Lighting to the Highest Roofline

While there are many reasons to install custom landscape lighting, one of the most commonly cited reasons by our clients is to add nighttime curb appeal to their homes. Yes, landscape lighting can facilitate safe navigation throughout your property, illuminate outdoor living spaces, provide much needed task lighting, and even create another layer of security for your home, but let’s face it, we all want our house to have amazing curb appeal. Adding well designed architectural lighting will ensure that the architectural charm and curb appeal of your home will carry from day to night.

Next time you’re driving through a neighborhood at night, slow down and notice the homes with architectural lighting. One of the most common outdoor lighting mistakes we see is homes lit from the bottom up with the light stopping at the first roofline. While a few uplights positioned at the base of a home will undoubtedly add some nighttime curb appeal, it is important to also light the second story, gables, and/or dormers of the home. This ensures that the home appears balanced without unsightly hotspots or dark areas.

Architectural Lighting Before & Afters

The following series of photos perfectly illustrate the necessity of second story lighting. The first set of photos show the home with no lights in comparison to the home with professionally designed outdoor lighting. Does outdoor lighting make a difference? You can be the judge. Do you see the glow from the nearby street light? When fully lit, the streetlight isn’t an issue.

The next set of photos compares the home’s existing porch lights with professional architectural lighting. While porch lights add to the charm of the home, many homeowners would rather not have to remember to turn on the porch lights every night. One of the best features of low voltage landscape lighting is that the lights can be controlled by a timer that will automatically turn the lights on at sunset and shut them off at sunrise.

The third set of photos demonstrate the difference between base level lights only and professionally designed lighting. Unfortunately, it is a common practice among DIYers and even some lighting companies to only position lights at the base of the home. For demonstration purposes, we positioned three uplights on the ground in front of each column. The result is underwhelming, especially in comparison to a home that has second story lighting. Because the light stops as the first roofline, there is a harsh difference between the lit portions of the home and the dark second story. In some neighborhoods, especially those without street lights, the second story of the home wouldn’t even be visible at night. In addition, notice how the ground lights appear brighter in the first picture. With the addition of four gutter-mount lights, the lights bathe the entire home in soft light accentuating the architectural features of the home.

It is not uncommon for homeowners to remove gutter mount lights from their proposals. Many don’t feel that these lights are necessary. Some feel that the additional lights will make their homes look too bright. You can see here, however, that the additional lights actually balance the look making the ground lights appear less bright.

Competing Street Lights

Lighting the second story of this home also helped to diffuse the cool colored light from the nearby streetlight. The warmer, 2700K architectural landscape lighting diffuses the bright light and allows the home to shine.

Before

After

Architectural Lighting Best Practices

As lighting designers, we’ve seen it all! At a design consultation just last year, our client wanted second story lighting like his neighbor’s house. From a distance the neighbor’s house appeared well lit. However, upon further inspection, the neighbor’s second story lighting consisted of an aluminum spotlight fastened to the roof of the home with an extension cord hanging off the side of the house. If you are considering second story lighting, please research best practices. In this case, professionally installed LED lighting would have been the safest option.  

Hiring a Professional Landscape Lighting Contractor

While some enjoy a weekend of DIY projects, consider reaching out to a local landscape lighting contractor as you plan your next outdoor lighting project. Beyond technical skills, lighting professionals also have the knowledge and expertise to design a system with both form and function in mind. A thoughtfully designed and professionally installed exterior lighting system will undoubtedly enhance your curb appeal year-round.

Looking for an Outdoor Lighting Contractor in Charlotte, NC?

At Limelight, outdoor lighting is all we do. We offer design, installation, and maintenance services and would love to help you design a system that lets you make the most of your landscape — day and night.

We are a fully insured, family-owned company with a passion for well-designed outdoor lighting! Furthermore, we understand that client satisfaction is the key to our success, and we look forward to working with you to deliver an outdoor lighting system that fits your vision and budget.

Getting started is simple.

Call Limelight Outdoor Lighting at (704) 989-3635 or follow the link below to get a FREE quote for your landscape lighting project.