Outdoor Wall Lighting Can Breath Life Into Your Plain Walls

Experience the true grandeur and prominence of your exterior walls through outdoor wall lighting.

Drawing attention to your outdoor walls forces you to take a second look at the beautiful architecture being highlighted.

Building an amazing outdoor lighting display doesn't have to be difficult. Learn how to create effects that will make your walls more interesting.

Create Dramatic Effects Using Outdoor Wall Lighting

Grazing Textured Walls

Different wall textures create very different results when lit. Using your wall's unique physical appearance to create an amazing display is what outdoor wall lighting is all about.

When working with textured surfaces such as stone or brick, your goal is to add drama to and draw attention to the rough, hard surfaces of your wall.

Grazing is an effect created by lighting your wall at an acute angle, positioning the fixture near the surface of the wall in order to create a strong shadow effect.

The wall's surface will cast a shadow on the mortar joints showcasing the strong features of the imperfect surfaces.

Washing Smooth Surfaces

Walls with a smooth surface use a technique called wall washing. Wall washing is similar to grazing because you are placing your fixture in an acute angle near the surface of the wall.

The effect is much different because it produces an even coverage of light across the smooth surface of the wall. Lower wattage lamps should be used since there is very little texture to cover.

Both grazing and wall washing can be uplit from below or downlit from above. As with grazing, wall washing may use surface mounted or recessed lighting fixtures, preferably with a frosted lens to soften the light output.

Silhouetting

Create a reverse shadow effect called silhouetting. Use wall washing as a backdrop to help focus attention to other objects nearby.

Silhouetting occurs when an item such as a plant, small tree, or anything with an interesting shape or texture is placed in front of a wall that has been washed with light.

The light source sits in between the object and the wall being grazed with light. It creates a shadow like image of the item while the color and texture of the item remain hidden.

This effect is perfect for creating an interesting look and feel to a somewhat ordinary flat wall.

Shaddowing

Shadowing is an interesting way to create the illusion of texture on the surface of any plain walls you have.

A fixture is aimed at a wall as though you were uplighting this wall, but now you've placed an object in front of the light source which blocks the lights beam creating a shadow on your wall.

The closer the fixture is to the object, the less dramatic the shadowing effect. The farther away it is, the grander the shadow effect. Incorporating decorative outdoor lighting onto your wall can also add to your wall's appearance.

Wall Sconces

Wall sconces are typically seen on either side of an entrance way. They create drama by brushing their light patterns across the surface of your wall.

I recommend wall sconces that have a frosted lense cover.

Outdoor lighting fixtures with a transparent lense cover tend to throw light around in all directions, creating glare while taking away from the overall effect of your wall lighting display.

While outdoor wall lighting can help to make your outdoors look complete, your creativity in designing your outdoor lighting scheme has a huge impact on the final look of your outdoor lighting project.