Figuring out sizing of lights is really hard. I couldn't find "rules" to go by. What I have discovered is that it is really about what you like. We drove around and looked at houses with similar size entries and what they did. It helped us deteremine what sizes and looks we liked. We found that for OUR taste, about 80% of the people had too small of lights.

Another way is to mock up your front door and try different size templates with the mock up.

justmeinsd, great suggestions! Thank you!

Hi trudymom, I have to agree with justmeinsd. Consider going one size larger than you think you need at the front door. Our lighting guy told us that and I really do believe he is right! Good luck, lighting choices are difficult.

Amy

Agree. People frequently go too small in exterior lights.

amyks and solie, I think you are exactly right--I will work on getting the larger size. Great suggestions! Thank you for your thoughts!

Hi,

For outside lights go for big lights. Big meaning about 18 inches in height overall. The trick is not to think about it in the shop when you look at fixtures, you have to think about it when looking at your house from the road. In general the fixtures have to scale to the house size. Houses are big, so you need to have large lights.

People tend to get too small a light, because (a) small is cheaper and (b) they do not think about the size of the house when they are at the shop.

Best, Mike.

My fixtures are 19" in height and they were the biggest I could find within my budget ($190 ea.) and of course the style I was looking for. However, I think they are too small. I would have been much happier with fixtures at least 24" to 30" in height but we're talking about fixtures that would be at least $500 to $600 each. So big is great but the big price is not.

kellyeng, you are certainly right. We all have to work within budgets--and I certainly have one too. That's very interesting how much more expensive they are going up to 24-30". The smaller ones are just fine with me...

Thank you for your thoughts!

Just to clarify, you can certainly find 24-30" fixtures at a decent price ($200) but none that I saw were very good quality or the style didn't suit me.

Just so happens I just posted a pic of our front door.. these are the sconces. Can't remember what they measured but I can measure them if you like. I think they were around 275 each. I thought they would look too big but they look just right IMHO.

ponydoc, I have seen pictures of your house recently and I just loved it. I think I remember your being worried that the door was not real wood, but I thought it looked like it was. Your light sizing looks just right to me. If you have the time, could you please measure them for me. Is your door 6'8" or 8'?

Thank you for your time!

Something people don't consider.... bugs.

I think most people position their lights too close to the door. Door opens, the swarm is sucked in.

vancleaveterry, oh you are so right. Thank you for reminding me of that!

I got this off www.shadesoflight.com
I hope it works!

Here is a link that might be useful: shades of light

We determined placement of ours by our height. My builder marked on the door sides where the sconces usually go and we realized we would run into them. I am 5' 10" and my husband is 6'1" so we raised ours.
We have a total of 8 lights across our front porches so we chose about a 22" sconce as to not overwhelm the space. We have 4 sconces and 4 matching hanging light fixtures.

I was told 1/3 of total door height on a big house by several lighting experts, so that's 32" on your door. That includes hanging arm, etc, any other part... Sounds a little large, but when you stick up mock-ups & back off 50 ft, they don't seem all that big. We drove around Shady Canyon on Sunday looking at fixtures on 7 - 10M houses. Many were obviously & strangely too small.