bulbs.
To light the porch more efficiently, adding dimmers is a good try.
Spotlights
Or, called “security lights”.
This type of outdoor lighting usually features a very bright level because its purpose is to make everything more visible in the darkness.
While you can’t dim them down, directing spotlights at somewhere else, not your eyes, is a good idea. That “somewhere else” can be eaves, brickwork, or other features of your house.
So, you will get the best of both worlds – extra security to your front house space without making your visitors feel unwelcome.
Pendants
In contrast to spotlights or security lights, this type of outdoor lighting is just for decorating and adding mood to your front house.
Never use it as your major usable lights!
The reason is, this model will constrict the iris of your eyes, making it even more difficult to see things in the darkness. And also avoid using the low-wattage dimmers or bare bulbs completely.
Instead, choose the amber mica, milk glass or other kinds of translucent glasses in fixtures.
If you prefer to use highly shielded fixtures, it’s fine as well, particularly if they’re directed light downward.
Lanterns
Like pendants, never use these as your main usage lights and avoid choosing visible candle-shaped bulbs or clear glass. Their glare might hurt your eyes while not helping you see anything in the dark.
The best way to use lanterns in your front house is by using low-wattage bulbs or adding dimmers for cozier, more romantic and welcome mood.
Also, don’t forget to direct the light downward and use frosted shades only.
Step lights
This is essential because the step lights that indiscriminately shine light in every direction will not only hurt your eyes but also limit the vision at night, making it riskier of falling down or other accidents.
I would suggest using the shielded newel-post deck lights as they will direct light downward to the stairs instead of your eyes so they give better illumination while enhancing your vision capability.
Path lights
The way your front house looks will be the first impression of it in your guests.
And path lights play a huge role in that!
So pay more attention to their glare when installing them – it’d better lower them to the ground. Besides, consider its brightness.
Many path lights are very aesthetic to install but they lack practicality to shine up the driveway into your house, which turns out to be useless.
My recommendation is choosing either LED strip lights or path lights with domes hide bulbs.
The first option is usually installed into a wooden boardwalk’s edge or designs like that while the second one can be set up directly downward for decreased glare and guide your visitors safely at night.
Do you want to get that warm exterior glow?
Some homeowners prefer their front house to be cozy and romantic, you can try these:
Choose warm light: While beige, tan, and warm white light are a very good choice for a cozy effect, you should try to stay away from a rainbow of colors to make your front house no difference than a cheesy light show.
Vary the fixtures: Aside from setting up two solid workhorses which are floods and spots, a little bit of mixture of them with post lights, bollards, step lights, or area lights might offer some incredible effects.
Combine function and beauty: Have you ever felt that your runway looks too many lights? If yes, you can try adding lights to plantings to descend that.
Make a bold: Too many accents in your front house will just make it look overwhelming. Instead, focus on the entryway will give cozy and eye-catching looking. Like “welcome, this way in”.
Highlight trees: I highly recommend this option if you haven’t tried this before. As trees make amazingly stunning features, whether given presence by a warm light located in the trees themselves or illuminated from below, the positive effect is equal.
Which are the best outdoor lights that professional designers love using?
As I have some friends who are also pro designers or architects, and when being asked this question, they all told me to go for LED bulbs.
The reasons are,
Firstly, they come in a much longer life than incandescent bulbs, up to 40k hours or 50k hours, or about 15 years of nighttime service.
Secondly, LED bulbs have now had warm shades like its competitors for beautifully cozy shades at night. And they are much easier to install because of using low-voltage wiring.
Just the higher price is its minor cons. But if you choose a fixture provided with a 15-year warranty, just rest assured that your money has been well spent.
Conclusion
Just like decorations, lighting plays an important role as well.
While making sure your house security, some wise choices of lighting and where to install them will make your front house more aesthetical and elegant.
I hope this ultimate guide has helped you find the right way to light up the front of your house.
Thanks for reading!
I’m James J. Decker, a hobbyist and DIYs and also a big of home improvement and gardening tools. I immensely enjoy how these amazing products improve productivity and efficiency, and allow me to do jobs for which I would’ve otherwise needed professional help.
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