Outdoor lights not only provide that warm welcome at the front door but can also up the curb appeal of your home if you select the right style. Follow our guide on the perfect front door lighting.
Which are the best lights for lighting a period home?
From medieval to modern there’s an external lighting style to compliment the exterior aesthetic of every property. But which is the right style for your home? Let us enlighten you by providing the best style of outside light to brighten the front of your home. This is in a style and compliments the era and external signature looks of your home.
Rendered, stone or brick in construction fitting a wall light next to the front door is a bright choice, if you know which outdoor lamp to choose. Take cues from the architectural style of your home’s facade to help inform your choice.
Outdoor Lighting for Victorian Homes
By far the largest number of UK homes are Victorian in style. The Victorians were prolific builders incorporating ornate architectural features in windows doors and brickwork. Depending on the grandeur of the home you may wish to opt for carriage lantern style exterior lamps or small black exterior lights which are the most popular for smaller terrace homes. In comparison, larger properties require larger-scale versions of the same.
If you have a Victorian home but would like a slightly more modern feel you can box clever and opt for elements of the era contemporised. Such as the squared shapes like these box lanterns. Or perhaps breaking entirely with tradition and opting for a simpler style altogether.
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Georgian homes
Gold lanterns and hanging lights may also be used. Rich brass, verdigris and bronze exterior lanterns have the elegance and scale to bring the facade or front of a Georgian home to life. Don’t rule out black if this matches you from the door though!
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Medieval and Cottage-style homes
Medieval and cottage-style homes demand heavier solid looks to complement the outside of these solid-built homes. Something that speaks of the time when materials were crafted by hand. We’d suggest perhaps wrought iron style lights or even verdigris have the solid robust characterful appearance that sits well on a heritage building. Of course, not all medieval buildings are homes some have other purposes! Your home from home perhaps.
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Stone-Built Homes
Stone build homes of all eras benefit from good exterior lighting to highlight the texture of the stone, however, the stone is seldom flat so fitting a light that has a protruding bracket can be fraught with issues. Simply getting lamps to hang straight on a bumpy surface may be too much of a challenge. To counter this perhaps select a half-lantern exterior light you’ll find that this fits flatter to the wall and will be simpler to install.
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Outdoor Lighting for Modern Homes
Modern Homes
White-rendered homes sometimes look great with a contrasting dark light fitting but when there are no other dark features perhaps a white exterior light fitting suits the wall better.
Modern exterior lights can work equally well on older homes too so worry not if you want to break tradition and modernise a period home.
If the exterior of your home is distinctly modern your door side lights should follow that lead. Perhaps stainless steel outdoor lights.
Barn Conversions
Barn Conversions both old stone farms or modern class Q barn conversions will look a little odd when lit externally by a residential style light fitting. It would help if you opted for larger barn-style lights or modern exterior lights on a slightly larger scale.
Galvanised steel, bronze or black exterior lights are great on metal-clad, brick or dark wood-clad buildings. Picking up on some of the details of the material or design feature pays dividends
If you opted for a lighter wood, painted wood or silver larch maybe a lighter-bodied light such as wood, copper or steel will co-ordinate better.
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Outdoor Lighting for Industrial Homes
Former industrial buildings fall into a strange category as you’ll no doubt need to have a link to the heritage of the building but still want a homely feel. You can achieve this by selecting a light that has the retro feel of a factory light or industrial-styled exterior lighting. These styles avoid the light looking to twee against the robustness of a converted old building.
