"We have lighting under this back porch so we don’t have to rely on the wall lights for lighting."

Here are the Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting Practices from Dark Sky International. The first principle of ourdoor light is, "All light should have a clear purpose". Based on your statement quoted above, you really have no need for lights on the walls as there are recessed lights in the roof. You live in the country where you can still see the stars. Why obstruct the view?

Great question wdccruise. The wall lights will be used when we only need a little light. It’ll be useful to have some accent lighting. I think there will be times when those will be the only lights on. They will certainly not be on all night.

"...when we only need a little light."

Why wouldn't you just dim the recessed lights?

"It’ll be useful to have some accent lighting."

What would the accent lighting illuminate? Would those light shine beyond the deck? Why?

It’s part of our lighting plan. There are things in the dark that we are interested in seeing. All kinds of animals. Probably a lot more stuff we want to see than many people would think. At this point, it is wired. We need lights even if we leave them all off.

I am not sure what you are asking. We really have no context of what is going in that space and I have no idea where you need the wall lights. IMO you do not have enough pot lights for that huge dark space so maybe show the whole lighting plan We found we really needed good lighting for our outdoor kitchen and so IMO you need that too.. Go back and mark on the pictures where you are planning these wall lights , I agree all lighting needs a purpose so figure out where you need this. Post all of that info here in a comments DO NOT start another post.

Having layered lighting outdoors is as important as having it indoors because lighting serves different purposes. At our lake house, we want motion activated flood lights to come on when taking the dog out at night so we don't accidently step on a snake, and Dark Sky approved lights on dusk-to-dawn sensors illuminate stairs. Overhead lights on a dimmer are nice but using carriage lights on a different switch instead makes for softer, ambient lighting and helps cut light pollution.

It looks like you're asking about carriage/wall lights. Whatever style you're using inside, continue to the exterior, there are Dark Sky approved wall lights. Also, look into which types of lights are less attractive to insects, we use low LED. The gnats will swarm around certain lights which is very uncomfortable to walk through at doorways, and certain bulbs are more attractive to them than others. The gnats attract spiders and mud daubers feed on spiders.

"There are things in the dark that we are interested in seeing. All kinds of animals."

So you're going to shine lights away from the deck and into the yard?

@JT7abcz: "using carriage lights...helps cut light pollution."

How does a wall-mounted carriage light which shines outward help cut light pollution?

The black spots are where the outdoor connections are.

@wdccruise "How does a wall-mounted carriage light which shines outward help cut light pollution?"

There are Dark Sky approved carriage lights with mostly concealed LED bulbs that shine downward and don't have the traditional exposed bulbs shown in your photograph. Below is an example. Also, the statement was a general comment that using a few wall lights as ambient light instead of a lot of recessed overhead lights would produce less light pollution.

@janet, what is the style of your interior light fixtures?

@JT7abcz: "There are Dark Sky approved carriage lights with mostly concealed LED bulbs that shine downward"

Ah, wall lights not carriage lights. Good choice.

The vibe is comfy, cozy country house. I don’t have indoor lights purchased yet. We have big ass fans. Some of the stuff my husband and I like are more industrial, but our house is not a modern style.

I’d read that outdoor lights should be 1/4 the length of the door. I didn’t know if that was a rule for all lights. Since our house has so many rectangles, I thought doing a tube light would be good for design.

Tube lights are a good choice but not that one which shines upward as well as downward.

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