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Lighting Design Dilemma Exterior

What size outdoor wall sconces for our house?

4 years ago

We are building and I am in the "pick out the lighting" phase. This is the front of the house - when I went to the lighting showroom, the guy there said I needed really big lights, he was talking about some that are 36 inches tall, which just seems huge to me. You can see in the pic where they will be, on either side of the door, lower than the top of the door. What size sconces would you put here? I'm thinking 24 inches seems plenty big but I just don't know. I don't want them to look too small but I don't want them to look huge and out of place, either.

Featured Answer

PRO

Lights Online

4 years ago

Yes, that's the entire piece. I'm glad you brought up the glass/light area, though, because we recommend hanging lanterns slightly above eye level so people aren't staring directly into the light. That usually means the center of the fixture should be 66 inches above the door's threshold/the floor.

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Comments (7)

CindyR
4 years ago
I am not a pro so the only advice I can give is to mock up something around the same size out of cardboard and tape it onto the house to see which looks better. If you choose 2-ft sconces maybe 4 of them would be more appropriate (you have a large house-front).

Good luck with your choice!
Anna (6B/7A in MD)
4 years ago
https://progressdesignguide.com/size-matters-how-to-determine-fixture-to-house-proportion-for-outdoor-fixtures/
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The important distance to consider is the distance between the center of the vanity to the center of one sink. That distance never changes regardless of the size of the mirror. The wider the mirror, the less distance you have between the sconce and the mirror. If my calculation is right based on the measurements you gave, that distance is 21" (please confirm it as I don't explicitly see it on the measurements you gave us). The distance between the edge of the sconce and the edge of the 24" mirror is 6.25". This number came from that calculation: 21" -2.75" (half the width of the sconce) - 12 (half the width of a 24" wide mirror) = 6.25". Now if you use a 36" mirror, the distance between the edge of the sconce to the edge of the mirror would be .25" ( 21" - 2.75 - 18"). You don't want a quarter in. wall between the sconce and the mirror. If you were to find a 28" wide mirror, that distance would be 4.25" ( 21" - 2.75 - 14"). I think the width of the sconce is more in proportion with a 24" mirror. I also think a 24" mirror looks nicer with a 27.5 wide cabinet below it.
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PRO
Lights Online
4 years ago
We recommend choosing the size of outdoor wall lights based on the height of the door that they will illuminate. It sounds like you want to use two lights, one on each side, so measure the height of the door in inches and then look for ones that are 1/4 the height of the door. Let's say your door is 7 feet high, or 84 inches high. 1/4 of 84 is 21, so your thought about 24" lights is on track (it's OK to go a little larger since these lights will also be viewed from afar).

If you haven't chosen your lights yet, we can help you with that too! I filtered our selection of outdoor wall lights to show the ones that range from 21" to 24" tall. Let me know if you would like me to pick out some recommendations from our selection!
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago
IMO it depends on the light also but the idea of the carboard is a good one I like those lights to have up and down lights too.
jrbwalley
Original Author
4 years ago
Patricia what do you mean up and down lights?
jrbwalley
Original Author
4 years ago
Our door is 8' tall, so 24 would be right according to the guidelines from LightsOnline. That is the entire piece, not just the actual light/glass, right?

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