Here are the lights I like...thinking I need to find a different coach light--it looks like this one is brown, and Im needing black. Darn. But I love that style, and its LED and frosted/not clear. Any suggestions (prob could go larger too)?

A little embarrasing but it might help the above make sense...please disregard the coffee mug stains :) - these are my rough draft versions of outdoor lighting (with lots of white out that seems to show up great in the pics) :) I did forget to mention above that there are 2 (this shows 3 but we switched to 2) cans in the porch soffit as well).

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

West

East

North

South

First, you have realized the basis for your fear. It is real and those who have never faced this danger have no idea how life changing it is. I just try to be so happy that they have never been in danger. Get a great wireless, monitored alarm system. You can sleep peacefully knowing that any opening of a door or window will be instantly dialed to a live person who will call sheriff. In addition, when you leave home, set your alarm, knowing when you come home your property is still secure. There are systems that can be set and turned off from your cell phone so you can check your house even while you are on vacation. An alarm system is not the place to save money, so get the best.

Motion detector lights at our previous house didn’t always work as I had hoped. Storms, high winds, animals, power outages... sometimes lights were out of proper alignment. For quite a long tome, some animal tripped the light right outside my bedroom- at ALL hours. We finally turned it off. Timers don’t work well following power outages so if we were gone, we couldn’t be sure the lights were on or off. Our current house had a farm in the yard. High on a pole, the entire yard is bathed in light. We have one yard light on the cattycorner side of the yard and I can see everything around the house. Both of these come on at dusk and go off at dawn. Both of those lights and the monitored alarm enable me to sleep soundly. Now if only I could convince my cat to sleep late!

Consider installing LED lights under the front edge of treads on stairs.

We live in the country, and had the same trouble as remodeling1840 did with motion detectors. Another security feature you may want to look into, if you are a bit secluded is a driveway alarm.

We bought a wireless one for under $100 and it is perfect. Wildlife don't set it off, but if a car or bike come in, we know. A person walking in wouldn't set it off, but if they are there to rob you, presumably they have a vehicle.

Remodeling1840...Thank you for your wisdom...so true, after being broken into, it changed everything. And great advice on an alarm system - we too have wildlife & what you described is what I was thinking might happen-with dear, cougers, sometimes bears...we've been considering an alarm system--and in thinking about it more-the peace of mind it will bring will be worth the cost.

Laughing about your cat - so true-they are early risers & feel everyone else should be too!!

Helen-I like that idea of an alarm letting us know when someone wnters our driveway-that would be such a help--and the price is right! Im adding that to my list-thank you!

Decoenthuiaste...LED lights under the front of the stair treads..that would solve my problem there...its so dark out & & Id like it not just for security, but I worry that someone (lol..namely me) may tumble down in the dark if there's not some sore of light there...we have a dog & no fenced area (yet) so I anticipate using those stepd often while Im half awake to take her outside.Thanks for the suggestion!

Suz, we also put hose bibs on all four sides of the house we built, having dragged those heavy, 100 foot hoses all around previous houses that only had one or two locations.

For a few quick tips on exterior lighting, take a look at this article! We go over all the benefits of different exterior lighting options and the security/aesthetics they offer. We also have a wide variety of other informative pieces, covering every aspect of the home building process.

Spencer Crosby, Project Manager

The House Designers

Oh, this is great...thanks so much Spencer!

Remodeling1840...ahh...that is such a great idea! Yes, not fun dragging hoses around...Thank you!

Helen...do you happen to remember the name of the wireless driveway alarm you used? In my hours of research for 'everything' house related..it would sure save me some time on the computer...lol. If not, no worries...I'll come up with something :)

This is the one we have

Mighty Mule FM231 Wireless Driveway Alarm
We have a few acres, and actually ended up buying 2- one so we can hear cars coming from in the house, and the other sensor is in my husband's workshop. It works beautifully.

Oh Helen...thank you. I love this idea...its one of those things I didn't know to look for but will work perfectly for us...appreciate the info!

Ditto the advice to place hose connections on all four sides of your home...if not more! Seriously. Insulated/weatherproof. Beautiful home!

What a great house! I love the look of your west elevation. Have you considered peak lighting to highlight the shape of the prow? (Admittedly, changing the bulbs would be hard, so you'd want long-lasting LED bulbs.)

chicagoans...thank you so much! And those pictures are great!

I just realized the first picture I uploaded doesn't show the tape marks for the lights on the prow...oi :) The whole reason I posted....but, we have planned two up/down sconce type lights, about half way up, on the narrow vertical logs just to the left/right of the 3 vertical prow logs...so they'll shine up to the prow soffit (that we labored over staining/sealing for days..ha. We also plan for one above the garage door. Labor of love.) And LED sounds like the way to go cause they'll be up so high. Sure hope they last as long as they say they do :)

The question I've been pondering is should we do the 'up/down', or just the 'up' lights? Im overly sensitive about not wanting to light it up too much out there..we'll have coach lights on the outsides of the middle two sliding doors on either end of the prow..matching the height of the garage door coach lights (on both sides of the garage door), at least that's the plan for now....wish I could put the sconces on a dimmer, but they're going to be on a timer, so the electrician said a dimmer wouldn't work unless we do a smart switch type thing-and we're all about not going the smart route--lol.

Dumb lights, dumb switches...we embrace the dumb & thats how we roll...after my husbands flip phone finally died, not too long ago, he walked into the store and asked for the dumbest smart phone they had, lol. The poor young man who was trying to upsell him on the highest of high tech phones, didn't know what to say.

We also have the Guardline sensors for our driveway (actually have two sensors and purchased the one for long driveways.... 1/4 mile reach). Love them! We have a u-shaped drive so I know which way someone is entering or leaving the driveway (you can set each sensor with different sounding chimes).

Regarding not being able to find clear glass fixtures for your exterior lanterns. If you find fixtures you love and they only have frosted glass, don’t rule them out just because of the glass. I had the same problem when choosing my own fixtures but since 95% of them have removable glass, I just replaced them with clear glass from a local glass/mirror place. It was very inexpensive. I brought the frosted panels to the glass place so they could make the exact size for replacement.

I did see the markings for the sconces, which I think would look great but highlight the center of the prow rather than the peak, depending on how bright they are. Just a different look than what I was thinking with the peak, and I'm sure the sconces will be great!

chicagoans...ohhhhh...thanks for clarifying...I missed where that upper light was right at top of the prow--now I see it-I do love how it lights up the peak of the prow. I even see in the far left pic that there are also two up/down lights on either side of the prow, sort of like what we have been thinking, but they don't look like their doing much (or maybe they're not turned on..I can't tell)....hmmmm....you're making me think :) And, for sure....that top prow light would prob. be one that definitely would need to be the long life LED :)

nidnay-thats a great idea to put them on both sides of the u shaped driveway...we will have one of those two (needing to make it happen next time the excavator is out here) and would be helpful to know what's going on down there...and I wouldn't have thought of the glass idea-I think I wrote it backwards...we're actually looking for something thats more frosted glass than clear (for some reason, my eyes get bothered by the clear) but Im thinking the glass people could do that too...Ive come across several coaches that I've liked, but the glass wasn't right--thats super helpful. Oh man, back to shopping & see if I can find them again :)