The single most common design mistake is running channel on every available eave and turning it all on. A house lit everywhere reads flat. The point of zoning is that you can light the shape of the building rather than its outline. Permanent roofline lighting.
What works on common Omaha rooflines
- Two story with a front gable: light the main eave and the gable, leave the sides dark
- Ranch: light the full front run, then spend the rest of the budget on landscape uplighting instead
- Multiple dormers: light the main eave only, or the dormers only, never both at once
- Turret or bay: treat it as its own zone, because it is the feature
Where the money is best spent
In a lot of cases the second-best pound is not more roofline, it is two landscape uplights on a mature tree. Roofline lighting draws the outline of the house. Uplighting gives it depth. Together they read as designed rather than decorated.
