Architectural Lighting · Nashville & Middle TN
Warm, shielded Nashville architectural lighting designed to the materials and lines of your home — by a Middle Tennessee design studio, lit from each facade's own architecture.
What We Do
Architectural lighting is exterior lighting designed to reveal the lines, materials, and depth of a building at night — its stone, brick, columns, and rooflines — rather than washing it in flat brightness. Light TN designs architectural lighting for luxury homes across Nashville and Middle Tennessee, lighting each facade from its own architecture so the house reads after dark the way it was built to by day.
Light TN is a family-owned landscape lighting designer based in Burns, Tennessee, led by Principal Designer Daryl Bentfield. Across more than 500 Middle Tennessee projects since 2020, the studio has lit facades from early-twentieth-century estates to new stone-and-brick builds — always warm, shielded, and composed, installed to licensed contractor CE-D: 76580 standards.
The Craft
We graze textured stone and brick to bring out relief, and wash smooth painted or stucco walls evenly. The technique is chosen per material, on site — because the wrong move makes stone read flat.
We shield each fixture so the glow shows and the source never does, and we design at warm 2700K, tested on your actual surface, so the mineral tones in stone and the depth in brick read the way they were built to. The goal is a composed facade, not a wall that looks floodlit.
What a System Includes
Facade grazing & washing — textured stone and brick grazed for relief, smooth painted or stucco walls washed evenly, chosen per material on site.
Column & entry lighting — columns, porticos, and entries lit as an arrival focal point, with sources shielded so the fixture never shows.
Roofline & eave detail — gables, dormers, and eave lines lit where the architecture rewards it, defining the silhouette against the night.
Color-temperature design — designed at warm 2700K and tested on the actual material, because the wrong kelvin makes stone read flat.
Glare & beam control — optics and shields specified so light lands on the wall, not in your eyes from the drive or street.
Shielded, concealed fixtures — efficient LED with lifetime manufacturer warranties, so you see the effect and never the source.
Why It Matters
A facade is not a blank wall. Stone wants grazing to bring out its relief; smooth stucco wants an even wash; brick reads warm at 2700K and gray at the wrong kelvin. The technique is decided by the material in front of us, tested on the actual surface before anything is committed — which is the difference between a home that reads at night and a flat wash of brightness.
It is also a question of what you never see. Shielded, concealed fixtures and careful aiming keep the equipment out of view and the light on the architecture, by day or night. We return after dark to aim and balance every fixture against the facade, so the composition is built from the building itself.
Our Process
Daryl walks the property and reads the architecture, materials, and sightlines — the lines the lighting will be built around.
You approve a rendering of the lit facade before installation begins, so the design is decided on screen, not discovered on the wall.
Fixtures are chosen for beam control, finish, and warm 2700K color temperature, matched to your stone or brick.
Built to licensed contractor CE-D: 76580 standards, with concealed fixtures and clean runs.
We return at night to aim and balance every fixture against the facade. This is where the design completes itself.
What Sets Light TN Apart
Daryl Bentfield personally designs and aims each system. Projects are not handed off — the designer who reads the architecture is the one who aims the lights at night.
You approve a photorealistic rendering first, and color temperature is tested on your actual stone or brick. The facade lighting is decided on screen, not discovered on the wall.
Licensed contractor CE-D: 76580, BBB A+, and 4.9 stars across 62 verified reviews. More than 500 Middle Tennessee projects since 2020.
FAQ
Facade lighting illuminates the exterior surfaces and details of a building after dark. Light TN designs that architectural layer around the home’s stone, brick, columns, entries and rooflines, rather than treating the front as one blank wall. The purpose is to reveal the building’s form and material. It differs from lighting the surrounding trees, beds and paths, although both layers can form one coordinated property plan. For Nashville and Middle Tennessee homes, our design begins with an on-site review of the actual facade and its sightlines.
Common approaches include an even wall wash, grazing light that reveals texture, and focused accents on individual architectural details. ERCO’s facade guide distinguishes broad illumination from narrow accents and grazing techniques. Light TN chooses the effect surface by surface: textured stone may call for relief and shadow, while a smooth painted wall may call for an even wash. Columns, porticos, gables and dormers can be considered separately. The design does not have to illuminate every surface; it should make the important parts of the building read together after dark.
Wall washing spreads light evenly across a surface; wall grazing brings out texture through the shadows created by light close to the wall. Boca Lighting explains the distinction through beam direction, mounting position and surface type. Light TN generally grazes textured stone and brick and washes smooth painted or stucco surfaces, with the choice tested on site. The finish matters as much as the material name. A rough surface and a smooth surface should not automatically receive the same fixture position or beam simply because they are on the same home.
The setback depends on the fixture’s optics, the wall height and the effect you want. ERCO gives a distance of about one-third of facade height for its lens-wallwasher arrangement; that is a manufacturer example, not a universal spacing rule for every landscape fixture. A grazing effect uses a different relationship to the surface. Light TN specifies and positions fixtures against the actual facade, then returns after dark to aim and balance them. Confirm the layout with the selected fixture before treating an online distance as the installation plan.
The right choice should suit the material and the intended nighttime appearance. Light TN’s architectural designs use warm 2700K light, tested on the actual stone or brick before the specification is committed. ERCO’s broader facade guidance also relates light color to the surface, distinguishing warm-toned materials from cooler ones. That does not make one Kelvin value correct for every building. Review how your actual facade looks in the proposed light, and judge the result from the drive, entrance and other important views before approving the design.
Choose uplights for the feature they need to illuminate. A narrow architectural detail and a broad wall call for different beam control, and the fixture position changes how texture appears. ERCO’s facade guidance describes narrow accents, wider distributions and ground-recessed options for different effects. Light TN specifies fixtures for beam control, finish and warm color, with shields and aiming considered alongside the light output. Compare the proposed effect on your home rather than choosing from wattage or a product photograph alone. The final fixture selection should support the approved facade design.
Begin with the facade plan, then specify the fixtures and cable routes before installation. Light TN’s process includes an on-site walkthrough, a photorealistic rendering for approval, fixture specification, installation and a return visit for after-dark aiming. The fixtures and runs are concealed as part of the design. This is a project sequence, rather than a universal wiring tutorial: the actual equipment and property conditions determine the installation details. Final aiming matters because a light placed in the right general area still needs to be balanced against the architecture at night.
Light TN quotes architectural lighting after an on-site design assessment, based on the facade’s size, materials and required fixtures. The consultation is free and includes a photorealistic rendering before commitment. Our published terms require a 15% deposit for projects over $10,000; smaller projects require no deposit. Those terms do not establish a typical total price or a per-fixture installation rate. Use the consultation to agree which architectural features should be lit and review the proposed design before comparing project quotations.
Control the beam and the view of the source, rather than simply adding more light. ERCO’s facade guide emphasizes precise optics and correct alignment to reduce spill light. Light TN specifies shields and aiming so the light lands on the architecture rather than in your eyes from the drive or street. Near windows, the position and angle deserve particular attention. We return after dark to aim and balance the system. Review those sightlines with the designer so glare control is part of the installation, rather than a correction considered only after the project is finished.
Start by reading the building: its materials, proportions, columns, rooflines and the views from which you normally approach it. Decide which features should lead the nighttime composition and which can remain quieter. Light TN’s architectural walkthrough studies those details and sightlines before producing a rendering of the lit facade. Use the rendering to discuss the overall balance, then test the proposed color on the real surface. This keeps fixture selection in service of the architecture and gives you a concrete design to approve before installation begins.
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Book a free on-site design consultation, and Light TN will walk your property and render your facade lit before any work begins.
