Can you post a picture of the entire front of the house?

Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean? That is the entire front of my house hehe 🙂 The tree kind of blocks the view of the entrance. Here’s a mock-up pic from when I was selecting a garage door style/colour, but it still has grey trim (since I didn’t have the garage door installed yet and I hadn’t painted the shutters and stuff yet). It was taken in the Fall, so you can see the house better without the leaves on the tree. Is that what you were looking for? Thanks!

I suggest down lighting ONLY... Light polution is something to consider.

Thanks, can you give a couple of examples? Is that like the industrial looking dish lights becoming more popular?

Is this kind of what you had in mind? Not sure if Minka Lavery is a decent make — I’ve on really heard of Kichler

Otherwise, there’s these kind of styles, but I think it has the “light pollution” you’re referring to, especially with the clear glass? Thanks!

I like the squared styles above, and would go about twice the size you have currently. You also need to place your house number just under one of the lights so it can be seen at night, and probably larger as well. Bronze is a good idea.

I think the square ones look pretty nice too, but the “light pollution” mentioned by Lyn Neilson is a good point. I actually kind of like the round ones too, that only point down. Any thoughts on those?

And good pout about the address. I’ll probably end up getting an address stone at the front of my yard once I eventually landscape it, and I can add a little landscape up light to the stone 🙂

Thanks!

Light pollution? The whole point of the lights is to provide light! You can put them on a timer to turn off at a specific time. Lights are appreciated by anyone trying to find your home, walk up to your door, or even by dog walkers on the sidewalk at night. Not to mention the safety considerations of a light space instead of dark during the evening.

General "Rule of Thumb" is that they be 1/3 of the front door's height if you're using the same ones at both locations.

We added a garage a few years ago & I had to research lights. There are a lot! Things to consider:

* light source - I went with integrated LED - no lightbulb - easier to knockout wasp nests &reportedly long lasting.

* motion detectors - we don't use them because of all the night critters, but we could turn them on if we felt the need.

* dark sky friendly - if they have an overhanging cover most of the light is directed down also we don't have them on if we don't need them.

* I like the seeded glass. Reviews indicated that those plastic clouded shades start cracking pretty quickly.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Bay-Lumsden-Outdoor-Black-LED-Motion-Sensor-Wall-Lantern-Sconce-NTSW30030LBL-MS/203830178#overlay

Good Luck!

Thanks for the additional feedback:

@calidesign, that is a good point about the purpose of lights :) I believe that @Lyn Nielson's point about light pollution is especially valid in rear yard areas. I find it frustrating when neighbours have blinding flood lights in their rear yard that aren't aimed down -- they catch my eye and are really distracting. Fortunately, most people don't leave these lights on all the time, and they probably have no idea that their lights cause such a glare to other people. In a driveway setting, a bit of "light pollution" is probably OK, especailly since they're lower-wattage standard bulbs.

@decoenthusiaste, my apologies, but I'm not sure what you mean? I don't think you mean the light fixture should be 1/3 of the front door's height, since a front door is like 7FT tall -- a 2.3FT fixture would be pretty big haha!

In terms of style, I kind of like both the square version and the downlight version that I posted earlier. I'm not sure if one style better suits my house, which is pretty standard. I've tried a mock-up in MS piaint below :P Thanks!

Thanks everyone! I've gone through some websites and picked out some styles I kind of like. FYI, my garage door is a bronze colour with frosted glass.

In terms of style, I kind of like bronze (to match the door) and frosted glass (to match the door and cut down on glare from the bulb). Ideally, there'd be a frosted diffuser within a clear glass box (like the first example), but I couldn't find any like that (since the first example has seeded glass, which I'm not a fan of). Any thoughts on any of these?

Thanks!

If you can, I'd move the junction boxes over so the middle of the fixture aligns with the section between the garage door and the outside wall. Then I'd get a more elongated fixture that's larger in scale than what you have. Something like this, perhaps:

Hubbardton Forge (307910) 1 Light Airis Small Outdoor Sconce · More Info

Of your options, I'd choose based on finding the right sized fixture, how it will fit on your garage, and one that can use an led lightbulb. The edison bulbs burn out quickly. Use painters tape to tape up the size on your brick so you can stand back and assess it. You want a larger and longer style, but don't want it to reach the angled edge of your garage.

Thanks @calidesign, your recommendations align well with @Sabrina Alfin Interiors :-)

The timing is really unfortunate -- I actually had a mason at the house this morning to repair some brickwork at the rear of my house. Had I known about the light positioning, I could have had him do the brick work required to move the electrical boxes to be more centred in the pillars :-( I checked inside my garage, and I think there's room within the studs to centre the boxes on the pillars (since my uninsulated garage wall enables me to see where the electrical wire is going to the existing boxes).

The mason did a great job in the rear yard, so I might have him come back to install a nicer address wall stone and reposition the sconce lights sometime. In that case, I would go for something larger/longer. The painters tape idea is very smart :-)

As for the edison bulbs, is it the incandescent Edisons that fail quickly, or the LED "Edison-Style" bulbs as well? And I thought that any fixture was capable of accepting an LED bulb (since the wattage of an LED is less than an incandescent)?

Thanks!

You shouldn't need to move the placement of the lights if you choose the right style and size. Any led bulb should be fine. I was referring to the incandescent edison bulbs. The issue is that some fixtures need the more "decorative" bulb based on their design. Just make sure you can get an led bulb in a shape and size that works with the fixture.

“Light polution” ??? Maybe if you live in a “dark sky” city ( with a planetarian). I think proper exterior lighting provides safety & beauty in a variety of ways…..

Thanks everyone,

If I wanted to go with a larger/longer light like suggested by @Sabrina Alfin Interiors (which is a nice idea), then I think I'd have to re-centre my electrical box as she described. It's too bad the builder didn't centre the box on the pillar :-( If I don't want to reposition my electrical, then I'd have to go with a smaller light fixture. I've CAD'ed out the dimensions in the image below (both a general image and a close-up of the area, showing the electrical box in dark green).

• There's about 16.7" of length between the centre of the junction box and the angled brick.
• There's a minimum of about 3.4" of width between the centre of the junction box and the angled brick (but more width is available if the fixture is shorter due to the brick angle).

Any thoughts on whether it's worth the effort moving the electrical box, or should I simply work with what I've got an find a fixture that works with my existing setup?

Thanks!

Get an estimate from the electrician and the guy who will fix the stonework after it's moved. Only you can decide if this worth cost, but I think it will improve the look a great deal.

I have an idea of the stonework cost since I asked the mason when he was here. Basically, he books by the day (since he can't simply jump from jobsite to jobsite). If I decide to add an address stone to the wall, then moving the electrical (and having some other brickwork touched up around the house) would be a no-brainer. It's just too bad that I didn't think of this before I had the mason at my house this week :-(

Light pollution happens with uplighting. You don’t need to live in a “dark sky” city to be mindful of this issue just as you don’t need to live in a drought area to care about water conservation. Downlighting can provide enough light to safely illuminate walkways and driveways.

The electrical location doesn't seem off enough to warrant moving it around. I'd just keeping looking for a light that works with what you've got.