Where permanent lights go on a house, and where they shouldn't

Eaves: the frame

The horizontal fascia under the roof edge on every elevation you want seen. Front eave plus garage eave is the smallest common layout, usually 60 to 100 feet. Adding the side eaves takes a two-story to 160 to 220 feet.

Gables: the feet you don't expect

Each gable is two sloped runs meeting at a peak, so a 24-foot-wide gable adds about 30 feet of lit roofline. Prune Hill and Happy Valley homes with four street-facing gables add 100 to 130 feet on the front alone. Gables are also where a chase pattern looks busy; we run static or fade effects on them.

Garage and porch: closest to the street

Garage-forward plans in Salmon Creek, Ridgefield and Bethany put 40 to 60 feet of eave right at the sidewalk. Lighting the garage and the gable above it is often two-thirds of what neighbors see. Porch beams and column tops take short accent runs on the same controller.

Soffits, ridges and valleys: usually skip

Lighting the underside of a soffit points light at the ground and looks like a runway. Ridges and valleys aren't visible from the street and collect debris. We leave them alone unless a modern home has a flat canopy where an under-lit edge is the design.

Columns, entries and canopies

Vertical runs down columns and around an entry canopy read well on modern and craftsman homes alike. Ten to 20 feet each, in the same channel, on the same zone as the front eave.

Trees: the depth

A wrapped maple or oak in the front yard turns a lit roofline into a lit property. Diamond lights go every two feet along the wrap path; a 25 to 30-foot maple with four branches is 90 to 110 lights, and the tree can share the roofline's controller. Firs get a spiral up the trunk and lights along the lowest tiers.

See also: Christmas Lights on Trees and Bushes: How Pros Light Them

Patios and pergolas

Bistro bulbs at 24-inch spacing on clips or a guide cable, warm 3000K nightly. A 16 by 20 patio with three swags is 60 to 80 feet of hang path, and the string can share the roofline's controller.

Metal roofs, shops and barns

Steel drip edge takes Magnetic Pebble with no channel, no tape and no penetrations. A 40 by 60 shop has 200 feet of eave. We test with a magnet at the measure; aluminum drip edge (most new asphalt roofs) means track on the fascia instead.