"The Jack-O-Lantern House"

Is it Halloween Yet?

I'm a big fan of dramatically lit homes.

And with the seasonal change, we're heading into ever-shorter Fall days.

And yet, the technique doesn't work all the time -- and can even backfire: especially for smaller homes, interior lighting at night can produce an (unhelpful) "Jack-o-Lantern effect."

The (kind of) scientific explanation?

The ratio of (orange) interior lights to (white) exterior is lopsided in a small house with lots of windows, making it seem like a back lit pumpkin.

A back lit pumpkin, of course, is the reverse combination, i.e., interior white and exterior orange (dyslexia helps with that one).