Why Quality Garage Lighting Is One of the Most Overlooked Home Improvements

While homeowners spend hours thinking about their kitchens, living room ambiance, or even their bathroom sconces, they sometimes give virtually no thought to the garage lighting. They simply install a bare bulb screwed into the ceiling and call it a day. It’s a scenario I’ve seen a thousand times, and I understand why. The garage doesn’t feel like an area that needs that same level of care, but it really does. And not thinking about it actually ends up costing people more than they might realize.

Having good garage lighting changes the whole way the garage works. It affects the safety of the garage, how much time you want to spend in it, and even the look of your home from the exterior after dark. It’s one of those home improvements that just makes sense as soon as you get the first part right.

Your Garage Is Working Harder Than You Realize

When I say the garage works harder than you realize, what am I actually talking about? We have cars going in and out of the garage every day. We’re constantly using tools in the garage. Kids have their bikes lying in the middle of the floor, boxes are being stored. There might even be a dusty workbench in the corner.

This is all being done in a space that is lit worse than the inside of a storage closet. Maybe there’s one fixture that lights the space with just 60 watts of incandescent lighting, leaving all the corners completely dark. As a result, you’re straining to read labels on your boxes, misjudging exactly how close the car is to the wall, or tripping over something you genuinely didn’t even see lying there.

The only thing that upgrading your garage lighting really does is enhance the functionality of your garage. A space in many households that is used nearly every single day.

The Exterior of Your Garage Needs Some Attention As Well

While lighting in the garage is one thing, lighting the exterior of your garage is another. When you really think about it, the area above the garage door is prime real estate on the facade of a home. And most homeowners just have a blank space or whatever the cheapest option was that day at the hardware store.

Something as simple as a Gardena, a hand-crafted, gooseneck barn light with a classic curved arm, can change the visual weight of the garage’s exterior. This isn’t a subtle upgrade. The addition of a well-chosen exterior garage light takes a flat, insignificant space on the home’s exterior and can elevate the entire look and feel of your home’s curb appeal.

This is even more important if your garage makes up a large percentage of your home’s front elevation. Good garage lighting, placed strategically, helps frame the structure rather than ignoring it all together.

What Constitutes a “Good” Garage Light

Adequate lighting is one thing and “good” lighting is another. “Adequate” light means that you can at least technically see the items in the garage. “Good” lighting on the other hand means that the garage is bright where you need it to be. There  aren’t deep shadows to hide hazards, and you don’t have to squint every time you enter the garage.

If this is for the interior, the trick is layered lighting. This means overhead LED lights for overall illumination and a task light for working around the workbench. You can even install a motion-activated light over the entry door to the house. This provides extra safety without having to leave a light burning all night.

For the exterior, you’ll want something wall-mounted that is designed to throw light downward and across your driveway and walkway. Height is important, and so is size. You can get something as small as a sconce or as large as a 20-inch dome like the Redondo, which is designed for larger spaces. Most people either pick too small of a light for the house which virtually disappears against the wall. Or choose a light that overwhelms the home.

Lighting and Home Security

Your garage’s appearance after dark is an important consideration for your home’s security. If your driveway is dark, your home’s entry is dark, which is an open invitation for problems. Dusk-to-dawn lights are among the least expensive and most effective security measures out there, offering lighting each time you pull into your garage at night.

Here, you need something that will stand up to the elements, so an outdoor fixture like the Riverside, which has a powder-coated steel construction with a conical dome, is ideal. The fixtures you chose must be UL approved to withstand years of sun, rain, heat, and cold. Cheaper alternatives, on the other hand, will only last for a year or two.

The Importance of Matching the Exterior Style of your Garage to the Rest of Your Home        

Garage lighting can be a great place to express one’s personal style. If you have a farmhouse or traditional style home, a barn style fixture with a gooseneck arm will look natural in this setting. If you have a more contemporary home style, you may want a simpler dome-style fixture with a clean design.

A fixture that really bridges these two looks is the Coldwater fixture. It is shaped more like a rounded bowl to fit the modern design aesthetic, whereas a more classic barn-light design might be out of place. 

A fixture like the Topanga, with its vintage gas-station-like curve, will fit into a more rustic, nostalgic, or bungalow-style home without looking like a costume fixture. The bottom line is to pick a style and stick with it rather than whatever you saw that day in the lighting aisle.

The Return On Investment (ROI) No One is Talking About

Every homeowner has heard of the importance of renovating the kitchen or bathroom to add value to the home when you plan to sell it. While improving the garage is never really a topic that comes up, it should. The first impression for any home often begins with the garage. Lighting the garage exterior so that the fixtures are appropriately scaled for your home’s elevation will enhance curb appeal. 

Adding lights to your garage exterior that will last for years shows pride in ownership. This gives someone standing in your driveway, evaluating the possibility of seeing more of your home, an immediate favorable impression.

Likewise, a garage with an illuminated and organized interior offers a much better visual for any visitor or guest compared to the dim, neglected space many garages have become.

It’s just one of the highest-ROI improvements you probably never considered. That said,  take a good, hard look at your garage lighting and consider the lighting possibilities!