From a practical standpoint, it essential to consider how you'll illuminate key spaces outside your home. Driveways are one of those spaces, since you want to clearly define that area and set it apart from the rest of the home. Driveway lamp posts are one of the most popular options for creating that functional lighting and showing off your personal style. If you're unsure of how and where to use lamp posts alongside your driveway and home's exterior, check out our examples, tips, tricks, and driveway lamp post ideas.
Modern post lights tend to feature very rigid lines and minimal detailing. Lantern lights like this one from Z-Lite have that classic style in the form of the lantern, but it is transformed to suit modern aesthetics with its lack of detailing and straightforward design. This perfectly complements the home's architecture and further defines the exterior's style.
Traditional driveways often use symmetry with the light posts to create a very classic, balanced aesthetic. However, you do not have to use post lights on either side of the driveway to create visual balance. Like this modern path, you may choose to use lights on one side of the path to create essential lighting without overwhelming the space.
Contemporary lighting fixtures are often works of art in their own right. When you include artistic lighting fixtures like these, you provide essential illumination to your driveway, but you also define your home as being highly contemporary and stylish. Even before guests enter your home, they will have a sense of your style and personality.
Although you may be tempted to fully illuminate your driveway, even one or two post lamps go a long way in brightening the path. When you use two post lights in tandem to outline the path, you highlight that driveway, create ambient lighting, and show restraint and confidence in your design.
Additional Front of the House Lighting Ideas!
In general, different shapes have different tones. Rigid rectangular and square shapes often present a more strict tone while rounded shapes and edges are softer. Your light can serve to balance these dynamics by adding a round shape to a rigid space like this home, or you can use different shapes to create your ideal tone.
Scattered black light posts and wall sconces serve to decorate this home's entire exterior, ranging from the entrance to the driveway all the way to the front door. The intentional placement of the lights each highlight a different aspect of the home: the driveway entrance, the small staircase and path, the front door, and the garage. When choosing lights for your home, consider which areas need the most light and intentionally place fixtures to suit your home's needs.
Lights should be chosen for both their aesthetic and their practicality. Consider the size of the light, its height, and how it casts light over your space. You'll also find that many lights are resistant to heat and UV lights, which makes them ideally suited to last a long time outside your home.
Discover more Driveway Landscape Lighting Ideas!
Lantern post lights are some of the most popular options for outdoor post lights, sconces, and other fixtures. This is because lanterns are incredibly versatile with how they fit with different interior design aesthetics. Not only that, but lanterns come in many different styles to convey a rustic style, an industrial vibe, or more modern flair.
Depending on your home's layout, you may have a fence or wall close to your driveway. This barrier can serve as the backdrop for your driveway bollard lights. Even if the lights aren't directly against the fence, their beams will still radiate and bounce off the wall to define that part of your home's exterior.
Oftentimes, post lights will not sufficiently illuminate your home's driveway and exterior. That's why these lights are often paired with other fixtures like wall sconces, porch lights, and others. When you use multiple lights in a common area, consider using lights that have similar styles, finishes, and lighting temperatures to create a cohesive and consistent style.
Explore more Lamp Post Ideas!
Many outdoor post lights direct light downwards to amplify the path, but there are many reasons to choose post lights with downlighting. Downlighting helps prevent light pollution in the night sky and creates greater contrast between the ground/landscaping and the sky. This can help you create a very dynamic yard and driveway while allowing you to enjoy a starry sky.
Learn more about Dark Sky Compliant Lighting!
Even the most simple lighting fixtures can create bold stylistic statements with the light's shadows. The Caule Outdoor 120V Bollard Light from Flos has a very simple structure and design, but the light filters through a cylindrical diffuser that creates a nest-like pattern on the ground. While you may be tempted to focus on the design of the light itself, it is also worth looking at how lights cast shadows and designs with different bulbs.
Outdoor floor lamps and other portable lamps can serve as accents for your driveway. The use unconventional and flexible lighting gives you greater freedom in how the lights serve your space. Whether it serves as a signal of where to park, a post by a path, or as a conversation point, there's a lot of possibility when it comes to portable outdoor lights.
The lights you use outside your home naturally serve as a message to your guests: come and enter. Warmly lit path lights and wall sconces adorn this driveway and create a clear path that conveys a welcoming tone and beautiful ambiance. Consider what message you'd like your outdoor lights to send: Are you creating a warm and welcoming home, or something more soothing and moody? The possibilities are endless.
The direction of your driveway lights impacts the area's tone as much as the lights themselves. Downloading creates very direct lighting on the path, driveway, or nearby architecture to create a more moody tone. Like this driveway, you may choose to use a cool lighting temperature as well to firmly set the tone as sleek and modern.
Not all post lights feature just one light source. Fixtures like Sonneman's Reals Double DC FH/FW Outdoor Bollard Light feature two dome lights to cast over the driveway. The presence of multiple lights gives you more freedom in how you'll place the light and where it will cast light over. The world of outdoor post lights is incredibly vast and diverse, so there is no need to settle for a fixture that is less than perfect. Search, and you'll find the best lights for your home.
There are no hard-set rules on how and where to use driveway lamp posts outside your home. Ultimately, the key is to use lights where they are most practical to highlight a path, showcase nearby landscaping, or fulfill other practical needs. With the driveway lamp post ideas, tips, and tricks detailed above, you can now decide what lights are best suited for your home and create your ideal lighting scheme.
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