Can someone help me find an attractive motion sensor light?

9 years ago

You were all so helpful with my window box question so I'm hoping someone can help me with my lighting issues.....

The house makeover has started. The new garage doors went in...the curve is being squared off and mantles are going over the top of the garage doors.

I need to purchase lights. My husband really wants a motion sensor light to go over the garage but since it's the front of the house I'm not sure if we can use the typical utility security lights. Can we?

I'm trying to find this light first and then I can match the rest of the house lights to this one. I do know we want the rest of the lights to be black. The siding that's going on is Monogram Granite Grey and the shutters will be black. All other trim white.

I have been googling for 2 days straight but I still don't know what would look good over the garage....and does the light placement look too high? We can lower it if needed.

Thanks in advance for any help....I'm stumped!

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greenhavenrdgarden
Original Author

9 years ago

I think what's throwing me off is the placement. It's so high that many of the better looking lights wouldn't fit...and when I google search for ideas most people have lights on either side instead of one in the middle. The lights I see are mostly tall and narrow which would work if my lights flanked the doors. Because it's in the middle I feel like I need a wider light...which I can't find unless I use a utility light.

If my garage was on the side I would just order a utility light and be done. But I'm not sure that's a good idea since its in the front.

This light shape I thought would work but the bulb is only 60 watts. That seems dim to me.

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Comments (12)

User
9 years ago
To my very untrained eyes, it does look a high. We bought motion sensor lights for garage/back door and deck at Lowes or Home Depot (can't remember) and while they did not have a huge selection in store, we found one we really liked. IT was also quite reasonable (cheap).

That was about a year ago and I was just thinking how much I like them. So, I don't know about finding that particular light, but really to find attractive black (or dark ) motion sensor lights shouldn't be too hard.
Olychick
9 years ago
I added the word "traditional" to a motion light search and came up with some really nice looking ones, instead of the ones I always see that are just industrial looking floodlights. I was surprised they made such good looking ones! Maybe you'll see something here that speaks to you....Motion sensor lights
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Yes, but those are all replacements for fixtures that INCLUDE the sensor and light in one unit. What I have is a plain old light with an aftermarket sensor. It appears to me that almost nobody makes these anymore, and I'm beginning to wonder why. The main reason I need such a setup is because the light is in an unusual location at the front of my house. It is directly across the porch/entry from a bedroom window; in other words, the window and the light face each other, and are separated by about 4-5 feet. So it needs to be a motion light -- it can't be on all night because it would shine right into the bedroom. The other kicker is that the light is mounted somewhat high on the wall. The only lights I can find that include an "aim-able" motion sensor are the flood-style, which is not suitable for this location. I want a general outdoor sconce that looks decent. Unfortunately, most sconces have the sensor on top of the light, which would put it way too high on the wall for sensing any motion at ground level. Essentially, too many dumb rules to make for an easy solution.
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A "motion sensor" is a general term that can be used to detect either "occupancy" or "vacancy." The motion sensors in the two bathrooms that I remodeled in 2015 have vacancy sensors - they turn off when they sense the room is unoccupied, but turn on only with a manual switch. (My Dad would have loved vacancy switches - one of his favorite expressions was "When not in use, turn off the juice.") The GC told me I was required to have at least one light fixture in each bathroom on a vacancy sensor. I didn't question him and didn't look at the code until this week when I started planning the remodel of my 3rd bathroom. My interpretation is that at least one light fixture in each bathroom must be "high efficacy" (e.g., certified LED or compact florescent). Additional lights must be on vacancy sensors if they are "low-efficacy" (e.g., incandescent or track lighting). The required high efficacy luminaire in each bathroom, and any additional high efficacy luminaires in a bathroom are not required to be controlled by a vacancy sensor. Apparently, there was an earlier requirement that at least one "luminaire" in each bathroom be on a vacancy sensor, but I'm not sure if that still holds. In my powder room, all my light fixtures are LED, including the pendants over the sink. There's a vacancy sensor on one of the three LED light switches - is it needed? In my master bathroom, the sconces at my makeup mirror are incandescent - all other lights are LED. The vacancy sensor is on an LED light - I think that's wrong - I think it should be on the incandescent lights. I looked for LED sconces for the makeup mirror, but did not find anything suitable at the time. The city signed off on completion of the work before I had selected the pendants and sconces for the bathrooms - apparently they didn't care.
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PRO
MDLN
9 years ago
Elraes Miller
9 years ago
I really like the first one.
User
9 years ago
And I have something very close to the Shaker Cove one (3rd down). It looks great.
golfergirl29
9 years ago
Is there a trick to placement? We have motion detector lights at the corner of our second stories and the wind will throw them on. How do you place them so that doesn't happen?
Annie Deighnaugh
9 years ago
Yes the current light is too high. I'd do a traditional lantern style in black and I would consider putting one centered over each garage door rather than just one small one in the middle as you don't have a lot of room between the doors or on the outside of the doors. If you wanted to, you could add a double flood light at the far left corner which could point one lamp around the side of the house and the other further down the drive. If it were me, I'd probably do the flood as the motion sensor and have the decorative ones switched. DH didn't want us to use any motion sensors on our house as he said they'd be on all the time with the deer and other critters roaming around.
gramarows
9 years ago
I was really disappointed last week after extensive searching online and not finding attractive, quality selections like I expected. I gave up and went to HD and was pleased to find a style that I found fairly attractive, the Shaker Cove $44.97, but it is not the high level of quality I had initially wanted. My electrician installed it, I did not examine it, he temporarily put an LED bulb in it which has a half white base which shows too clearly and looks awful. I need to see if LED's come in 'decorator' styles. Can't yet say how it works as I haven't been over at night. I just looked online at HD and it says it's made of metal. I thought the box said aluminum, which along with the Shaker style and narrow width, is why I bought it. I'll have to check the box next time I'm there. I notice a few reviews complaining that this model stopped working after a while. I hope mine both hold out, as even though not what I was planning quality-wise, I like the look. Good luck!
Yayagal
9 years ago
You don't really have to find a motion sensor light, you can buy an adapter for any light, here's the link belowhttp://www.lowes.com/Lighting-Ceiling-Fans/Outdoor-Lighting/Security-Flood-Lights/Outdoor-Motion-Light-Sensor-Adapters/_/N-1z0zu61/pl#!
gramarows
9 years ago
Bleah. Checked the box and it's NOT aluminum. Must have been the prior fixture which was, and I mixed them up. Darn.
greenhavenrdgarden
Original Author
8 years ago
Just wanted to update....thank you Annie for mentioning adding a light up in the corner. That is exactly what we did. Electrician came and wired a light that hangs from the soffit in the upper left hand corner. We are doing exactly what you suggested (aiming one light down our path and one down the drive way)....and it is white which will blend in with the white vinyl that covers the soffit. The house will be grey so I am happy I didn't have to put it on the house.

I have no idea why I couldn't think of that myself. I was stuck on finding a motion sensor that I liked and couldn't think outside the box.

Thank you for all the suggestions. The siding and driveway re-do are both underway. Next time I post a pic of my house it will finally be pretty :)

Can someone help me find an attractive motion sensor light?

greenhavenrdgarden
Original Author

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Olychick

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greenhavenrdgarden
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Can someone help me find an attractive motion sensor light?

greenhavenrdgardenOriginal Author

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