Create curb appeal at night with the perfect light

Night is a perfect opportunity to add another dimension to your curb appeal.

What’s the best light for boosting a home’s curb appeal at night? Well, it depends on your home, your neighborhood, your budget, and your design goals.

Clearing out clutter, curating specific pieces, and carefully adding color and texture are the typical credos from us designers for increasing your home’s curb appeal.

But, because of our work lives, many people actually see your home more frequently at night than during the day. So don’t forget that light is an ideal way to show-off your home‘s curb appeal features.

And make sure to combine your exterior lighting plan with window treatments like those from ABC Blinds and Awnings for privacy so your curb appeal doesn’t unintentionally illuminate the interior of your household for full view from the street.

Spotlighting

Landscape designers and holiday lighting enthusiasts often use spotlighting to show-off a home’s curb appeal and key features of a home at night. Whether it’s Santa in a sled, the gorgeous oak tree, or an architectural feature on the facade, spotlighting is one way to invite passersby to focus on those special parts of your home’s decor or holiday decorating.

Spotlights that blend in with the natural landscaping are a favorite of ours, like these faux-rock lights.

Downlighting

Downlighting is often used as pathway lighting or to create pools of light around interesting gardening features. By casting the lighting downward, there is little chance the lighting will affect anyone’s rest in neighboring homes.

Even better, solar-powered downlighting is an easier way to create the desired ambience and path lighting in a backyard.

Uplighting

Casting a light upward has been a popular way to show off grand trees or to create ambient lighting. Sometimes they are in the form of a porch light, security light, or an exterior wall sconce.

Some uplighting sconces also include downlighting, like these modern solar outdoor sconces.

In some areas, uplighting is undesirable because of light pollution that effects the view of the stars and flight paths of nocturnal creatures.

Porch and entry lighting

Whether you have a porch or a simple entryway, lighting helps make it easy to see the house number for guests and emergency workers at night. It’s also an opportunity to express a design intention. Whether you want a simple light fixture or a statement piece, the lighting around the doorway helps create that first impression and set the mood for a new visitor, too.

This outdoor pendant lighting fixture would fit with traditional and transitional homes, and with modern farmhouse styles, too.

Security lighting

With all of the doorbell cameras and other popular security features, security lighting is having a moment. Once industrial-looking options were the only choices within budget-friendly reach, now there are slimmer and streamlined versions.

Today’s options can fit in with many house styles, so the security lighting can actually enhance a home’s curb appeal at night. Some, like this pair of solar wall hanging lights are activated by motion-sensor and don’t require any wiring.

About the Author

Theresa

A handy designer and writer, she shares DIY projects, tool how-to, and home makeovers as a book author, home show speaker, DIY workshop coach, and radio host. Plus, she has a degree in journalism with a minor in architecture, and is a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPs) and certified color consultant. She's created fast-paced makeovers for TV shows, and shares home trends and DIY tips as a freelance writer and guest on news shows and satellite media tours for TV and radio.

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