There are ways to use outdoor lighting for a pop of color to your home that won’t look eccentric. Firstly, you should know that colored lights aren’t necessary. Instead, colors from other sources are needed and a little light will go a long way.
Outdoor Lighting for a Pop of Color
In most cases, adding colored lighting to the outside of your home is not recommended. In fact, some would even say it looks tacky if it’s not specifically for holidays. However, some of us like to add a little color to the outside of our homes to make them stand out.
Use outdoor lighting for a pop of color to the outside of your home in the right way and you’ll be very pleased with the results. When it comes to outdoor lighting, the biggest mistake people make is using too much. Decorative outdoor lighting for a pop of color is not meant to help you see.
Consider this, there are three categories of lighting and each category serves a different purpose. Overall lighting is meant to light up an entire space completely, task lighting is meant to help with a specific task, and accent lighting draws the eye to a specific object.
If you use too much accent or task lighting you’ll be entering the realm of overall lighting. There’s no need to attempt to light up the entire block so if you’re starting to ask yourself if it’s too much lighting, it probably is too much.
Where to Use What
Now that we have the three different lighting types, overall, task and accent, you’ll only need two of them. Task lighting is good for pathways and steps, especially leading to and from your home. Find lighting options that shine downward for paths and steps.
The goal with outdoor task lighting is to keep them focused on the task they intend to help. The second type of lighting you’ll need is accent lighting. Accent lighting is the outdoor lighting for a pop of color you want. Use accent lighting to shine a light on the aspects of your home that produce color.
Color
While using colored outdoor lighting for a pop of color isn’t what designers would recommend, you can still get pops. The color already exists outside your home or can be added through things like paint, trimming, and most importantly, landscaping. Use accent lighting to make those already existing colors pop.
Things like solar lighting can be placed in the center or surrounding garden areas, spotlights can be shone upwards around or even in trees and around the home. Placement is key if you’re looking for a pop of color at night.
Things to Avoid
As far as planning goes, make sure everything is well thought out. It would help if you did most of the setup at night so you can see clearly where you want the light to shine. While there isn’t a “right” way to get this done, it’s mostly preferential, there are things to avoid.
Too much lighting will drown the scene and be counterproductive to your goals. Instead of getting a pop of color you’ll just be lighting the home. You’ll also want to avoid using lights without shielding as they will cause glare and draw attention to the bulbs themselves.
Another form of glare may be found on windows or metallic surfaces. In some cases, that glare from a shiny surface may work for your benefit but be particular about where you add glare. Also remember, drivers may be driving by your home and they won’t be thankful for you blinding them for an instant with glares.
Lastly, soft lighting is key for accent lighting outdoors. There’s no need to make it strong lighting because it’s already dark outside so a little light will go a long way.