This post is special. You already know that proper outdoor lighting can make our homes safer and more welcoming, especially at this time of year, when the days are shorter. So, if you don’t know how to choose the best outdoor lights, we have some solutions. Let’s see some tips from Jill Torrey, a Lighting Consultant at Chown Hardwar. She was interviewed by porch.com and we want to show you some of her best advices.
Security and Safety
“The first and most important goal of outdoor lighting is for safety and security”, she said.
And how can you achieve it? “By illuminating your front entrance, pathways and stairs, as well as the darkest corners of your property. All of these areas should be considered when designing an effective lighting plan, as well as making sure your plan can be built upon as time, budget, and exterior space allow.” See the images!
Choosing Your Style
“Once the dream plan is done”, let’s do some work. Now you should choose a look which complements the style of your home’s façade.
Jill Torrey loves to mix it up and have fun with styles and colors, making her own rules. “For example, a stainless steel finish with an ornate design is unusual, and definitely sets apart your style from your neighbor’s. It is easy to choose a style that suits you with the many outdoor lighting options and many combinations of colors and textures in stone and siding materials these days. If you like to keep it simple, many lights come in collections, where different types of fixtures all come with the same design and finish.”
SEE ALSO – The best projects with design outdoor lights
Outdoor Lighting ideas
“When selecting the lanterns for your exterior lighting there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration”, she said. This way you can assure that the fixtures will meet your needs. Remeber that scale, mounting, and bulb types are all very important in all this selection process.
“One of the biggest issues that gets overlooked is the placement of the junction box on the wall, which often interferes with the direction the fixture will hang. If hung incorrectly the fixture will not illuminate the surrounding area correctly and may even shine back into your windows.” This another amazing advice.
Type Of Light
The lighting consultant admits that are often asked which bulb is the correct type to use in exterior fixtures, and that she nerver has the perfect answer for that question. What we need to know is that “the bulb type is usually dictated by the fixture itself, but my preferences are LED (light-emitting diode), CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) and incandescent bulbs. LED lamps seem to be the direction that all manufacturers are leaning, and that it exciting because of the sleek designs and the energy savings that they offer.”
Hope we made your job easier.
