If you know Outdoor Lighting Perspectives, you know that we enjoy the holiday season. Our outdoor holiday lighting service is creative and fun in a different way than our architectural and landscape lighting. While we love designing and installing outdoor holiday décor, some homeowners prefer to do it themselves. One of the most versatile DIY outdoor holiday décor items is string lights.
If you are going to use string lights this holiday season, here are some easy ways to incorporate them in your design.
Wrap it up. Wrapping items in string lights is the most common use for outdoor string lights. Whether it is a column on your front porch or a tree in your yard, wrapping it in lights instantly makes it more festive. To make it a little more unique, try thinking beyond just white lights. For instance, my brother is in the military, so my mom did a tree with different branches is red, white and blue lights. Another idea is to wrap your columns with red and white string lights to make them look like candy canes.
Use them as a border. Hanging lights from the roof can be dangerous (we recommend having a professional outdoor lighting company help you with that), but there are other ways to make your home stand out that is safer to install. Use string lights as a border around all of your windows. You can even do this from the safety of your home with suction cups around the window.
Put them in something. Last year, one of our neighbors had these beautiful lanterns on their front porch for the holidays. They were large and red and were the perfect detail for Christmas. They placed flickering gold string lights inside them so they lanterns would stand out at night too.
Use them as a base. One of the reasons string lights are so versatile is because they can take the shape of whatever you need them for. I find that they are beautiful when just laid at the base of something. For example, imagine a large planter with a tree or bush in it on your property. Laying lights at the base of it instantly makes it more festive. This can be done in planters, flower boxes, or even amongst some greenery on the steps to provide sure footing.
Just let them hang. String lights are beautiful even in their simplest form. This may seem silly, but just letting them hang down from something is easy and gorgeous. I can’t take credit for this, but I saw it last year when visiting a friend of mine. She and her husband have a large front porch where guests would stand while waiting for them to answer the door. On either side (not that the guests would walk through), she just hung strings of lights from the eaves of the porch roof to the floor. It was simply stunning as they twinkled while we waited.
Before you install any lighting outdoors, read the packaging to make sure they are made for the outdoors. Not all string lights are safe to use outside. If you have any questions on outdoor lighting, please reach out to your local Outdoor Lighting Perspectives.