Top Tips For Dazzling Christmas Lights

Wondering how to light your homes for holidays? While Christmas lights are a beauty to behold, they can be quite difficult to install, especially on a chilly December day. A perfect Christmas lights installation requires a great deal of ingenuity and the use of the right materials. As you try to figure out how to string your home and Christmas tree with lights, here are some expert tips and Christmas light ideas that may help.

Tips for Installing Christmas Lights

1. Wise up on your holiday lights knowledge. Christmas lights come in many different styles, with a specific type available for every nook and cranny of the house or yard. Make sure you’re well versed in the installation of different types of holiday lights. Whether it’s net lights for blanketing bushes or blinking rope lights for outlining windows, having extensive Christmas light knowledge will allow you to get the most out of your investment.
2. Consider location. Decorate your tree only on the visible side to save on lights.
3. Avoid old-fashioned materials. Don’t use those old-fashioned staples, nails or hook when mounting your lights. Use an electrical tape and clips instead. These modern, easy-to-use materials will not only help produce the best possible look, but also protect your electrical connections and the roof.
4. Invest in a sturdy ladder. Buy a quality ladder and have a partner hold it while you mount your lights.
5. Test your light strings. Check the light strings for burned-out lights.
6. Don’t overload your circuit. Overloading your circuits can dim the other lights in the house. Include a maximum of 1,400 watts on each of the circuit.
7. Stay safe. Always use common sense and follow all safety rules. Use only high-quality certified lights. Look for brand name LED lighting. Such lights should also be compatible with each other. Buy extension cords in the lengths you need to avoid plugging more than two cords together. Ensure the cords can handle the bulbs’ wattage. Keep cords and bulbs away from metal, such as metal roofing, ironwork decor or aluminum gutters.
8. Hire pros. Hire Christmas light installation Chicago professionals if you don’t have the experience.

Useful Christmas Lights Ideas

Here some simple but magical ideas to light up your house and yard.

1. Use loops of garland intertwined with glowing Christmas lights to embellish your porch or balcony. Include some large red bows to welcome potential holiday visitors.
2. To transform your yard, invest in the largest conifer your property can handle. Festoon the towering pine with lights during each holiday season. Ensure it’s located at a strategic point where your neighbors can see and enjoy it.
3. Hire a Christmas light installation Chicago contractor to permanently run electric wiring onto the tree. With a permanent outdoor display, you don’t have to drag out long and inefficient electric cords every holiday season to power your lighting.
4. Make use of clips. Whether it’s stringing Christmas lights onto the roof, on trees or along the gutters, light clips make installation vary easy. These plastic clips provide quick anchorage, and can attach onto shingles, trees, roof tiles, gutters and even brick. They are readily available in holiday specialty stores, and can be used to make a wide variety of designs of decorative lighting.

Types of Christmas Lights

The holiday season isn’t the same without the magic and sparkle of Christmas lights. A happy yard with cool Christmas light display puts a smile on everyone who passes by. One of the greatest delights kids have is to look at the Christmas tree lights that adorn shrubs, plants and even lampposts.

There are many lights to choose when deciding on Christmas lights. The first lights that were used to decorate Christmas were not electric, rather they were made of flame. However, with the evolution of technology, we have introduced cheaper and better options to decorate the holiday season. Some lights are ideal for trimming the Christmas tree, while others work best for outdoor décor, and some serve multiple uses. While choosing Christmas lights, consider factors such as theme and style of the décor, the purpose of light as well as your budget. Let us have a look at the three most common types of Christmas lights.

Incandescent lights

These are the classic Christmas lights. These are the common string lights that you see everywhere. Incandescent bulbs or mini lights are white or colored, and transmit a small amount of heat. The color of the Christmas light string can be selected according to the place where they are to be placed. Icicle lights are great for outdoor decoration as they provide a more natural appearance.

They can be used both indoors as well as outdoors, but you have to beware as they are somewhat susceptible to weathering.

C7 and C9 Lights

C7 and C9 style Christmas lights are the large, traditional lights that you sometimes see on Christmas trees and other outdoor Christmas displays. They consist of a cord with a number of sockets on it, with each socket consisting of a light bulb. They usually come in long strings with up to a total of 150 bulbs. The reason these strings are so popular is that the bulbs are bright and very visible. You can choose the length of the string and the color of the bulbs according to your needs.

They are available in a wide variety of colors, and they are quite energy efficient (the LED versions of C7 and C9) as compared to other types of Christmas light installation Chicago.

LED Christmas lights

These are the newest type of holiday lights that are quickly gaining steam. Energy efficient and cool to the touch, LED (light emitting diodes) bulbs can last over 20,000 hours and draw very little power. LED lights use a rectifier to brighten up the display and are safe for either indoor or outdoor displays.

LED lights for Christmas come in a variety of sizes and colors. They are available in mini lights, round shapes, and of course the classic C7 and C9 designs. New shapes like snowflakes, candy canes and miniature snowmen are introduced every year. They are slightly less bright, and create a warm white light, which is the color we are all used to from the old fashioned incandescent.