10 Tips for Decorating with Christmas Lights
Good Christmas lighting comes down to three decisions: pick one light colour and stay with it, light a few things properly rather than everything a little, and put the lights on a timer. The rest is detail.
1. Decide the light colour before you buy anything
Warm white, cool white or multicolour. Mixing them is what makes a display look accidental.
Warm white suits brick, wood and trees. Cool white suits snowflakes, icicles and anything meant to look frozen. Multicolour is a choice of its own and works best when it is the only thing you do.
2. Light three things well
A tree, a doorway and a hedge, each properly lit, beat ten things with a strand draped over them. Pick the features people see first from the road.
3. Buy for outdoors
Check the IP rating. IP44 means the product handles rain and snow. Indoor lights left outside fail in the first week of December, usually in the dark, usually in the rain.
4. Work out the lengths before you order
For a hedge: height twice, plus the width. A hedge 0,8 m high and 0,4 m wide needs a net covering 2 metres across.
For a tree trunk: turns × circumference. Ten centimetres between turns on a 2-metre trunk is 20 turns. At 60 cm circumference that is 12 metres of string light.
5. Use connectable products
One cable out of the house is better than four extension leads across the lawn. Connectable ranges let you run the facade, the hedge and the garden from a single socket.
6. Build in layers
Three heights make a display read as designed: something at ground level, something at eye level, something above. A lit LED motif on the wall, string lights in the tree and net lights on the hedge cover all three.
7. Light the path
Lights along the path or driveway do two jobs at once. They guide people to the door and they give the display a direction.
8. Put everything on a timer
Set them for the hours people are out: roughly 16:00 to 22:00. It halves the running time, and you never have to remember.
9. Keep the spacing even
On a trunk, keep the same distance between every turn. On a hedge, let the net sit evenly rather than bunching. Symmetry is most of what separates a good display from a messy one.
10. Stop before it is crowded
A dark area between lit elements is what gives the lit parts their effect. When everything glows, nothing stands out.
Frequently asked questions
How many lights do I need for a house facade?
Measure the length you want to cover and add 20 per cent for corners and slack. Most people underestimate by about that much.
When should the lights go up?
Put them up in daylight in mid-November and switch them on at the first Sunday of Advent. See our guide on when to turn on your Christmas lights.
How do I attach lights without damaging the house?
Plastic clips on gutters and window frames, cable ties on branches and railings. Never staples through the cable.
Can I leave the lights up all winter?
Many people take down the motifs after Christmas and leave the plain string lights until February. The dark season lasts longer than the holiday does.
