This is a little summer project we’d been meaning to share on Instagram, but it deserved more than a single photo — so here’s the full story. We first mentioned this in an update post and podcast, and finally got around to writing it up.
We originally thought landscape lighting would be expensive and time-consuming, so we filed it away. As it turned out, it was neither: we started and finished on the same day and enjoyed the results that evening.
We’ve always admired the homes in our neighborhood with landscape lighting — there’s a welcoming, stately glow that we love. After seeing a helpful tutorial from Thrifty Decor Chick, the project jumped to the top of our to-do list. We didn’t document the installation step-by-step, but the wiring was pretty straightforward.
Planning and selecting materials required some basic math and a few decisions, which is what slowed us down at first.
From the kit we referenced, we determined the project needs three basic elements: lights, a power pack (transformer), and cable. Choosing the right combination of those three is the key to a good result.
The lights were the simplest decision. We used 20W halogen spotlights like those in the kit and decided on placement by looking at houses in our neighborhood: one light between each downstairs window and one on each front corner. That gave us the number of fixtures we needed.
The power pack (transformer) converts a household 120V outlet to the 12V low-voltage required by these fixtures. You must select a transformer with enough wattage to handle all your lights. Add up the total wattage of all fixtures (for us: 20W × 9 lights = 180W) and pick a transformer with some headroom — many stores recommend at least an extra 20W. We chose a 200W multi-tap transformer so we could connect multiple runs of cable.
The cable needs careful planning because voltage drops over distance. Too long a run risks the last fixture appearing dimmer than the first. There are wiring charts and strategies for even light distribution; we split our lights across two similar-length runs of 14-gauge cable, one for each side of the front porch, which helped maintain consistent brightness.
Once locations were set, connecting the wires, positioning the lights, and burying the cable was easy. We always connected the wiring before plugging in the transformer so we weren’t working with live power. We staked the spotlights, loosely laid the cable, and connected each light by tightening its connector cap onto the main cable per the instructions — no tools required for those connectors. Below is a connection we dug up later so you can see how it looks.
Because we used two separate cable runs, we had to terminate the outer ends appropriately. We used waterproof wire caps designed to resist moisture and corrosion, which are ideal for buried outdoor wiring.
Next we exposed the cable ends with wire clippers and connected both runs to the underside of the transformer. We plugged the transformer into an exterior outlet and mounted it a few inches off the brick for protection and appearance. A planter normally hides the box and outlet from view.
With everything connected and powered, we used dusk to fine-tune angles and stake placement to get the desired lighting effect on the house. There’s about a foot of cord between each light and its connector, which gives enough flexibility to tweak positions even after installation.
The next morning we dug a shallow trench a few inches below ground in the mulch bed and buried the cables, connectors, and wire caps. Keeping the wiring inside the mulch area means we don’t need to worry about accidental damage from lawn tools.
The transformer has a light sensor so the lights automatically come on at dusk, and it also includes a digital timer so you can set how long they stay lit. We set ours to turn off around bedtime. The whole project cost roughly a little over $200 and took us about four hours to install.
For the time-lapse video we clipped a selfie stick to a stepladder and used an iPhone time-lapse while we went inside for dinner — a low-tech rig that did the job.
These lights have performed well for months. We still love seeing them come on as we roll down the street — they’re a welcoming touch that makes our house feel put together at night.
UPDATE: We later switched to LED fixtures for the house to save energy and reduce maintenance since LEDs last much longer. We’ve also experimented with solar lights for our backyard at our new house and shared recommendations for outdoor solar options.
We also created a “Shop Our House” page to help identify furniture and paint colors used throughout the house.
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