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How to size back door lights? Same as front sizing?

6 years ago

Are there any rules of thumb to size back door lights?.

I have seen standard recommendations for front door light fixtures (typically 1/4 to 1/3 height of the door). Does the same apply to back doors/patio doors? That rule results in some pretty tall back door fixtures and visually seems much bigger than what I have had on my house in past and what I see in pictures.

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PRO

Brilliant! Lighting & Design

6 years ago

Pictures are worth a thousand words and are able to provide context that words alone can not.

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Comments (6)

PRO
Brilliant! Lighting & Design
6 years ago
Hi DG,

In reality, there is no standard solution for lighting.

Design considerations for your specific question include:

• What is the approach to this doorway like - straight on or from the side - and does it include lighting along the approach?

• Is the doorway covered or wide open?

• Is this doorway on a small or large wall?

• Does this area include a small step up or a large deck?

Etc.

Good luck!
DG
Original Author
6 years ago
Several back doorsways. They are doorways that are in relatively large walls.This may be too difficult to explain....but I will try.

House is a ranch with walk out basement. On the main level: One doorway is a 8 foot tall set of double French doors flanked by two foot windows toward the end of a 40 foot long x 12 ft wide screened porch. Entrance is straight on from porch. The porch will have three fans with led lights so we are thinking no light per se for this doorway as neither wall sconces nor an overhead would work.

Another French door is from a sunroom onto a 6x6 landing. This landing entrance is straight on and also connects to the screened porch. To the side of this door is the 20 foot wall of sunroom windows. We are thinking a 21" tall x7.5 w fixture here on the sunroom window side.

The sunroom walls are in Hardie plank, so it has an exterior look. Inside the sunroom are two entrances both of which are French doors. One is straight on entrance and the other is a 90 degrees turn on the wall abutting (doors are basically together in a back corner). Each of these single French doors is 3/0x6/8. We are thinking same fixture as 8/0 door but in 16" height x 6"w one for each door.

Finally on lower level, under the porch is a 3/0x6/8 French door. It is almost in the center of the 77 foot length of the house. We are thinking same fixtures as above in the 16" height. The lower level ceiling will be finished out with three overhead light fixtures..flush type same line as the doorway fixtures.

We were also going to use the same 16" high fixture on the garage stoop door. Straight on, 18" overhand at the end of a 24 foot wall.

We are a bit concerned the fixtures are too big.
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The layout I believe would work best would NOT be an L formation as earlier mentioned. I do think it’s perfectly okay to place a couch back along the stair wall, and would do that, with another couch of the same dimensions facing it, placed along the sliding glass door of the living area. You have three sliding glass doors in that room, and will never use or need all three. It doesn’t make sense to do so. I would leave the center SGD available for easy flow, and arrange your furniture the way it works best in front of the other two SGD. If you do an L formation in the living room, it drastically limits the flow in that area. I would recommend instead to use two couches facing each other, one backed up to the SGD and the other to the stair wall. Then you could even float another short couch or two arm chairs in the center, directly facing the FP, if you wanted. Also love your color choices and the use of headboard or board and batten, as well as the painted kitchen cabinets. I am in the process right now of replacing all my kitchen cabinet doors with newly sprayed white shaker door fronts after already painting all the boxes, and it has completely transformed my space. This is the second home that I’ve done this in and the results are well worth the effort/and/or expense! It will be a lovely room when you’re finished.
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PRO
BEVOLO GAS & ELECTRIC LIGHTS
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Hi DG,

We offer a complementary design service and can scale out the proper size fixtures for your home, based on photos with the door height and first plate line height (ie: interior first floor ceiling height).

We are the oldest open flame/electric copper lighting company in the U.S. and hand make every one of our fixtures in New Orleans, LA.

Feel free to email us plans or pictures of your space and we will be happy to make style and scale recommendations.

Let us know if we can help you at all. -Lindsey @ Bevolo
DG thanked BEVOLO GAS & ELECTRIC LIGHTS
DG
Original Author
6 years ago
House is not built yet so there aren't pictures, but thanks.
PRO
BEVOLO GAS & ELECTRIC LIGHTS
6 years ago
You're very welcome. You can always send in your plans or elevations as well and we can spec off that.

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