Warm-White Roofline and Front Yard Lighting
A brick split-level with two roof heights and a curved masonry wall, lit in warm white from the roofline down through the evergreens, shrubs and weeping trees.
The project
This brick split-level home has two front roof heights, a small entry gable, and a deep landscaped yard behind a curved masonry wall. We used the roof edges as the main line, then carried the same warm-white color down through the existing plantings so the upper and lower sections of the property would read together.
We installed lights along the front roof edges and entry gable, then spaced lights through the tall evergreens, the low weeping tree, several shrubs, and the bare-branched tree near the walk. From the street, the roofline gives the house a clear outline while the plantings fill the yard at different heights. The repeated warm-white tone keeps the display balanced against the brick façade and ties the landscaping to the shape of the home.
The challenge
The house steps down from a two-story section to a longer single-story roof, with a small gable over the entry between them. In front, a curved brick wall with pillars separates the sidewalk from deep planting beds, so most of the display sits back from the street behind masonry. The plantings vary a lot in shape: tall pointed evergreens, low rounded shrubs, red-leaf bushes and a weeping evergreen near the steps.
How we lit it
We kept the house simple and put most of the work in the yard. Bulbs run along the eave of the two-story section, the lower roof and both rakes of the entry gable, so the roof reads as one line at two heights.
In the beds, each planting was lit to its own shape. The tall evergreens are covered from base to tip, the rounded shrubs and red bushes carry an even layer, and on the weeping evergreen the lights follow the hanging branches toward the ground. The weeping tree behind the wall has its trunk spiraled and its branches lit. Two arches finish the yard: a lighted arch at the left corner and a metal arch over the stone walk. Everything stays in warm white, which sits well against the tan brick.
The result
From across the street the brick wall frames the display: the lit roofline sits above, the evergreens rise at each end, and the lower shrubs fill the space between. Each planting keeps its natural outline after dark, so the yard reads as a garden rather than a single mass of light.
