Outdoor Lighting for the Log Home

We have focused a great deal on appropriate lighting solutions for the inside of a log home, since having great lighting can provide a real boost for one’s quality of life. While lighting inside the log home is important, outside lighting is also an issue that you shouldn’t neglect. A good lighting scheme outside both adds to your home’s charm and safety when outdoors at night. Here is a general guide for selecting lighting fixtures for the exterior areas of your home.

Areas Near the House

The lights you provide on or near the exterior of your home will be the most important in enhancing the home’s visual appeal and safety when entering and exiting. Since your home already has (or will have) electricity, providing power to these fixtures is also easier than for more distant lights.

These lighting fixtures are a great way to extend your home’s design aesthetic to the outdoors. Wall mounted fixtures are probably the most widely appreciated, and they come in many different styles, rustic to modern. There are many more choices for outdoor lighting, and if you have a ceiling over your porch then a ceiling mounted light may work well in your space. Whether flush-mounted or a pendant type to hang over a table, choices for outdoor lighting abound. Even if your outdoor lights are partially shielded from weather, make sure to use fixtures sold for outdoor use.

Areas Away from the House

​Lighting paths and driveways is important to ensuring safe travels at night, and your lighting selections can help create a visually striking property even at night. One challenge is getting power to lights positioned away from the house. While spotlights mounted on a house or garage can provide illumination, running power to remote lights creates a more polished look. To do this, you can run a full or low voltage system to your lights. Low voltage systems are easier to install, and the lines can be buried directly safely but are more expensive. While individual solar powered lights may seem convenient, they do not work nearly as well as a wired system.

While sensor lights on posts or buildings are fairly ubiquitous, specific lights for outdoor spaces can be a great choice. Stair lights that mount in the rise of a stair can illuminate the step below, providing safety and focusing light on a needed area without interfering with others. Similarly, under rail lights, baluster lights and post cap lights can help illuminate the boundaries of your deck without saturating the space with light. To further cut down on unnecessary light pollution, consider full-cutoff lighting that illuminates the ground but not the sky.

If you have any questions about the log homes featured in this post, or how you can design a log home of your own, call Real Log Homes today or fill out the form below for more information.