One of the top ways to accent your home and draw eyes is to change your garage door. While you’re in the process of doing so, this also offers a great time to make changes or add to your outdoor lighting near your garage and home. This will add to the impact and really make your house "light up!"
Choosing the perfect lights can take some effort but has a huge impact on the way the outside of your home looks. You want the lights you choose to offer a safe space at night when it's dark while looking fantastic during the day to show off your home and the new garage door. Just don’t go too far, because too much light can also be a bad thing. You don’t want to detract from your home’s appearance or blind the neighbors. That’s why we have some tips to help you.
Lights to go around the garage door
When you start planning the lighting for your exterior, you want to make a quick sketch of the garage door that you have. As an example, someone who has two single eight‑foot garage doors is going to need a different solution than someone with a 16‑foot double garage door. If you have a single and a double door, you might use the former for storage. Some homes are going to have small single doors while larger houses might have three single doors or even more. Regardless of what your situation is like, you want to jot that down on your plan. Take a look at the amount of space between doors and how much room is above. Those with at least two doors should measure the space between them while those with eaves might want to consider adding in downlighting. If you have the proper roofline for it, you might even install lights over the door on the wall. It’s also worth thinking about adding lights to your driveway while you are at it.
Having this information ready will let you know how much space you have so you can decide how lighting will best fit into the space. If you talk to a designer, the general consensus is that there should be some blank space around all of your light fixtures to create a sense of balance. Try to avoid having the lights take up more than half of the wall space available. If you don’t have a ton of room around the doors, you may be able to install fixtures on the side for light and better curb appeal.
Deciding on the right fixtures for your garage door
The first thing you want to do is consider what the architectural type of your home is. Some homes are modern and contemporary. Other homes might have a classic and colonial style. Houses also come in country or carriage house style. What you want to do is to know what you’re working with so you can enhance the look with the lighting. You want the area to be secure at night while the lighting is beautiful during the day. Another thing to consider is how far your home lights, driveway lights, and streetlights are from the garage. There’s no need to compete with what is already available.
You will quickly find that there are many choices for outdoor lighting that can link your home and garage while showing off the garage door in the way you want. For creative ideas and inspiration, you can visit a website like Pinterest.
If you have a modern style home, here are some of your options:
Those with a country or rustic home might choose one of these options:
How to select the right lightbulbs for your new fixtures
You might think you can pick up any lightbulb for the new fixtures, that isn’t always the truth. LED lightbulbs are often recommended, especially for those who want to save energy. However, you should check the manufacturer’s instructions before you decide.
When you search for lightbulbs, you want to be sure they are made to be used outside. They should be durable and not over the wattage recommended by your light fixture, so it doesn’t cause overheating. Many of the outdoor fixtures you see will have a maximum of 100 watts, but sometimes it might be 60 watts so you should always double‑check.
As mentioned above, LED bulbs are the best outdoor bulbs. They are created to be energy efficient and weather‑resistant, so they last several years. Most of them can handle 100,000 hours of use, which means changing them is a rare affair. However, there are some fixtures that require other bulbs like 60‑watt incandescent ones. This is why it’s so important to check the bulb requirements for the fixtures you choose, so you are prepared.
The one kind of bulb that you want to stay away from are spiral compact fluorescent bulbs. These have mercury inside of them and aren’t made to be used in the outdoors. Even if you protect them from the elements, they aren't the best choice you can make. In cold temperatures, the bulb can lose some of its intensity when used outdoors.
Now that you know what you’re looking for, you can go ahead and install lighting near your garage door, add in some lightbulbs, and enjoy the appearance of your garage and home.
It’s time to find your perfect new garage door
Are you ready for a new garage door to accent your home? You can contact us at any time by phone at 1-800-957-5865. We can offer you examples of projects we have done in your location the past at our image gallery. We can also send you a quotation by email.
You can also choose to come out and visit our showroom where you can see many garage door models in person. If you want to look at your options from home, you can see all the styles by visiting our Design Centre.
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