July 6, 2024

Terrance Weihl

Comfortable Interior Design

How To Make Good Lighting On Home Exterior (Step By Step)

Introduction

Lighting can be a great way to add value to your home. But if you don’t do it right, you could end up wasting money and energy. And if you’re looking for a DIY project that adds curb appeal without breaking the bank, lighting is one of the best ways to go. It’s also easy enough for most homeowners to take on themselves—whether they hire an electrician or not. You can tackle this project in stages over time or knock out all your exterior lights at once (it depends on how big your budget is).

1. Lighting Direction

The first step to creating good exterior lighting is to decide where you want the light to go. This may sound like an obvious point, but it’s important to think about this before you start making decisions about what kind of lights you’ll use and how many of them there should be.

You want your lighting to direct attention towards specific areas of your home–for example, highlighting a beautiful window or accentuating the front door–and away from others that might distract from those focal points (such as windows and doors). As much as possible, try not only avoiding glare but also directing light away from areas where people are likely to walk or drive (like sidewalks).

2. Lighting Color and Intensity

  • Color and Intensity

The color rendering index (CRI) of a light source is a measurement that indicates how accurately the colors in an illuminated scene are reproduced by that light source. The higher the CRI rating, the more natural objects will appear under its illumination. The lower the CRI rating, the more likely it is that you will see objects with reds or greens shifted toward orange or yellow extremes.

Also consider how bright your exterior lights should be; even though they’re on your house’s exterior walls, they’ll still need to provide enough illumination so that you can see them from inside as well as outside your home at night–and if there are other houses nearby where someone could look at yours from their windows or porches, then those lights should also be visible from those vantage points as well!

3. Lighting Safety

A well-lit home is an inviting one, but you want to be careful about how you light it. Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Make sure your lighting isn’t too bright. This can cause a glare on windows and make your home look like it’s glowing at night, which might not be what you’re going for.
  • Make sure the lights aren’t too dim either–if they’re too dim, people won’t know where they’re going when they come over and try to find the front door keyhole (or whatever). And if there’s no way for them to see where their keys are…well…you get my point here!
  • Don’t place lights too close or far away from ground level; do find a happy medium between these two extremes so that neither visitors nor burglars trip over anything while trying their best not fall into any open holes hidden under dark shadows cast by poorly positioned lamps nearby (like those nasty ones made out of old kitchen cabinets).

4. Lighting Materials for Exterior Home Lighting

  • Metal Halide: This is a very popular lighting option for outdoor homes, as it is easy to install and has a long lifespan. However, this type of bulb requires more maintenance than other options because it requires frequent cleaning to keep the bulbs from becoming dirty.
  • High Pressure Sodium: These bulbs are also known as HPS lights because they produce an orange-yellow glow when turned on. They work well in areas where there is little sunlight but lots of artificial light, such as streetlights or parking lots where there aren’t many trees or other obstructions blocking out the sun’s rays. Because these lights produce less glare than metal halide bulbs do (which makes them better suited for use around people), they’re often used in residential neighborhoods where there are no sidewalks or streetlights nearby–you’ll often find them installed along driveways so that you can see what’s coming when walking outside at night!
  • LED: LEDs provide bright illumination while using less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs do; however, if you have an older home with wiring made before about 2005 then installing these may not be worth doing since LEDs require higher voltage than typical 120V circuits can provide without causing damage due to overheating issues.”

5. Lighting Budget

The lighting budget depends on your needs. If you are planning to install exterior lights, you need to consider the cost of materials and labor. You can save money by choosing outdoor lighting fixtures that have lower energy use.

You can do your own lighting on home exterior

You can do your own lighting on home exterior. It is a good idea to invest in outdoor lights, because they will make your property more secure and safe. You can also save money by doing it yourself, as well as learning a lot about the process of installing lighting fixtures.

The first thing you need is an electrical permit if you don’t already have one (you might need one even if you do). If it’s not too late in the year and there are still some contractors around who haven’t closed down for winter yet, then call around until someone has time for this job before January rolls around again!

Conclusion

If you want to do your own lighting on home exterior, we hope this article has given you all the information you need. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you get into it, it will be easy! There are so many options available today when it comes to lighting. You can choose from different types of bulbs and fixtures depending on what kind of look or feel they give off in any given space. From there, just remember that safety is always important when choosing where lights should go outside your house or apartment building – whether they’re residential or commercial properties