Outdoor Wall Lighting can breath life into your plain walls

Building an amazing outdoor lighting display doesn't have to be difficult. Outdoor wall lighting is a creative approach of design through lighting.

Bring out the grandeur and prominence of your home's exterior by lighting it's walls. Show off it's spectacular beauty which is normally overlooked during the day.

Drawing attention to your outdoor walls can really make a statement to onlookers. It forces you to take a second look at the beautiful architecture that is being highlighted.

There are several techniques used in outdoor lighting to draw attention or create effects that will make your walls more interesting. Lets look at some that might be of good use to you.

Creating Dramatic effects using Outdoor Wall Lighting

When working with textured surfaces such as stone or brick, your goal is to add drama to and draw attention to the rough, hard surface of your wall.

Grazing is an effect created by lighting your wall at an acute angle, positioning the fixture near the surface of the wall in order to create a strong shadow effect.

The wall's surface will cast a shadow on the mortar joints showcasing the strong features of the imperfect surfaces.

Walls with a smooth surface use a technique called wall washing. Wall washing is similar to grazing because you are placing your fixture in an acute angle near the surface of the wall.

The effect is much different because it produces an even coverage of light across the smooth surface of the wall. Lower wattage lamps should be used since there is very little texture to cover.

Both grazing and wall washing can be uplit from below or downlit from above. As with grazing, wall washing may use surface mounted or recessed lighting fixtures, preferably with a frosted lens to soften the light output.

Create a reverse shadow effect called silhouetting. Use wall washing as a backdrop to help focus attention to other objects nearby.

Silhouetting occurs when an item such as a plant, small tree, or anything with an interesting shape or texture to it is placed in front of a wall that has been washed with light.

The light source sits in between the object and the wall being grazed with light. It creates a shadow like image of the item while the color and texture of the item remain hidden.

This effect is perfect for creating an interesting look and feel to a somewhat ordinary flat wall.

As lighting magicians, we are going to use another technique called shadowing. This is an interesting way to create the illusion of texture on the surface of any plain walls you have.

A fixture is aimed at a wall as though you were uplighting this wall, but now you've placed an object in front of the light source which blocks the lights beam creating a shadow on your wall.

The closer the fixture is to the object, the less dramatic the shadowing effect. The farther away it is, the grander the shadow effect. Incorporating decorative outdoor lighting onto your wall can also add to your wall's appearance.

Wall sconces are typically seen on either side of the entrance to a home. They create drama by brushing their light patterns across the surface of your wall.

I do not recommend wall sconces that are totally transparent since they tend to throw light around in all directions and take away from the overall effect and look of your outdoor wall lighting display.

While outdoor wall lighting can help to make your home's outdoors look complete, your creativity in designing your outdoor lighting the best way you know how has a huge impact on your lighting design.

Always check back with us. Exchange some lighting ideas with us or share with us your thoughts on lighting design. We are always looking for more input.

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