Photography by Alise O'Brien
“Think of good exterior lighting as a big welcome mat,” says decorator Jackie Leisler.
Often referred to as sconces, these fixtures will either flank a front door or punctuate a side or main entry with a single fixture, guiding the way as people come and go.
Once you’ve determined the lighting needs for your home, the variety of available styles— romantic pagoda-inspired, classic coastal, or modern farmhouse and more—can be daunting.
Jeff Day, principal architect and owner of Jeff Day & Associates, advises selecting a design that’s in line with the architecture of your house: “If you have a craftsman-style house, I would suggest craftsman-style lights. The same goes for a Tudor or a colonial.”
Richmond Heights resident Abi Bardasian spent weeks driving around her neighborhood seeking inspiration. She lives in a white brick farmhouse-style home with black trim and didn’t want to veer too far from that aesthetic. “I wanted the sconces to work with the style of my house and the style of houses in my neighborhood, which has a lot of older historic homes,” she says. After taking note of the fixtures around her, how they complemented—or detracted—from a house, she settled on a pair of powdercoated black sconces for the front door and one contemporary fixture outside the French doors leading to a terrace. “I wanted to set off the terrace as a separate part of the house, so I decided to do a similar gas sconce but not the same [model],” she says.
Before taking the plunge—prices can exceed $1,000 per sconce, depending on materials and craftsmanship—you’ll want to make sure that they’re proportional to your doorway, Leisler says. Too often she sees fixtures that, though lovely, are too small. “If you have two sconces flanking a doorway, they should be approximately one-quarter the height of your door and casing,” she says. For example, if a door and its casing add up to 8 feet tall, the sconces should measure about 2 feet tall. If the entry allows enough room for just one sconce, Leisler suggests placing it on the handle or lock side of the door and scaling up to about one-third the size of the door and casing.
Almost as significant as the fixture itself are the bulbs. Your choice of bulb should take into account the other light sources, such as path and inset lighting, around the house. "Warm, soft light is recommended,” says Leisler, adding that it’s now possible to find LED bulbs with longevity and warmth. (Note: As of August 1, 2023, a ban on the sale of incandescent lights went into effect.)
Think about the aesthetics of your door lighting as one part of a whole. “If you have a lot of landscape lighting, you don’t want it to compete with the lighting around the doorways of your home,” says Day. “They should work together.” Buying from a local lighting specialist such as Metro Lighting or Holt Lighting gives you access to the best advice. “Their customer service is second to none,” he says. “They are lighting experts and will ensure that you choose fixtures of the right size, scale, and illumination.”
“Lighting can be gracious, so think of it as hospitality,” says Leisler, who chose a hanging copper lantern for her city house. “You want to welcome company into your home, and lighting does that.”
