Please enjoy this guest blog post from our Lighting Division on how to take soffit lighting from permanent Christmas lights to a year-round tool that enhances your home!
While it’s incredibly popular to refer to exterior soffit lighting as permanent Christmas lights, that name can be more than a little limiting. In fact, the Christmas light option is just one of the many benefits that come from installing LED soffit lights on your home exteriors. We’re taking you beyond the holly-jolly and exploring the year-round benefits of this home upgrade. If you’ve been debating installation because you think this lighting is a one-trick pony, we’re here to help you learn more. And if you’ve already installed a system, you’ll discover new ways to leverage it — and feel extra confident in your choice.
Exterior Lighting for Safety and Security
Homeowners may initially choose these types of lights for the beauty and convenience that permanent holiday lighting affords. No ladders, no extension cords, no storage … you get the idea. However, there’s more to this handy system than some red and green sparkle. Our favorite benefit is the way that this lighting helps make your home a safer place for you and your family. Let’s start with the boost it affords your home security.
Help Your Cameras Do Their Job More Effectively
Have you ever received a notification on your doorbell or security camera, only to be met with a blurry image that resembles a “proof of Bigfoot” VHS tape? Even cameras with night vision are guilty of offering up grainy, hard-to-see footage that does very little to make you feel, well, secure. Was that a raccoon? Or the neighbor’s cat? Can you identify anything about the person trying to get into your car? Or just watch it happen in blobs and pixels? Soffit lighting adds an overall glow to your property, supporting your security cameras with enhanced illumination that makes it easier to spot what’s happening and who’s causing it to happen.
Deter Wildlife, Theft and Vandalism
This benefit also signals another key reason soffit lighting helps boost security — deterrence. A well-lit home is less vulnerable simply because criminals (and most wildlife) aren’t all that excited to be so visible while committing crimes (or tearing up your trash bins). Exterior soffit lighting makes it a lot harder for someone to tamper with windows and kick in a door unobserved. It tells you more about who, or what, keeps taking your pumpkins off the porch or messing with your lawn decorations. When you pair good lighting with good security (and some helpful neighbors who can better see your property), you can breathe a little easier.
Make Your Yard Safer to Navigate for Everyone
The same illumination that makes it easier to spot trouble also makes it safer for YOU. Light up those walkways, driveways and backyards with both soffit lighting and expanded exterior lighting options like landscape lighting. AMC Illumination works with Jellyfish Lighting, which even gives homeowners options to zone their exterior lighting. For example, you can keep your front yard bathed in ambient light while turning up the backyard for your kid’s impromptu football game. Or, target problem areas, like a walkway that gets icy in the winter, or that one spot where the dog always disappears from sight when you let them out at night. It even makes it easier for those after-dark packages, postal workers and food delivery drivers to get your stuff safely to the porch!
Of course, safety is not the only reason this lighting is beneficial. Let’s talk about how welcoming it can be!
Permanent Christmas Lights = Permanent Curb Appeal
Modern LED soffit lighting gives users a lot of options for creating colorful patterns. It also has natural lighting solutions designed to simply enhance and illuminate your home. The AMC Painting division spends a lot of time transforming homes for daytime curb appeal, but it’s the Lighting Division that gives the night a glow-up. Here’s what AMC Illumination installers say gets rave reviews from new lighting customers.
Highlight Architectural Accents
Do you have a uniquely peaked roof? Assorted gables and arches? Is there a beautiful medallion or a particular porch you’d love for people to admire after dark? There’s a reason this type of permanent lighting is also referred to as architectural lighting! The common installation location — attached to the soffit under the eaves — naturally outlines your home’s shape even before you start getting creative about the patterns, colors and design. The more dynamic the shape of your home or building, the more incredible the outcome when you click on the lights. For the best perspective, take a drive in some of the historic districts in your home city. You’ll see beautiful examples of how exterior lighting can be used to highlight incredible architecture.
Light the Way Home
There’s something so welcoming about a cozy home glowing from the road when guests pull up at night. It evokes warmth and familiarity and a sense of welcoming. Everyone loves a well-lit home! That’s why there are so many songs about leaving a candle in the window, the porch light on and a fire in the hearth. It’s why you leave a light on when someone you love is coming home late.” It’s your message to visitors, extended family, kids, grandkids, kids coming home from college or anyone else you’ve invited that you’re happy they’ve dropped in to see you.
Create Social Spaces
We also love the way exterior lighting can create social spaces for all those guests to enjoy when they’ve arrived. Our customers add permanent lighting to their porches, decks and backyards. The front porch leads as a key favorite for accent lighting. Homeowners are really embracing the new trend of creating cozy front porches. Think comfortable furniture, warming heaters and, of course, customizable lighting. We like to think we’re helping neighbors invest in becoming more neighborly by creating friendly places to commune together.
Decks are also popular for lighting upgrades. If you’ve got a big one, you can design quite the epic hosting spot in your yard, with programmable features that can set the mood, including fun options like intermittent twinkling and alternating colors. Add in a few patio heaters and you’ve got yourself a year-round entertainment space.
Speaking of color, let’s talk about how to turn permanent Christmas lights into “all the holidays” lights!
Beyond Christmas: Additional Holiday Lighting Inspiration for LED Soffit Lighting
We love decking the halls with Christmas colors in December, but there are plenty of other holidays and magic moments that also benefit from a customized light show. Let’s look at some of the fun ideas our customers have shared.
Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras: Decorate your home with the classic pink, red and white motif everyone loves for the day of love, or take it easy — Big Easy — with the Mardi Gras colors of gold, purple and green to celebrate.
St. Patrick’s Day: You’ll find thousands of ways to perfect your shamrock green if you select a lighting system with expansive color options.
Easter and Earth Day: Create pastel waves of color for guiding the Easter Bunny and his magical baskets to your house, then celebrate our amazing planet with blues and greens for Earth Day.
Memorial Day: A quiet red, white and blue offer respect and honor for service members who have lost their lives in service.
Independence Day: Launch the red, white and blue for a day or a whole month. You can also utilize lighting effects for a non-fireworks color show.
Don’t forget to contact AMC Painting for adding a little paint color to your world, too! We’ll help you give your home a glow-up day or night.
Happy Halloween: In addition to orange and black lighting, we also love purple and orange or purple, orange and green. We’ve also seen homeowners use blues and purples for a ghostly glow, red for a more scary effect and wild greens for a monster science lab.
Birthdays: Use the guest of honor’s favorite color to add impact to your celebration.
Weddings: Having a backyard affair? Match up the wedding colors or create your own social design.
Sporting Events: Whether it’s your hometown high school football team, college hockey team or favorite NBA ballers, you can show your spirit with team colors. Get the lights turned up for the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, World Series, World Table Tennis Championships, League of Legends World Championship — if you follow it, you’ll have a way to share your pride in your teams with the world.
Turn Up the Value on Permanent Christmas Lights with Year-Round Benefits
It’s great that you’re looking to maximize the benefits of investing in permanent LED lighting. We hope these handy reminders will show you new ways to enjoy the benefits. If you are interested in learning more about soffit lighting, you can also give us a call to book a no-hassle, complimentary estimate. We’ll show you the possibilities that can help you make the final decision.
