Designing with Outdoor Step Lighting

Welcome your guests to move about your landscape with ease with outdoor step lighting.

Step lighting is usually an overlooked detail in outdoor lighting but its importance in the overall feel of your outdoor environment is second to none.

Before you begin your journey into step lighting, take a step in the right direction by keeping design and function in full view prior to making your final decision.

Here we will discuss a few concepts that are relevant tothink about when deciding on the perfect outdoor step lights.

Planning your Outdoor Step Lighting Design

Lets look at different ways to use step lighting to allow the whole outdoor design flow easier.

When choosing the best lighting, decide on whether you will be lighting the whole staircase all the way across or just a portion of the staircase.

If you have a wide staircase, sometimes lighting the whole staircase all the way across is not necessary. This is the case in situations where people only tend to use one side of the staircase.

If both sides are being used, both sides must be lit.

The function of the stairs is critical to your design also. Are these stairs primarily used during the day? If so, you may want to light them subtly to provide safety to your guests and not draw too much attention away from your landscape.

A good way to provide outdoor step lighting is by downlighting your staircase. This is best when hiding your fixtures in a tree or roof overhang.

The best approach to downlighting your steps is to center your fixture over the staircase. It will usually provide adequate lighting for all your steps and may even spread some light out onto the surrounding landscape.

If you can't quite position the fixtures directly center over your staircase, move it down the staircase. This is because by moving it down you are able to illuminate all the steps without casting a shadow on the stairs treads. You may also decide to recess your light fixtures into a sidewall, keeping the fixture mostly out of view and directing light only on the stairs.

Depending on how bright you want the steps to be lit will determine the mounting height of these recessed fixtures.

Size up the fixture to the wall and make sure they are not too big or small for your purpose. These fixtures are recessed to keep them out of direct view of your guests.

Also, these fixtures are permanent so you don't want to install too large or too small of a fixture in comparison to the overall wall size.

Before buying the fixtures, take a paper stencil of the fixture you have in mind and tape it onto the wall. Stand back and look to see if the fixture's size fits well on the wall.

Take into consideration the wall's color and how the fixture will blend into it. Does the fixture fit the overall setting and the atmosphere you want to create.?

How these fixtures are mounted on the wall will dictate how many steps you will be able to light without creating a shadow.

If the fixture is centered directly over one step, the fixture will only provide light onto that one step. A fixture installed at the intersection between a tread and a riser will provide light onto two steps. Fixtures mounted higher on the wall will light even more steps.

Outdoor step lighting fixtures mounted on alternate sides of the of a staircase are unappealing. They usually leave dark spots causing confusion to people using the staircase.

Remember, you may need to mount fixtures on both sides of the staircase if they are both being used, but always keep it consistent and stay away from dark spots.

You may decide to use strip lights across the width of the staircase. These are installed underneath the overhang of the step.

They tend to last a very long time without maintenance but you may have to replace the whole strip if one lamp in the fixture fails.

Lamp spacing is critical with strip lights because they are very bright and draw a lot of attention to the staircase. Post mounted lights are also useful in outdoor step lighting. They provide adequate lighting to let your guests know that there is an up an coming change in elevation.

Its easy to position these fixtures because you can adjust and change the height of the post and easily move the location of the fixture.

Always leave enough extra cable slack to easily make movements and adjustments.

Select a fixture with a lamp shield that provides enough cover when seen from below. You don't want to blind people walking up your steps.

Making outdoor step lighting a part of your home's outdoor lighting design makes it warm and welcoming. Guests young and old can enjoy feeling a sense of safety when walking around at night.