How to Projection Map Your House
Projection mapping a house sounds like a professional-only trick, but the workflow is the same whether you're lighting up a stage or a front porch: measure the surface, warp the image to fit it, blend any overlapping projectors, and cue up content to run on a schedule.
1. Pick your surface first
Flat, light-colored walls are the easiest start. Avoid glass, dark brick, and anything with deep texture until you've done one show — texture eats contrast, and glass just reflects your projector back at you.
2. Get a projector with enough throw
For a typical two-story house front, you want a projector that can throw a 100–150" image from 20–30 feet away. Lumens matter more than resolution for outdoor mapping — look for 3,000+ ANSI lumens if there's any ambient light on the street. See our projector buying guide for specific picks by budget.
3. Measure before you map
Take a straight-on photo of the facade in daylight, and rough measurements of each window, door, and roofline. You'll trace this geometry onto the projected image once the projector is in place — most mapping software, including Projector Show, lets you drop a photo in as a background reference layer.
4. Warp the mesh to the geometry
Once the projector is positioned and roughly focused, open the mesh editor and drag the corner points of each surface (each window, each roof panel) onto the real edges. This is the step that turns a rectangle of light into something that looks like it belongs on the building.
5. Blend, if you're using more than one projector
If one projector can't cover the whole facade, you'll overlap two units and blend the seam with a gradient mask so it's invisible. Get the black levels matching first — a mismatched black level is more visible than a mismatched color.
6. Build a simple cue list
Even a five-minute holiday loop benefits from being broken into cues instead of one long file: an intro, a main loop, and a "someone's approaching the door" moment you can trigger by hand. Keyboard-triggered cues mean you're not fumbling with a mouse in the dark.
7. Run it without a laptop tether
Whatever you use, make sure the show keeps running if your Wi-Fi drops — you don't want a buffering spinner where your finale should be. A show that's fully loaded into the browser or app before you start will keep playing locally regardless of the network.
Ready to try it? Launch the designer for free — no install, and your first show costs nothing.