14 Outdoor Lighting Hacks That Are Ruining Your Curb Appeal

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Lighting forms a significant part of your home exterior but is seldom considered. Even though lighting could add more beauty to your home exterior it could turn into a blot within a very short time.

In this article, we are going to look at 14 popular outdoor lighting mistakes that are perhaps costing your home its exterior beauty and how you can avoid them.

Poorly Placed Lights

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The first common blunder homeowners commit when it comes to outdoor lighting is positioning them incorrectly. Externally these lights can also be too bright, just too dim, or placed in the wrong positions and can mar the looks of your home exterior. Always take time when choosing the positions you want for your lights and seek an expert’s assistance if necessary.

Outdated Fixtures

Another mistake is the use of the wrong kind of fixtures for your outdoor lighting which are normally old fashioned. It is about time you replaced the old and dented fixtures because they slow down the aesthetic value of your home. Go for newer models that will suit the home.

Overlighting

Overlighting is a problem which lowers attractiveness, and increases energy consumption. Excessive use of lights or bulbs gives your home exterior an insecure look that is unattractive to the eye. In effect, rather than utilizing many lights, it is preferable to use fewer, some will be installed in special and distinctive places.

Underlighting

Close Up Photo of Brown String Lights — Image Credit: Dzenina Lukac/ Pexels

Underlighting is as detrimental to curb appeal as over lighting. Lack of enough outdoor lighting makes it look like your home is in the dark and nobody is at home. Ensure that you have adequate lighting to illuminate the outstanding parts of your home while also having proper lighting to create warmth in the home.

Mismatched Lights

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Applying different lighting fixtures or bulbs in a particular area in your compound is not recommended as they cause distractions. In regards to the outdoor light fixtures, it’s better to stick to one style to ensure that everything flows well.

Inadequate Maintenance

As with many other types of lighting fixtures, outdoor lighting fixtures need to be maintained frequently in order to ensure that they are still working as they should and to make them look new again. Failing to do this will mean having unkempt, rusty, or malfunctioning lights that are unattractive to everyone passing by. It is also important to clean and also check your outdoor lights regularly.

Light Pollution

Turned-on Street Light — Photo Credit: Janko Ferlic/Pexels

Effect of light pollution not only reflects on the external appearance of the house but also has deleterious impact on the environment. Select energy efficient products including LED bulbs for the outdoors and stick to timers/motion detectors to reduce the amount of energy used.

Excessive Use of Floodlights

Low Angle Shot of a High Mast with Reflectors — Photo Credit: Eric Garcia/Pexels

According to rrrlighting, Security lights are another common feature, but if installed at the wrong angle, they will give your house an unkind glare. Do not use flood lights and instead use more direction lightings but make sure that there is enough security light.

Unbalanced Lighting

Proper lighting is important for the perfect look of any home and especially for the outside part of the house. Always ensure that you have taken a close look at the lighting and made sure that there are no dark areas and light areas as this tends to disrupt the balance around the compound.

Using Colored Bulbs

While the colored bulbs are entertaining and can make your home stand out they may become something that limits the enhancement of the curb appeal of the house. Stick to warm white or soft yellow bulbs if you want natural.

Against the Style of Your Home

Black Pendant Light — Photo Credit: Brett Sayles/Pexels

According to Blingle, the style of the outdoor light fixtures should be appropriate to the style of the home, when selecting the kind of lighting to use outside. Having a contemporary linear light fixture in an old house gives a rather odd appearance of the house.

Ignoring Your Landscaping

Low-Maintenance Yard — Photo Credit: Pixabay

Outdoor lighting isn’t simply confined to the exterior structure of the house but also your landscape. Coordinate the indoor and exterior design by using lights to illuminate features on the exterior of your landscape.

Inconsistent Lighting

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This may not only be jarring but can ruin the aesthetic of a home or neighborhood to which new addition outdoor lighting has been brought in to enhance. For an even better look, you should have a constant light on all the outside territory that you have.

Not Considering Safety

Finally, safety has to be the last factor that one has to consider bearing in mind that lighting is for the exterior part of a house. Dark walkways and staircases can create opportunities for misfortunes and also will certainly make your outdoor look undesirable. Don’t forget to light these spaces correctly for practical and decorative purposes.

Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.