Hanging Christmas lights is not an arduous task if you involve everyone and make it a fun project. Here are some ideas to inspire you about the best way to hang them and decorate your home.
An inevitable part of Christmas is the Christmas decorations, that you simply must engage in to feel the spirit of this wonderful festival. With the Christmas tree in place, and the decorations indoors, it's time to concentrate on the outdoors.
Among the many decorative elements that you can use to decorate your home's exterior, one of them is by using gorgeous, colorful Christmas lights. These truly highlight the spirit of Christmas, and fill your heart with warmth when you look at a house so beautifully decorated.
Safety Measures
While hanging Christmas lights either indoors or outdoors, there are some safety measures that need to be taken. This ensures that your festive spirit isn't marred by any uneventful situations. Some tips are given here.
♦ Always check the amount of lights you will need by measuring the length of the area you are covering with them. ♦ Also check whether the lights are working before you use them for decoration, instead of climbing up to put them up and realizing that they aren't working.
♦ When hanging Christmas lights outdoors, make sure that you have suitably located and well protected electrical outlets to plug in the lights. If not, have them installed, so that you don't have to pull any wires beyond their capacity. ♦ For the outdoors, always choose lights that are designed for outdoor use.
♦ Ensure that the day you decide to put up the lights outdoors is dry and not slippery as you may hurt yourself. ♦ Use a sturdy ladder that is held in place by someone who is helping you with the lights. Never put up Christmas lights alone.
♦ Putting up Christmas lights both indoors and outdoors requires the placement of hooks that will hold these lights. While some people just use tape indoors (not a very great idea), the hooks are a must for the outdoors.
With these safety measures in place, you can now proceed to hang Christmas lights so that they showcase the true festive spirit that you feel within you. While some of you will like it simple, some may want it to be as elaborate as possible. Remember, that the time you spend putting up the lights, you will have to spend that much taking them down too.
Hanging Christmas Lights Indoors
The choice of lights that you use indoors for Christmas decorations is vast. From rice lights to icicle lights, the choice is really yours.
For indoor Christmas lighting, rice lights are a good choice because they add the right amount of light and color without being too bright. You may also choose LED Christmas lights that look simply stunning as Christmas decorations.
♦ To use Christmas lights indoors, start by wrapping your Christmas tree with these lights.
♦ If you have a fireplace, don't exclude it from this beautiful lighting. Go around the mantel, above the fireplace, and highlight the edges of the fireplace with these lights. This is the simplest way and makes for some elegant Christmas decoration.
♦ Create the shape of a star with the lights above the fireplace, or a Christmas light wreath. Just don't entangle the wires too much.
♦ If you have a table setting with the entire scene of Jesus' birth laid out, ensure that you include it in the Christmas light decoration. Highlight the setting by running the lights around it, and around the table too.
♦ If you have wainscoting in your house, run a string of lights on the top of the panel, and you don't need any more decorations around. It will beautifully light up your house and give it a great Christmas feel.
Hanging Christmas Lights Outdoors
The choice of lights outdoors should be slightly larger than rice lights. Icicle lights are a good choice for this purpose.
As mentioned earlier, always choose outdoor lighting designed to withstand weather changes and conditions. Even LED icicle lights and outdoor LED rope lighting are available for the outdoors.
♦ For a simple look, highlight just the edges of your house. This includes the gutter lines, the roof, the windows, and the doors. Wrap up the lights on the columns on your porch, and on the railings if you have any.
♦ Include your landscape in your outdoor lighting ideas this Christmas. A tree in your front yard, or shrubs and bushes, should all be decorated with gorgeous single-colored Christmas lights. Highlight the edges of patches of grass, or your walkway with these lights.
♦ Ready-made Christmas light designs are available in stores. Use these on your main door as an additional interesting element in your Christmas decorations.
Hanging Christmas lights can be a fun task particularly when the entire family gets together to become a part of the Christmas decoration project.
Involve your little ones and seek their choice in how they would like to see the lights put up. Then get together and put up these lights to showcase your spirit in this lighting. Finally, how you choose to hang these lights also depends largely on the time and effort you are willing to spend doing it, and your personal taste. Merry Christmas!